Marcus Aurelius, Meditations: Book 5:16
Each creature is made in the interest of another; its course is directed to that for which it was made; its end lies in that to which its course is directed; and where its end is, there also for each is its benefit and its good. It follows that the good of a rational creature is community. It has long been shown that we are born for community — or was it not clear that inferior creatures are made in the interest of the superior, and the superior in the interest of each other?
Themes
Marcus Aurelius was a Roman Emperor from 161 to 180 AD. He was the last of the Five Good Emperors, and is also considered one of the most important Stoic philosophers.