Marcus Aurelius Meditations
Marcus Aurelius: There is not any man that is so happy…
There is not any man that is so happy in his death, but that some of those that are by him when he dies, will be ready to rejoice at his supposed calamity. Is it one that was virtuous and wise indeed? will there not some one or other be found, who thus will say to himself; 'Well now at last shall I be at rest from this pedagogue.
The passage follows a public-domain translation of Meditations. The reading beside it is ours.
No amount of achievement can guarantee that everyone will miss you when you are gone. Even a wise or admirable person can be exhausting to somebody. There may be a colleague who resents your standards, a relative relieved that an old conflict is over, or a stranger who barely notices. Marcus finds freedom in this. If universal approval is impossible even at the end of life, why arrange your life around it now? Be fair, be useful, be willing to learn—but do not exhaust yourself trying to become uncriticizable. That person does not exist. The goal is not to leave behind unanimous praise. It is to have lived in a way you can answer for. Today, let one imagined judgment from another person lose its hold. Give your attention back to the work and relationships that are actually in front of you.
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