Marcus Aurelius was Emperor of Rome. He commanded the largest army in the world, oversaw an empire of 60 million people, and could have had anything built, done, or written that he wished.
What he wrote, in private, was notes to himself about how to be a better person.
"Begin the morning by saying to yourself: I shall meet today with meddlers, ingrates, the arrogant, the deceitful, the envious, and the selfish. These things happen to them because they do not know what is good and what is evil. But I have seen the good in goodness itself and the evil in evil. So I can neither be harmed by any of them — for no one can involve me in what is degrading — nor can I be angry at any of my kin or hate them."
He wrote this not for publication, not for posterity, not for empire. He titled the notes in Greek: *Ta eis heauton.* To Himself.
The most powerful man in the world was doing the same thing the rest of us do at our best — trying to talk himself into being the person he wanted to be.
The book was never published in his lifetime. It survived by accident. Two thousand years later, it's never been out of print.
Some things worth saying aren't meant for anyone else. Until suddenly they're meant for everyone.
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