What We Do In Life Does Not Echo In Eternity

In the movie Gladiator, Maximus, the protege of Marcus Aurelius, says famously, “What we do in life, echoes in eternity.” It’s a powerful, inspiring line, (also tattooed on Lebron James’s arm) one the average viewer might assume that Marcus Aurelius agreed with. Funnily enough, in his actual writings, Marcus Aurelius could not have come out more strongly against this idea. He says at one point, in Meditations, that “People out for posthumous fame forget that the Generations to Come will be the same annoying people they know now. And just as mortal." But even if they weren’t, he asks:“What good would it do you?... You're out of step—neglecting the gifts of nature to hang on someone's words in the future."Indeed, not only do people deprive themselves of the wonder of the present in order to hopefully be remembered in the future, far too many people—especially leaders—do themselves and those they serve a disservice by “performing for history.” Instead of focusing on what they can do right now, what little progress or improvements they can make, they get caught up in the idea of a grand, sweeping legacy. Or they play things safe, not wanting to take risks that could turn out badly...at the expense of possible opportunities they’ll never even know they missed. We should want to do the right thing, today, because it’s the right thing. We should pursue excellence because excellence is intrinsically valuable, not because we want to be admired after we’re dead and gone. Forget echoing in eternity—just speak loudly enough to be heard right now. Or better yet, let your actions do the talking. 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. What We Do in Life Does Not Echo in Eternity. In the movie Gladiator, Maximus, the protege of Marcus Aurelius, says famously, "What we do in life echoes in eternity." It's a powerful, inspiring line, one the average viewer might assume that Marcus Aurelius

• 0:47Ryan Holiday?

  agrees with in real life. Funnily enough, in his actual writings, Marcus Aurelius could not have come out more strongly against this idea. He says at one point in Meditations, "That people out for posthumous fame forget that the generations to come will be the same annoying people they know now, and just as mortal. But even if they weren't," he asks, "what good would it do you? You're out of step, neglecting the gifts of nature to hang on someone's words in the future." Indeed, not only do people deprive themselves of the wonder of the present in order to hopefully be remembered in the future, far

• 1:26Ryan Holiday?

  too many people, especially leaders, do themselves and those they serve a disservice by performing for history. Instead of focusing on what they can do right now, what little progress or improvements they can make, they get caught up in the idea of a grand, sweeping legacy. Or they play things safe, not wanting to take risks that could turn out badly, at the expense of possible opportunities they'll never even know they missed. "We want to do the right thing today because it's the right thing. We should pursue excellence because excellence is intrinsically valuable, not because we want to be admired after we're dead and gone." Forget echoing in eternity, just speak loudly enough to be heard right

• 2:09Ryan Holiday?

  now. Or better yet, let your actions do the talking.

• 2:15Ryan Holiday?

  Epictetus's line was, "How much longer are you going to wait until you demand the best for yourself?" I think he was really saying, "How long are you going to wait until you demand the best of yourself?" And for that reason, we've created this new 14-day Stoic Challenge, which is going to kick off on January 1st. I hope you'll check it out. It's 14 days of awesome Stoic-based challenges that can make you a better person, a better learner, a better thinker, whatever it is. I think you'll like it. I'm going to be doing it. It's an awesome community that goes along with it. If you want to check it out, you can go to dailystoic.com/challenge. But remember, this closes on at 11:59 PM on December 31st. If you want to kick the year off right, I hope you join us, dailystoic.com/challenge.