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Marcus Aurelius · Meditations XI.18

If people do rightly, we should not be displeased. If they do not, they do so involuntarily. Every soul is unwillingly deprived of truth and the power to behave justly.
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations (Meditations XI.18)

What this means

Faced with someone behaving badly, Marcus reasons that no soul is willingly cut off from truth and justice; people err because they cannot, in that moment, see better. If the wrong is involuntary, anger misfires. Understanding replaces resentment without excusing the act.

On people, judgment, anger.

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Meditations

Marcus Aurelius · trans. Gregory Hays · Modern Library

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