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CONSIDER YOUR FAILINGS TOO

“Whenever you take offense at someone’s wrongdoing, immediately turn to your own similar failings, such as seeing money as good, or pleasure, or a little fame-whatever form it takes. By thinking on this, you’ll quickly forget your anger, considering also what compels them—for what else could they do? Or, if you are able, remove their compulsion.”

- MARCUS AURELIUS, MEDITATIONS

Summary:
Marcus Aurelius counsels that when others wrong us, we should pause and reflect on our faults. By remembering our shared human weaknesses, anger dissolves into understanding.

Interpretation:
Offence often springs from forgetting our imperfections. We demand perfection in others while excusing our lapses. Marcus offers a corrective: instead of indulging anger, recognise the universal struggle—desire, ambition, fear—that drives human behaviour. This shift in perspective reframes wrongdoing not as a personal attack, but as a symptom of the same frailties we harbour. Compassion replaces resentment, humility replaces judgment. And if we are in a position to help—by easing another’s ignorance or compulsion—we should do so, not with scorn, but with patient guidance. In seeing ourselves in others, we become less quick to condemn and more prepared to forgive.

 

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