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
mind
Enter others' minds and let them enter yours.
people
People exist for one another.
assessment problem erase
External things are not the problem. It's your assessment of them. Which you can erase right now.
people mind different
People find pressure in different ways. I find it in keeping my mind clear. In not turning away from people or the things that happen to them. In accepting and welcoming everything I see. In treating each thing as it deserves.
goodbye live-your-life pleasant-surprises
Live your life as if you are ready to say goodbye to it at any moment, as if the time left for you were some pleasant surprise.
circles eternity form
All things from eternity are of like forms and come round in circle.
eye hands feet
We are born for synergy, just like the feet, just like the hands, just like the eyes, just like the rows of upper and lower teeth. Working against each other is unnatural, and being annoyed and turning one's back is counterproductive.
country thinking towns
Think of the country mouse and of the town mouse, and of the alarm and trepidation of the town mouse.
eye vision done
They know not how many things are signified by the words stealing, sowing, buying, keeping quiet, seeing what ought to be done; for this is not effected by the eyes, but by another kind of vision.
character hypocrite perfection
The perfection of moral character consists in this, in passing every day as the last, and in being neither violently excited nor torpid nor playing the hypocrite.
eye healthy wish
The healthy eye ought to see all visible things and not to say, I wish for green things; for this is the condition of a diseased eye.
thee pauses ifs
Severally on the occasion of everything that thou doest, pause and ask thyself, if death is a dreadful thing because it deprives thee of this.
two people flattery
People generally despise where they flatter, and cringe to those they would gladly overtop; so that truth and ceremony are two things.
ignorance men stronger
Nothing happens to any man which he is not formed by nature to bear. The same things happen to another, and either because he does not see that they have happened or because he would show a great spirit he is firm and remains unharmed. It is a shame then that ignorance and conceit should be stronger than wisdom.