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April 30
Day 120/365: Marcus Aurelius on the one who remembers
Logan
April 30, 2025
Welcome to The Stoic Ledger, a daily money meditation from one of the Stoic sages.
120/365: Marcus Aurelius on the one who remembers
“Turn it inside our and see what it is like—what it becomes like when old, sick, or prostituting itself. How short-lived the praiser and the praised, the one who remembers and the remembered. Remembered in some corner of these parts, and even there not in the same way by all, or even by one. And the whole earth is but a mere speck.” – Marcus Aurelius
Greatness fades away. So too the small subset of people that remembered all your successes, speeches, accomplishments, beneficence, wit, bank balances, and so on.
Nothing mortal remains, which should alleviate any concern we have for long standing personal greatness.
When we are gone, perhaps our descendants and friends remain, and they’ll remember us. But what happens when they are gone? Their friends and descendants? Our legacy stops somewhere, so Marcus Aurelius is imploring us to inspect each facet of the thing we want to become, or are presently in route to become.
How does that money look on that grumpy old person with no friends?
How do all those promotions look on that father with a resentful, fragmented family?
Look at what you’re doing from every imaginable angle today.
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