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
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.
hurt judgement i-am-hurt
Get rid of the judgement ... get rid of the 'I am hurt,' you are rid of the hurt itself.
opinion mere
Everything is mere opinion.
color emeralds doe
Whatever any one does or says, I must be good; just as if the emerald were always saying this: "Whatever any one does or says, I must still be emerald, and keep my color.
fate law purpose
God overrules all mutinous accidents, brings them under His laws of fate, and makes them all serviceable to His purpose.
vanity fame posthumous
And yet, after all, what is posthumous fame? Altogether vanity.
death if-there-is-a-god wells
It were well to die if there be gods, and sad to live if there be none.
death men names
Can we wonder that men perish and are forgotten, when their noblest and most enduring works decay? Death comes even to monumental structures, and oblivion rests on the most illustrious names.
human-nature mankind rational
A rational nature admits of nothing but what is serviceable to the rest of mankind.
two flattery ceremony
Truth and ceremony are two things.
children war holiday
Consider, for example, and you will find that almost all the transactions in the time of Vespasian differed little from those of the present day. You there find marrying and giving in marriage, educating children, sickness, death, war, joyous holidays, traffic, agriculture, flatterers, insolent pride, suspicions, laying of plots, longing for the death of others, newsmongers, lovers, misers, men canvassing far the consulship and for the kingdom; yet all these passed away, and are nowhere.
anger passion men
In the same degree in which a man's mind is nearer to freedom from all passion, in the same degree also is it nearer to strength.
live-life men good-man
Try to live the life of the good man who is more than content with what is allocated to him.
men he-man harm
That which makes the man no worse than he was makes his life no worse: it has no power to harm, without or within.