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Meditations · Book VIII · 53Meditations

Book VIII · 53

Dost thou wish to be praised by a man who curses himself thrice every hour? wouldst thou wish to please a man who does not please himself? Does a man please himself who repents of nearly everything that he does?

Carest thou to be praised by a man who execrates himself thrice within the hour? to win the approval of a man who wins not his own? Can he be said to win his own approval who regrets almost every thing he does?

Marcus Aurelius, Meditations VIII.53. Translated by George Long (1862). The Stoic Library.