Patience & Prudence. Marcus Aurelius 5.9

Marcus exhorts himself to remain committed to good action, even when he does not find easy success. This, for him, is philosophy: once you become convicted or convinced of any action's worth, don't give it up merely because it gets hard. The best pleasure comes from persisting in good deeds.

Μὴ σικχαίνειν μηδὲ ἀπαυδᾶν μηδὲ ἀποδυσπετεῖν, εἰ μὴ καταπυκνοῦταί σοι τὸ ἀπὸ δογμάτων ὀρθῶν ἕκαστα πράσσειν, ἀλλὰ ἐκκρουσθέντα πάλιν ἐπανιέναι καὶ ἀσμενίζειν, εἰ τὰ πλείω ἀνθρωπικώτερα, καὶ φιλεῖν τοῦτο, ἐφ’ ὃ ἐπανέρχῃ, καὶ μὴ ὡς πρὸς παιδαγωγὸν τὴν φιλοσοφίαν ἐπανιέναι, ἀλλ’ ὡς οἱ ὀφθαλμιῶντες πρὸς τὸ σπογγάριον καὶ τὸ ᾠόν, ὡς ἄλλος πρὸς κατάπλασμα, ὡς πρὸς καταιόνησιν. οὕτως γὰρ οὐδὲν ἐπιδείξῃ τὸ πειθαρχεῖν τῷ λόγῳ, ἀλλὰ προσαναπαύσῃ αὐτῷ. μέμνησο δὲ ὅτι φιλοσοφία μόνα, ἃ θέλει ἡ φύσις σου, θέλει· σὺ δὲ ἄλλο ἤθελες οὐ κατὰ φύσιν. τί γὰρ τούτων προσηνέστερον; ἡ γὰρ ἡδονὴ οὐχὶ διὰ τοῦτο σφάλλει; ἀλλὰ θέασαι, εἰ προσηνέστερον μεγαλοψυχία, ἐλευθερία, ἁπλότης, εὐγνωμοσύνη, ὁσιότης. αὐτῆς γὰρ φρονήσεως τί προσηνέστερον, ὅταν τὸ ἄπταιστον καὶ εὔρουν ἐν πᾶσι τῆς παρακολουθητικῆς καὶ ἐπιστημονικῆς δυνάμεως ἐνθυμηθῇς;

Unless you have already exhausted every practical plan for achieving some good action, do not let yourself loathe, leave, or lose touch with it. Though your efforts fail, return to them again and again with good cheer, even when they involve decisions fraught with human error. Love the task that calls you back. This task is your philosophy, and you should not return to her grudgingly, as though she were a harsh schoolmarm. Instead, approach her the way that chronically ill patients approach their remedies—the way folk with inflamed eyes approach ointments and the cupping-glass (†); the way otherwise healthy people keep coming back to poultices and liniments, when they suffer from fevers or aching. In this way, your commitment to philosophy will become real, rather than rhetorical. Remember that philosophy wants only what things your own nature requires. You, on the other hand, consistently want unnatural things. Which desires are better? Following yours will be pleasurable for a moment, yes, but won't that pleasure wreck you in the end? Now consider the alternative. Is there anything more pleasant than natural virtues—generosity, freedom, simplicity, courtesy, piety? Anything more to be desired than wisdom and prudence herself, when you search the deepest corners of your mind, looking for the firmest and fittest commitments our rational faculties can grasp?

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(†) A small, egg-shaped glass that the ancients used instead of an eye-dropper.