Cicero on being true to one’s own nature while respecting the common nature of others (c. 50 BCE)

Cicero recognises that one of the great difficulties of living in a society is how individuals can balance their desire to pursue their own selfish and personal interests against the equal desire of others to pursue their own, possibly very different, goals and interests. The first step in his view is to determine what one’s own nature is, what are one’s own “peculiarities” as he put it, and to endeavour to live one’s own life accordingly. The second step is to recognize that everyone else also has their own peculiar nature which they wish to live by. Peaceful co-existence is only possible when each person acknowledges and respects “our common human nature”. The third step in Cicero’s plan for good living, is that we step back now and again to reassess whether the goals we have chosen to pursue are in fact consistent with our own nature, to see what other people have chosen for their goals and whether or not they might suit us better, and to adjust our behaviour accordingly. He concludes with the sound advice, “Let us therefore bestow our diligence chiefly on those concerns for which we are the best fitted.”