Remember: You’re Just Passing Through

Reputation is a powerful thing. The desire to keep it, maintain it, to not betray it, was a force that made someone like Cato unstoppable. On the other hand, the desire to make it—to have a name that people know—can just as easily be a kind of deceiving, seductive distraction. Marcus Aurelius warned against chasing fame, because of how worthless it was and how easily it could be achieved by ignoble means. Yet that’s precisely what motivates most of us: We want to do great things so people will think we’re great, so they’ll remember us for forever. Blaise Pascal sounds like he was channeling Marcus and the Stoics when he pointed out that we “do not care about our reputation in towns where we are only passing through.” Isn’t that what life is? Aren’t we all just passing through? Some of us for a little longer than others, of course, but none of us are truly here to stay. Realizing that what other people think about you is not important—because we’re all just passing through—is freeing. It’s not a hall pass for bad behavior. On the contrary, it frees you to do the right thing regardless of the criticism that may come from it. It frees you from the petty squabbles and gossip of the town you’re in and lets you think about what really matters. In the end, we suspect that’s what Cato was actually doing. That people happened to respect him in his own time, that his unbending moral strength earned him fame that survived far beyond his life—that was not the end goal. The goal was doing the right thing and not giving a damn what other people thought. If they’d showered him with stones instead of praise, he’d have kept doing what needed to be done. Because what should he care—what should you care—of the opinions of people in a town you’re only passing through? See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info. 📢 Share | ⚙️ Manage Subscription

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:06Ryan Holiday?

  Welcome to The Daily Stoic, where each day we read a short passage designed to help you cultivate the strength, insight, wisdom necessary for living the good life. Each one of these passages is based on the 2,000-year-old philosophy that has guided some of history's greatest men and women. For more, you can visit us at DailyStoic.com. Remember, you're just passing through. Reputation is a powerful thing. The desire to keep it, maintain it, to not betray it, was a force that made someone like Cato unstoppable. On the other hand, the desire to make it, to have a name that people know, can just as easily be a kind of deceiving,

• 0:46Ryan Holiday?

  seductive distraction. Marcus Aurelius warned against chasing fame because of how worthless it was and how easily it could be achieved by ignoble means. Yet, that's precisely what motivates most of us. We want to do great things so that people will think we're great, so they'll remember us forever. Blaise Pascal sounds like he was channeling Marcus Aurelius and the Stoics when he pointed out that "we do not care about our reputation in towns where we are only passing through." But isn't that what life is? Aren't we all just passing through? Some of us for a little longer than others, of course, but none of us are truly here to stay. Realizing that what other people think about you is not important because

• 1:28Ryan Holiday?

  we're all just passing through is freeing. It's not a hall pass for bad behavior. On the contrary, it frees you to do the right thing regardless of the criticism that may come from it. It frees you from the petty squabbles and gossip of the town you're in and lets you think about what really matters. In the end, we suspect that's what Cato was actually doing. That people happened to respect him in his own time, that his unbending moral strength earned him fame while he was alive, that was not the end goal. The goal was doing the right thing and not giving a damn what other people thought. If they showered him with stones instead of praise, he'd have kept on doing what needed to be done. Because what should he care? And what should you care? The people,

• 2:12Ryan Holiday?

  of the opinions of people in a town you're only passing through. If you like the podcast that we do here and you want to get it via email every morning, you can sign up at dailystoic.com/email.