The people I deal with today will be meddling, ungrateful, arrogant, dishonest, jealous, and surly. They are like this because they can’t tell good from evil. But I have seen the beauty of good, and the ugliness of evil, and have recognized that the wrongdoer has a nature related to my own — not of the same blood or birth, but the same mind, and possessing a share of the divine. And so none of them can hurt me. No one can implicate me in ugliness. Nor can I feel angry at my relative, or hate him. We were born to work together like feet, hands, and eyes, like the two rows of teeth, upper and lower. To obstruct each other is unnatural. To feel anger at someone, to turn your back on him: these are obstructions.

- Marcus Aurelius

Marcus was the last of Romes “Five Good Emperors”, a reign of emperors who ruled not out of fear, but through good character and the love for their people.

Even though Marcus’ times were plagued by famine, plague and war, he carried out his duties with unwavering purpose and grace. Marcus was a stoic. He understood the nature of the world and tried not to control it, but instead focused his energy on choosing how he responded.

The passage is an early verse from Marcus’ notes titled “Meditations”. It is also what got me hooked to Stoicism, a school of philosophy that I continue to study to this day.