“Turn it inside out and see what it is like—what it becomes like when old, sick, or prostituting itself. How short-lived the praiser and praised, the one who remembers and the remembered. Remembered in some corner of these parts, and even there not in the same way by all, or even by one. And the whole earth is but a mere speck.”
—MARCUS AURELIUS, MEDITATIONS, 8.21
This quote encourages readers to look at things from different angles, offering two approaches to understanding: a more objective, superficial view for potentially negative situations, and a more analytical, inside-out approach for impressive or praiseworthy situations. By examining situations from different angles, one will be more capable of understanding them, and less likely to be influenced by them.
