How much trouble he avoids who does not look to see what his neighbour says.
Marcus Aurelius Meditations, Book IV, §18 (180 CE) Translated by Gregory Hays
Source checked by an editor
When and why it was written
- When
- Around 170 CE, in private notebooks written on campaign in the north.
- Why
- Marcus was emperor, surrounded by advisors, factions and gossip. These notes are him managing his own attention.
What it means
This is written by someone with an unusual amount of commentary directed at him, and it reads as relief rather than superiority.
The economy he notices is real: attention spent tracking what others say about you is attention unavailable for the work. He is not claiming indifference is virtuous. He is noticing how much trouble the alternative manufactures.
Our reading of the passage cited above, not a quotation from a commentary.
Read the source
Meditations, 180 CE
Your turn
When did you compare yourself to others today?
Saved to this device only. Nothing is sent to a server.
Continue transfers only this reflection. Review your account before saving. Your original browser copy stays here.
Read next
Waste no more time arguing what a good man should be. Be one.
Meditations, Book X, §16 (180 CE)
The impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way.
Meditations, Book V, §20 (180 CE)
Accept the things to which fate binds you, and love the people with whom fate brings you together.
Meditations, Book VI, §39 (180 CE)