Human judgment is trivial. Marcus Aurelius 4.3.3

Marcus urges us to avoid making too much of what is sometimes called the judgment of history. We cannot presume that our real value is reflected in the arbitrary, capricious, and ultimately empty world of human gossip, not even when this world presents a brave or beautiful face, making us seem momentarily more significant or righteous than we really are.

ἀλλὰ τὸ δοξάριόν σε περισπάσει; ἀπιδὼν εἰς τὸ τάχος τῆς πάντων λήθης καὶ τὸ χάος τοῦ ἐφ᾽ ἑκάτερα ἀπείρου αἰῶνος καὶ τὸ κενὸν τῆς ἀπηχήσεως καὶ τὸ εὐμετάβολον καὶ ἄκριτον τῶν εὐφημεῖν δοκούντων καὶ τὸ στενὸν τοῦ τόπου, ἐν ᾧ περιγράφεται· ὅλη τε γὰρ ἡ γῆ στιγμὴ καὶ ταύτης πόστον γωνίδιον ἡ κατοίκησις αὕτη; καὶ ἐνταῦθα πόσοι καὶ οἷοί τινες οἱ ἐπαινεσόμενοι;

Perhaps it is the opinion of others that threatens to distract you? Look away for a moment! Consider the speed with which all things are forgotten, the abyss of boundless eternity that swallows up each individual thing. How empty our echo in history! How fickle and devoid of judgment those who affect to give us praise, and how narrow the space allotted for winning it. For all the earth is but a single point, in the grand scheme of things, and what little fraction of it do you suppose to be inhabited? (†) How many of us, then, are going to be praised, and what quality will they possess?

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(†) In our day, the human population is much greater than in Marcus' time. But we can still readily find places with relatively few inhabitants, places immune to the reach of human opinion. That is one of nature's greatest gifts to us: that she does not mind what we think. It is interesting to notice that ancient folk were quite capable of seeing humanity, and even the earth in general, as being quite small and trivial in the universe.