Hello everyone,
Welcome to a new lesson from a book I reviewed on February 17, 2026. I will shed more light on what I learned from the book. So today's writing will be another lesson concept from the book Meditations by Marcus Aurelius, but the new lesson will be from the quote in the book:
“Waste no more time arguing about what a good man should be. Be one.”
If you would like to read the previous book review I wrote in the past, one with a different quote from the same book, here is the link
The first thing that is obvious about this quote is that it is direct and challenging. There is no beating around the bush when it comes to the author Marcus Aurelius, and the most interesting part that fascinates me about the book is the fact that it was written by the Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius between 170 and 180 CE, and the knowledge from the book can still be used in the world of today. It is not about criticizing people, calling out their virtues, and pointing out places they could have done better, but you go and be the good person. It reminds me of the saying: be the change you want to see in the world.
It is super easy to criticize and call out people for what they are not. We all can sum up what a good person is and how you can identify one. Then the question remains, are you that person? Never judge a man until you walk in his shoes and let us see how you will do things differently. In today's world, it is very easy to see this at play. People can easily trash talk about prominent people and call them out for what they did and what they did not do. This happens a lot to people in power. Not to say it is all bad. It is alright to air your mind, but the moment it becomes falsified, and insults are thrown around, I have to say a line has been crossed. We can all talk about others while we examine their life. Then have you ever taken a second to think about what you would have done differently if it were you in that same position? They say you can never know a person completely until you see them in power.
I remember watching a cooking show, and I saw how the judge criticized the chef, and it felt bad when the chef felt all emotional and teared up. I felt the criticism was a bit overboard, and I am saying this because I have seen a couple of cooking shows with judges like Ramsey, a renowned chef, and they will spell out what was wrong with the food or the process it was made. But for this cooking show I watched on YouTube, the Judge was nothing like that, and his criticism felt personal because tell me why you did not stop when you saw the chef teared up. All just to find out that the judge was not even a chef in any way. Just an influencer that was invited, and all of a sudden he claims to be an authority in cooking, or at least he was trying to be one. The bottom line is this: the judge did not have any credentials but made criticisms of someone who did the work.
Marcus Aurelius has said it: go and be a good person, and do not mention morals and what being good means. The accolades remain to the man who goes into the arena over and over again despite the setbacks and criticisms.
