Live as if he were watching you

"Cherish a man of high character, and keep him ever before your eyes, living as if he were watching you, and ordering all your actions as if he took them." So, my dear Lucilius, that’s is the counsel of Epicurus, he has quite properly given us a guardian and an attendant. We can get rid of most sins, if we have a witness who stands near us when we are likely to go wrong. The soul should have someone who it can respect, one whose authority it may make even its inner shrine. A man is happy when he can make others better, not merely when he is in their company, but even when he is in their thoughts! And also, a man is happy if he reveres a man such as this, to calm and regulate himself by calling him to mind! A man who can revere another, will soon be worthy of reverence. Choose then Cato; or, if Cato seems too severe a model, choose Laelius, a gentler spirit. Choose a master whose life, conversation, and soul-expressing face have satisfied you; picture him always in your mind as your protector or a friend. We must indeed have someone who can regulate our characters; you can never straighten that which is crooked unless you use a ruler.