The Stoic Key to Kindness

We should bear in mind constantly that death comes to men of all kinds, men with varied occupations and various ethnicities. We too will inevitably end up where so many (of our heroes) have gone. Heraclitus, Pythagoras, Socrates, brilliant intellectuals, high-minded men, hard workers, men of ingenuity, self-confident men, men who mocked the very transience and impermanence of human life, men long dead and buried.

Only one thing is important: to behave throughout our life toward the liars and crooks around us with kindness, honesty, and justice.

The key to kindness, as Marcus Aurelius observed is keeping “the purity, lucidity, moderation, and justice of our mind” from being sullied by the actions of those we encounter, no matter how disagreeable and discomposed by unreason they may be.

You will live a good life if you complete every task at hand by acting assiduously, resolutely, and with kindness following the right reason; if, rather than becoming sidetracked by unimportant matters, you maintain your guardian spirit untarnished and steady; if you engage in the task without expectations or evasions, but satisfied your current performance as per nature, and if what you say and express is said with true Roman honesty. Nobody can prevent you from doing so, either!