Hate The Sin, Love The Sinner

The stoic has strict standards. We have strong opinions about what's right and what isn't. But—and this is big but—we have to be understanding and forgiving of those who have been, as Marcus Aurelius writes, cut off from truth.

We can, to borrow an old expression, hate the sin while we love the sinner, because what they do [and] how they act is not up to us. The good we choose to see in them, to get out of them, that is in our control.

Cato hated excess ... He hated luxury. He thought to indulge in such things was weakness and stupidity. And so what did Cato think of his brother who was far less strict about these things? He loved him.