More than 60 years ago, a young boy in Pittsburgh, PA was curious about philosophy. He went to his high school library and found a book of the writings of Kant. Excited, smart for his age, he started reading…and only made it a few pages before he threw it aside, hopelessly confused.

It was later that day, when he explained what happened to his father, that the boy’s life was changed forever. Because his father had a brand new copy of the beautiful Meditations by Marcus Aurelius. These pages, this philosophy came a bit more easily to the boy, and were still inspiring him nearly to a point of reverie decades later–infectiously so as countless students of his would attest at the news of the death of Professor Paul G. Woodruff at age 80 earlier this month.

We were lucky enough to interview Professor Woodruff on The Daily Stoic Podcast back in January, and he told us one of his favorite lessons from Meditations.

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