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
fate perfection each-day
This is moral perfection: to live each day as though it were the last; to be tranquil, sincere, yet not indifferent to one's fate.
character perfection lasts
To live each day as though one's last, never flustered, never apathetic, never attitudinizing - here is the perfection of character.
responsibility perfect people
It is the responsibility of leadership to work intelligently with what is given, and not waste time fantasizing about a world of flawless people and perfect choices.
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.
strong men perfect
Which is recorded of Socrates, that he was able both to abstain from, and to enjoy, those things which many are too weak to abstain from, and cannot enjoy without excess. But to be strong enough both to bear the one and to be sober in the other is the mark of a man who has a perfect and invincible soul.
peace men perfect
For nowhere either with more quiet or more freedom from trouble does a man retire than into his own soul, particularly when he has within him such thoughts that by looking into them he is immediately in perfect tranquility; and I affirm that tranquility is nothing else than the good ordering of the mind.
character perfect lasts
This is the mark of a perfect character - to pass through each day as though it were the last, without agitation, without torpor, and without pretense.
perfect mind desire
It is in your power to withdraw yourself whenever you desire. Perfect tranquility within consists in the good ordering of the mind, the realm of your own.
happiness perfection mind
Happiness is no other than soundness and perfection of mind.
exist free robber writes
The robber of your free will," writes Epictetus, "does not exist
compared embrace music sexual
The sexual embrace can only be compared with music and with prayer.
astonished fraud frequently friend good learn man regard
Are you astonished Aulus, that our friend Fabullinus is so frequently deceived? A good man has always something to learn in regard to fraud
both remembered remembers
Everything is only for a day, both that which remembers and that which is remembered
break fast rest rock sink stands waters waves
Be like a headland of rock on which the waves break incessantly; but it stands fast and around it the seething of the waters sink to rest