When you’ve done well and another has benefited by it, why like a fool do you look for a third thing on top—credit for the good deed or a favor in return?
—Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 7.73
The answer to the question “Why did you do the right thing?” should always be “Because it was the right thing to do.” After all, when you hear or see another person do that—especially when they might have endured some hardship or difficulty as a consequence for doing that right thing—do you not think, There, that is a human being at their finest?
So why on earth do you need thanks or recognition for having done the right thing? It’s your job.
* Source: The Daily Stoic by Ryan Holiday and Stephen Hanselman