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
warfare life-is stranger
Life is a warfare and a stranger's sojourn, and after fame is oblivion.
military war men
A good man does not spy around for the black spots in others, but presses unswervingly on towards his mark.
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.
war men opinion
The opinion of 10,000 men is of no value if none of them know anything about the subject.
war philosophical future
Look back over the past, with its changing empires that rose and fell, and you can foresee the future, too.
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
future lies life past spent uncertain within
Everyman's life lies within the present, for the past is spent and done with, and the future is uncertain
bubble dig ready wellspring within
Dig within. Within is the wellspring of Good; and it is always ready to bubble up, if you just dig.
certain consider correct deal dost enable great judgment learn man men pass reference thou understand whether wrong
Consider that thou dost not even understand whether men are doing wrong or not, for many things are done with a certain reference to circumstance. And, in short, a man must learn a great deal to enable him to pass a correct judgment on another man's acts.
cheek shy stain
To read my book, the virgin shy - May blush, while Brutus standeth by: But when he's gone, read through what's writ, And never stain a cheek for it