The best way of avenging thyself is not to become like [the wrong-doer].

Marcus Aurelius places this brief instruction in Book VI of Meditations. It turns revenge into a question about the person carrying it out. If someone behaves badly, copying that behavior gives them influence over your character as well as your afternoon. The bracketed words in this English version come from George Long's translation; the ethical emphasis is on refusing imitation.

The thought does not require pretending that an injury was harmless. A boundary, a complaint, or a decision to leave can all be compatible with it. What Marcus challenges is the satisfying little argument that cruelty becomes acceptable once somebody else has demonstrated it first. That argument allows the worst person in the exchange to choose the rules for everyone. A different response preserves the possibility of choosing your own.

Our tuxedo cat turns away while another cat remains in the background. The scene is a visual joke about declining an invitation to drama, rather than a claim about feline moral philosophy. Sometimes the most useful thing in a hallway is an exit. The offended human may still need to resolve the problem, but there is no requirement to acquire the problem's personality on the way.