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
order years should
Thou mayest foresee... the things which will be. For they will certainly be of like form, and it is not possible that they should deviate from the order of things now: accordingly to have contemplated human life for forty years is the same as to have contemplated it for ten thousand years.
men unnecessary should
A man should remove not only unnecessary acts, but also unnecessary thoughts, for then superfluous activity will not follow.
should happens
Everything that happens, happens as it should.
may should
You should banish any thoughts of how you may appear to others.
good-person should ends
Put an end once and for all to this discussion of what a good person should be, and be one.
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.
world should feels
Why should we feel anger at the world? As if the world would notice?
wise men should
The wise man sees in the misfortune of others what he should avoid.
done purpose should
Without a purpose, nothing should be done.
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