I wear a bracelet with a Latin phrase on it, which is exactly as insufferable as it sounds. Materiam Superabat Opus. This phrase is so important to me that I had a box of pencils made with it etched on the side so I see it every time I write something down. I also laser engraved it on the inside of my belt so I think about it when I put my pants on in the morning and take them off at night. Today, I want to explain.

Ovid, in Metamorphoses, at the very beginning of Book 2, describes the doors of the Sun God’s palace. The god of the forge, Mulciber (Vulcan), carved the whole world onto them. They held the sea, the land, the rivers, the sky, and all their gods and people. The doors were made of precious silver, and yet, Ovid explains, the workmanship surpassed them. Materiam Superabat Opus means “the work was better than the material.”

The first time I read this phrase, it flattened me.

I like to think of myself as a craftsman. I make things, both with my words and with my hands. Being a craftsman is a core part of my identity. When I’m entrusted with a piece of material (whether it’s an idea or a slab of walnut), my goal is to leave it better than I found it.

But for me, Materiam Superabat Opus runs much deeper. I think about it in terms of my life. Specifically, I don’t think I am a particularly smart or clever person. As I was growing up, there was always somebody smarter, faster, wittier, and certainly better looking than me.

From an early age, I realized that if I was going to make my way in this world, I had to make the best of what I had. I had to cobble together what skills and talent I did have to make the best version of myself. I think it explains why I’ve always been so interested in automation and optimization, a pursuit that pre-dates my first run-in with a computer.

If there is anything that I’ve got going for me, it’s my willingness to do what it takes to make the best out of what I have. My sincere desire is that the sum total of my life exceeds the toolkit I was given. In the end, I want them to say, “With modest material he did good work.”

Materiam Superabat Opus