《沉思录·卷三·写于卡尔农图姆》第7条
Never value anything as profitable to thyself which shall compel thee to break thy promise, to lose thy self-respect, to hate any man, to suspect, to curse, to act the hypocrite, to desire anything which needs walls and curtains: for he who has preferred to everything else his own intelligence and daemon and the worship of its excellence, acts no tragic part, does not groan, will not need either solitude or much company; and, what is chief of all, he will live without either pursuing or flying from [death]; but whether for a longer or a shorter time he shall have the soul enclosed in the body, he cares not at all: for even if he must depart immediately, he will go as readily as if he were going to do anything else which can be done with decency and order; taking care of this only all through life, that his thoughts turn not away from anything which belongs to an intelligent animal and a member of a civil community.
注释摘要
这一段提出的是一个根本性的交易：什么东西值得你拿自己的人格完整性去换。奥勒留用的标准是纯内在的，完全不涉及后果、名誉、得失。他不是在说这些行为本身有多坏，而是在说，一旦某件所谓的利益让你不得不做这些事，它就根本不配被称为利益。因为你付出的代价是那个唯一真正属于你的东西。 这里面列出的清单值得逐一看。违背诺言，失去自尊，憎恨，猜疑，诅咒，伪善，以及欲求那些需…