The Daily Stoic - The Only Part Of Your Reputation To Worry About
Episode Date: September 6, 2023The Stoics were towering figures of their own time. Marcus Aurelius was cheered in the streets. Cato was widely admired. Musonius Rufus was called the Roman Socrates. Their reputations preced...ed them, as it should with anyone who takes their commitment to the virtues of courage and discipline and justice and wisdom seriously.But how do we square these reputations, which the men obviously cultivated and worked hard not to betray, with the idea that a Stoic isn’t supposed to care about what others think?✉️ Sign up for the Daily Stoic email: https://dailystoic.com/dailyemail🏛 Check out the Daily Stoic Store for Stoic inspired products, signed books, and more.📱 Follow us: Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok, FacebookSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
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As I've said before, my thing is I do something hard every single day.
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The only part of your reputation to worry about. The Stoics were towering figures of their own time.
Marcus Aurelius was cheered in the streets.
Cato was widely admired.
Musoneus Rufus was called the Roman Socrates.
Their reputations preceded them as it should with anyone who takes their commitment to the
virtues of courage and discipline and justice and wisdom.
Seriously.
But how do we square these reputations, which these men obviously cultivated and worked
hard not to betray, with the idea that the Stoic isn't supposed to care about what others
think?
How can one simultaneously try to protect their good name and be indifferent to what their
name means to others?
After all, isn't being respected by others, being well-known for our skills and talents
and character, and that's something that's outside of our control, being respected by
people, being well-known for our skills and talents and character?
The paradoxes perfectly solved, fittingly, in a play about Kato.
Written by Joseph Addison in 1712, Cato was immensely popular in its own time.
In fact, it was constantly quoted
by the founding fathers in pivotal moments
during the American Revolution.
The line says, we can't guarantee success,
we can do something better, we can deserve it.
And the same goes for reputations.
Nothing we do can ensure that we get the reputation
we deserve, but we can deserve a good one.
We don't know whether people will recognize our honesty or hard work or grace under pressure, but we can deserve a good one. We don't know whether
people will recognize our honesty or hard work or grace under pressure, so we shouldn't worry about
it. We should spend a lot of time trying to be honest, trying to be dedicated, trying to be poised.
Whether a scientist's groundbreaking ideas will be understood is not up to them. The time they
spend in the laboratory, the time they spend trying to communicate their ideas, that is up to them.
No one can guarantee you a reputation on par with Cato or Marcus or Musoneus, but there's
something better out there, deserving it. Hey, Prime Members!
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