I quite like this stoic advice from my good friend Marc (Meditations, book 4, paragraph 22):Never allow yourself to be swept off your feet; when an impulse stirs, see first that it will meet the claims of justice; when an impression forms, assure yourself first of its certainty.This sounds like fine and noble advice. But I also get the impression that, to many of the more fiery folks I know, Marc's words might seem to limit the human experience. Am I simply getting old, or are these words truly as wise as they seem?
Photo credit:
Image of Marc from the movie Gladiator, via this site. (Actually, this is of an actor playing Marc. My friend has never had his photograph taken; he's kind of old-fashioned that way.)
I believe Aurelius' Meditations to be one of the great works of philosophy, if not literature. What is even more amazing is that he wrote them for himself, never intending them for publication (or so I have heard).
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