Everything lasts for a day, the one who remembers and the remembered.
—Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 4.35
Take a walk down Forty-first Street toward the beautiful New York City Public Library, with its majestic stone lions. On your way up “Library Way,” you’ll pass a gold placard laid into the cement, part of a series of quotations from great writers throughout history. This one is from Marcus Aurelius: “Everything is only for a day, both that which remembers and that which is remembered.”
The library itself was designed by the firm of John Merven Carrere, one of the twentieth century’s most accomplished architects. It combines the collections of such luminaries and philanthropists as Samuel Tilden, John Jacob Astor, and James Lenox, and their names are carved into the stone. Today, the naming rights go to hedge fund manager Stephen A. Schwarzman. The opening of the library in 1911 was attended by President William Howard Taft, Governor John Alden Dix, and New York City mayor William Jay Gaynor. The plaques you pass on your way were designed by the excellent Gregg LeFevre.
Marcus’s quote makes us ponder: How many of these people have we even heard of? The people involved in the story of the library were some of the most famous men in the world, masters of their respective crafts, rich beyond imagination in some cases. Even along “Library Way,” many of the famous authors are unfamiliar to the modern reader. They are all long gone, as are the people who remembered them.
All of us, including Marcus—who is passed over by just as many unaware pedestrians—last for just a day, at most.
* Source: The Daily Stoic by Ryan Holiday and Stephen Hanselman