From Meditations

Book One

#6 Thanks to Diognetus, I learnt not to be absorbed in trivial pursuits; to be sceptical of wizards and wonder-workers with their tales of spells, exorcisms and the like; to eschew cockfighting and other such distractions…

The meaning of this part of the quote is that if one should wish to be one’s best self, it is in their interest to ignore anything that would take one from their studies. It also reminds me of the Eleanor Roosevelt quote:

‘Great minds discuss ideas. Average minds discuss events. Small minds discuss people.’

In other words, the greater the mind, the grander the topics up for discussion. It’s as if the topics of interest are proportional to the size of the mind of the person interested by them.