Marcus Aurelius on what is to be prized

Dying Every Day (Day 117)

Jul 24, 2025

The Night Cafe by Vincent van Gogh (1888)

💀 Dying Every Day

Dying Every Day (Stoicism in a Year) is a podcast by the Perennial Leader Project. Each episode turns a selected passage from Stoic philosophy into a guided meditation designed to help you (and me) learn how to live.

Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube

Marcus Aurelius on what is to be prized

Welcome back to Dying Every Day (Stoicism in a Year). This is Day 117.

What are we really seeking? Respect? Approval? A round of applause? For most of us, it’s easy to be pulled toward recognition—the flattering comments, social rewards, and praise from peers.

But in response to the question, “What is it in ourselves that we should prize?” Marcus Aurelius, the emperor and philosopher, warns us not to be misled.

He wrote:

An audience clapping? No. No more than the clacking of their tongues. Which is all that public praise amounts to.

Marcus reveals that public recognition is an illusion—merely words and echoes that don't nourish, ground, or endure. Relying on it means handing over your freedom to the moods and judgments of others.

The person who lives for applause becomes a prisoner of it. One harsh critic or one ignored effort can cause their self-image to start falling apart. But the person who lives for character stays free—no longer held hostage by changing opinions.

So if praise is hollow, what is worth pursuing? Marcus says,

To do (and not do) what we were designed for.

For the Stoics, living according to nature is our true nature. The Stoics taught that we are rational beings built for virtue: justice, temperance, courage, and wisdom. These are not talents we are born with but capacities we develop through deliberate effort.

As Marcus reminds us, every craft aims to bring out what something is meant to become. Why should our lives be any different? A gardener doesn’t ask whether his orchard is admired. He asks if it bears good fruit. A teacher doesn’t measure success by applause, but by transformation.

And you? Your work is your character. Marcus advises,

Hold on to that, and you won’t be tempted to aim at anything else.

Yet the temptation is strong. If you keep prizing admiration, wealth, and status, you’ll never be free. You’ll always compare, compete, and fear.

Marcus wrote to himself,

Then you’ll never be free. Because you’ll always be envious and jealous, afraid that people might come and take it all away from you.

You can't control how others perceive you. However, you can manage your intentions, choices, and reactions. That is where freedom starts.

Likewise, Viktor Frankl, psychologist and Holocaust survivor, reflected this enduring truth: “Don’t aim at success,” he stressed. The more you focus on it and set it as a goal, the more likely you are to miss it. Success will come to you naturally because you stopped making it a finish line to cross.

Live like a tree growing in silence or a flame rising on its own; fulfill your nature. Let the applause come—or not. It changes nothing.

Reflection Prompt

Consider reflecting on or journaling about what it means to pursue an education in the Stoic sense. You might ask yourself, “How would your priorities shift if you no longer needed praise to feel worthy?” Or consider, “What small daily act could help you become the person you were designed to be?”