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
common harm badness
If this is neither my own badness, nor an effect of my own badness, and the common weal is not injured, why am I troubled about it? And what is the harm to the common weal?
fall air stones
The stone that is thrown into the air is none the worse for falling down, and none the better for going up.
pain life-and-death noble
Death and life, success and failure, pain and pleasure, wealth and poverty, all these happen to good and bad alike, and they are neither noble nor shameful - and hence neither good nor bad.
ephemeral reputation fame
All is Ephemeral, fame and the famous as well.
light justice shining
Does the light of the lamp shine without losing its splendour until it is extinguished; and shall the truth which is in thee and justice and temperance be extinguished before thy death?
men going-out world
I am called to man's labour; why then do I make a difficulty if I am going out to do what I was born to do and what I was brought into the world for?
art men life-is
Consider when thou art much vexed or grieved, that man's life is only a moment, and after a short time we are all laid out dead.
self-improvement wickedness ridiculous
How ridiculous not to flee from one's own wickedness, which is possible, yet endeavor to flee from another's which is not.
powerful puppets miraculous
It's time you realized that you have something in you more powerful and miraculous than the things that affect you and make you dance like a puppet.
art simple years
Enough of this wretched life and murmuring and apish tricks. Why art thou disturbed? What is there new in this? What unsettles thee? Is it the form of the thing? Look at it. Or is it the matter? Look at it. But besides these there is nothing. Towards the gods, then, now become at last more simple and better. It is the same whether we examine these things for a hundred years or three.
common action aim
Let every action aim solely at the common good.
men giving cheerful
Be cheerful, also, and seek not external help, nor the peace which others give. A man must stand straight, and not be kept straight by others.
men done harm
If any man has done wrong, the harm is his own. But perhaps he has not done wrong.
life taken past
Remember that even if you were to live for three thousand years, or thirty thousand, you could not lose any other life than the one you have, and there will be no other life after it. So the longest and the shortest lives are the same. The present moment is shared by all living creatures, but the time that is past is gone forever. No one can lose the past or the future, for if they don't belong to you, how can they be taken from you?