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Marcus Aurelius · Meditations VI.12

Let the court and philosophy be step-mother and mother to you. Return to philosophy frequently and rest in her, through whom what you meet in the court appears tolerable.
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations (Meditations VI.12)

What this means

Marcus pictures his public duties as a demanding stepmother and philosophy as his true mother, the one he returns to for rest. The court does not become less tiresome, but coming back to his principles makes it bearable. Practice is what lets him re-enter the noise without being ruined by it.

On solitude, reason, work.

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Meditations

Marcus Aurelius · trans. Gregory Hays · Modern Library

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