Quotation
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“When you wake up in the morning, tell yourself: the people I deal with today will be meddling, ungrateful, arrogant, dishonest, jealous, and surly. They are like this because they cannot tell good from evil.”
Marcus Aurelius · Stoicism · Ancient · c. 170–180 CE
What does it mean?
The mainstream reading is that the morning list of other people's faults is a preparation against surprise, not a licence for contempt, because the next sentences insist he must still work with them as kin in reason. A competing reading stops at the list and hears a superior man bracing for a world of fools. The note opens Book 2 of the Meditations, private Greek to himself. Hays's English is a little freer than Long's, and the kinship lines are part of the same paragraph.
Did Marcus Aurelius really say this?
The library’s label is Paraphrase or translation. The Greek is secure private writing. This English follows Hays closely and is a little freer than Long. The next sentences say he still has to work with them, because they share in reason.
Where it comes from
Meditations 2.1
Approximate date: c. 170–180 CE.
How to use it
Before a difficult meeting, expect ordinary failings, including your own: someone will be late, someone will protect their patch, you will want credit. Decide in advance that none of this is a personal outrage. The preparation fails if it becomes a story that you are the only decent person in the room.
A mindset reading
Premeditating annoyance is a Stoic exercise. It curdles when the list of their faults is more vivid than the reminder that you share a rational nature. The habit is to read the next sentence, in Marcus and in your own morning speech.
Understand the philosophy
Marcus is answering the anger he expects from the day's encounters. He says people act badly because they cannot tell good from evil, a Stoic diagnosis, not a sneer he is allowed to enjoy. He exists, he tells himself, for cooperation. The book is self-command by an emperor who already knew the doctrine and still needed the reminder.
- ethics
- society
- mind
FAQ
What does it mean?
The mainstream reading is that the morning list of other people's faults is a preparation against surprise, not a licence for contempt, because the next sentences insist he must still work with them as kin in reason. A competing reading stops at the list and hears a superior man bracing for a world of fools. The note opens Book 2 of the Meditations, private Greek to himself. Hays's English is a little freer than Long's, and the kinship lines are part of the same paragraph.
Did Marcus Aurelius really say this?
Paraphrase or translation. The Greek is secure private writing. This English follows Hays closely and is a little freer than Long. The next sentences say he still has to work with them, because they share in reason.
Which work is it in?
Meditations 2.1 Approximate date: c. 170–180 CE.