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
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.
soul inward leisure
Neither in thy actions be sluggish nor in thy conversation without method, nor wandering in thy thoughts, nor let there be in thy soul inward contention nor external effusion, nor in life be so busy as to have no leisure.
men wish despise
Men despise one another and flatter one another; and men wish to raise themselves above one another, and crouch before one another.
lambs particular asks
For any particular thing, ask: What is it in itself? What is its nature?
men people sake
Men are born for each other's sake, so either teach people or endure them
good-person should ends
Put an end once and for all to this discussion of what a good person should be, and be one.
perception haste hours
We must press on then, in haste; not simply because every hour brings us nearer to death, but because even before then our powers of perception and comprehension begin to deteriorate.
men sole deprived
...the sole thing of which any man can be deprived is the present; since this is all he owns, and nobody can lose what is not his.
rivers events violent
Time is like a river made up of the events which happen, and a violent stream; for as soon as a thing has been seen, it is carried away, and another comes in its place, and this will be carried away too.
men evil should
Why should a man have any apprehension about the change and dissolution of all the elements? For it is according to nature, and nothing is evil which is according to nature.
past men soul
Consider in what condition both in body and soul a man should be when he is overtaken by death; and consider the shortness of life, the boundless abyss of time past and future, the feebleness of all matter.