Be Humble and Stop Looking for Fame in Your Work
Welcome back to Mid-Week Meditations , Lifehacker’s weekly dive into the pool of stoic wisdom and how you can use its waters to meditate and improve your life.
This week’s choice is from Cato the Elder or Mark Porcius Cato and is found in Plutarch ‘s Parallel Lives . Cato the Elder is not considered a stoic, like his grandson Cato the Younger , but he was still called “Cato the Wise”, and for good reason:
… [Cato] laughed at those who enjoyed such honors, saying that although they did not know it, their pride was based simply on the work of sculptors and painters, while his own images, of the most exquisite craftsmanship, grew in the hearts of his fellow citizens. And to those who expressed their surprise at the fact that many people without fame had statues, but he did not have them, he said: “ I would rather people ask why I don’t have a statue than why I have one. there is. In short, he believed that a decent citizen should not allow himself even praise, unless such praise is beneficial to society. – Parallel Lives 2.19.3
What does it mean
As a Roman censor, Cato did his best to rebuild Rome and make it better for its citizens, but he did not do so in order to obtain the statue. He did it because he knew it was right for the common good. He remained humble and never let praise distract him from doing great work.
When he says, “I would rather people ask why I don’t have a statue than why I have one,” he says it’s better for people to value your ability and deserve praise than to get praise and have others. wondering why you deserve it. Or, to put it simply, it’s better for people to say, “Hey, you deserve a statue for what you did,” than to actually have one, and people say, “Why the hell do you have a statue?”
What to take from there
This quote is a lesson in humility and invites you to do a good job no matter how much attention and reward you get from it. Cato condemns those whose pride is based solely on the external praise they receive (“the work of sculptors and painters”). You should just be proud of your work, no matter how much praise you may or may not receive.
And Cato protects those who do not seek fame and prefer to see the praise for their work, “living in the hearts of his fellow citizens.” Work well enough. So ask yourself, are you doing your job just for praise? Are you right after the statue? Put yourself in your place and just focus on doing your job the best you can, not what you get out of it. Better to deserve a statue and not have it than to have a statue and not deserve it.
You can read the entire book of Plutarch, The Life of Cato the Elder, for free here .