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
hate hypocrite thinking
Think nothing profitable to you which compels you to break a promise, to lose your self respect, to hate any person, to curse, to act the hypocrite.
ambition mean self
Ambition means tying your well-being to what other people say or do. Self-indulgence means tying it to the things that happen to you. Sanity means tying it to your own actions.
thinking
Everything is but what we think it.
may should
You should banish any thoughts of how you may appear to others.
science men he-man
The man who doesn't know what the universe is doesn't know where he lives.
choices world add
This is enough. Do not add, And why were such things made in the world?
children age youth
Turn thy thoughts now to the consideration of thy life, thy life as a child, as a youth, thy manhood, thy old age, for in these also every change was a death. Is this anything to fear?
world forgotten
Soon you will have forgotten the world, and soon the world will have forgotten you.
animal given rational
Only to the rational animal is it given to follow voluntarily what happens; but simply to follow is a necessity imposed on all.
heart men secret
No state sorrier than that of the man who keeps up a continual round, and pries into "the secrets of the nether world," as saith the poet, and is curious in conjecture of what is in his neighbour's heart.
men use may
In the case of all things which have a certain constitution, whatever harm may happen to any of them, that which is affected becomes consequently worse; but in like case, a man becomes both better... and more worthy of praise, by making the right use of these accidents.
soul littles body
I consist of a little body and a soul.
luck chance constant
A lucky chance is constant in nothing but inconstancy.
men understanding desire
Remember that there is a God who desires neither praise nor glory from men created in his image, but rather that they, guided by the understanding given them, should in their actions become like unto him.