Daily Meditations · Saturday, July 11, 2026
On other people
When you wake up in the morning, tell yourself: the people I deal with today will be meddling, ungrateful, arrogant, dishonest, jealous, and surly. — Marcus Aurelius, Meditations II.1
This is the opening of Book II of the Meditations, written while Marcus was on military campaign, far from the city, surrounded by people whose cooperation he needed and could not command. It reads harsh until you finish the passage: he goes on to say these people act this way because they cannot tell good from evil, and that he, sharing the same nature, cannot be truly harmed by them.
The move is not contempt. It's preparation. Marcus is inoculating himself against the small daily shock of other people being difficult, so that when it happens he meets it with understanding instead of indignation. He expected the friction in advance, which is precisely what kept it from running his morning.
Who are you likely to find difficult today, and what would it cost you to expect it calmly in advance?
