Marcus Aurelius
Marcus Aurelius
Marcus Aureliuswas Roman Emperor from 161 to 180. He ruled with Lucius Verus as co-emperor from 161 until Verus' death in 169. Marcus Aurelius was the last of the so-called Five Good Emperors. He was a practitioner of Stoicism, and his untitled writing, commonly known as the Meditations of Marcus Aurelius, is the most significant source of our modern understanding of ancient Stoic philosophy...
NationalityRoman
ProfessionPolitician
Date of Birth26 April 121
CityRome, Italy
patience men tolerance
All men are made one for another: either then teach them better or bear with them.
looks moments reason
Look to nothing, not even for a moment except to reason.
strong men smell
The honest and good man ought to be exactly like a man who smells strong, so that the bystander as soon as he comes near him must smell whether he choose or not.
mean cities rome
My city and state are Rome. But as a human being? The world. So for me, "good" can only mean what's good for both communities.
character eye home
As for others whose lives are not so ordered, he reminds himself constantly of the characters they exhibit daily and nightly at home and abroad, and of the sort of society they frequent; and the approval of such men, who do not even stand well in their own eyes, has no value for him.
We are the other of the other
duration today generations
Everything is banal in experience, fleeting in duration, sordid in content; in all respects the same today as generations now dead and buried have found it to be.
gratitude sadness expression
In an expression of true gratitude, sadness is conspicuous only by its absence
men ridiculous impossible
It is a ridiculous thing for a man not to fly from his own badness, which is indeed possible, but to fly from other men's badness, which is impossible.
world opinion this-life
The world is mere change, and this life, opinion.
morning ungrateful arrogant
"Begin the morning by saying to thyself, I shall meet with the busy-body, the ungrateful, arrogant, deceitful, envious, unsocial
stars distance unity
And in the case of superior things like stars, we discover a kind of unity in separation. The higher we rise on the scale of being, the easier it is to discern a connection even among things separated by vast distances.
men care feels
When men are inhuman, take care not to feel towards them as they do towards other humans.
judgement today circumstances
Today I escaped all circumstance, or rather I cast out all circumstance, for it was not outside me, but within my judgements.