Marcus Aurelius - "Meditations"

The only Roman Emperor who was also a philosopher, Aurelius wrote in Greek and never intended his thoughts for publications. The book is made up a series of spiritual reflections, many of which seem surprising coming for the last great emperor of Rome who wrote much this collection fighting on the frontiers of the Empire.

Excerpts:

Advice he received…

“From…my…father: integrity and manliness” – 1.2

“From my tutor:…to tolerate pain and feel few needs; to work with my own hands and mind my own business; to be deaf to malicious gossip.” – 1.5

“From Sextus:…never to give the impression of anger or any other passion, but to combine complete freedom from passion with the greatest human affection…” – 1.9

“From Maximus: self-mastery, immune to any passing whim; good cheer in all circumstances…” – 1.15

“From my (adoptive) father:…never satisfied with first impressions…Acting always in accordance with tradition, yet not making the preservation of tradition an overt aim…not to keep many matters secret to himself…the acts of a man with an eye for precisely what needs to be done, not the glory of doing it…” – 1.16

“From the gods:…ruler’s responsibility for the common good…That my wife is as she is, so submissive, loving and unaffected…” – 1.17

“Failure to read what is happening in another’s soul is not easily seen as a cause of unhappiness: but those who fail to attend to the motions of their own soul are necessarily unhappy.” – 2.4

“Even if you were destined to live three thousand years, or ten times that long, nevertheless remember that no one loses any life other than the one he lives, or lives any life other than the one he loses. It follows that the longest and the shortest lives are brought to the same state. The present moment is equal for all; so what is passing is equal also; the less therefore turns out to be the merest fragment of time. No one can lose either the past or the future – how could anyone be deprived of what he does not possess?” – 2.14

“Train yourself to think only those thoughts such that in answer to the sudden question ‘What is in your mind now?’ you could say with immediate frankness what it is…” – 3.4

“Remind yourself too that each of us lives only in the present moment, a mere fragment of time: the rest is life past or uncertain future.” – 3.10

“Nothing is so conducive to greatness of mind as the ability to subject each element of our experience in life to methodical and truthful examination.” – 3.11

“….the defining characteristic of the good person is to love and embrace whatever happens to him along his thread of fate…” – 3.16

“No action should be undertaken without aim, or other that in conformity with a principle affirming the art of life.” – 4.2

“No retreat offers someone more quiet and relaxation than that into his own mind, especially if he can dip into thoughts there which put him in immediate and complete ease: and by ease I simply mean a well-ordered life. So constantly give yourself this retreat, and renew yourself. The doctrines you will visit there should be few and fundamental.” – 4.3

“’All’s right that happens in the world.’ Examine this saying carefully, and you will find it true. I do not mean ‘right’ simply in the context of cause and effect, but in the sense of “just” – as if some adjudicator were assigning dues.” – 4.10

“There is a river of creation, and time is a violent stream. As soon as one thing comes into sight, it is swept past and another is carried down: it too will be taken on its way.” – 4.43

“You should always look on human life as short and cheap. Yesterday sperm: tomorrow a mummy or ashes.” – 4.48

“Look behind you at the huge gulf of time, and another infinity ahead. In this perspective what is the difference between an infant of three days and a Nestor of three generations?” – 4.50

“A horse that has raced, a dog that has tracked, a bee that has made honey, and a man that has done good – none of these knows what they have done, but they pass on to the next action, just as the vine passes on to bear grapes again in due season. So you ought to be one of those who, in a sense, are unconscious of the good they do.” – 5.6

“Do not give up in disgust or impatience if you do not find action on the right principles consolidated into a habit in all that you do. Bo: if you have taken a fall, come back again, and be glad if most of your actions are on the right side of humanity.” – 5.9

“Look within: do not allow the special quality or worth of any thing to pass you by.” – 6.3

“The best revenge is not to be like your enemy.” – 6.6

“How good it is, when you have roast meat or suchlike foods before you, to impress your mind that this is the dead body of a fish, this the dead body of a bird or pig; and again, that the Falernian wine is the mere juice of grapes, and your purple-edged robe simply the hair of a sheep soaked in shell-fish blood! “ – 6.13

“Flows and changes are constantly renewing the world, just as the ceaseless passage of time makes eternity ever young.” – 6.15

“remember that every duty is the completed sum of certain actions.” – 6.26

“Take care not to be Caesarified, or dyed in purple: it happens. So keep yourself simple, good, pure, serious, unpretentious, a friend of justice, god-fearing, kind, full of affection, strong for your proper work...Revere the gods, look after men. Life is short.” – 6.30

“Do you not see how the working craftsman, while deferring to the layman up to a point, nevertheless sticks to the principle of his craft and will not bear to desert it? Is it not strange, then, that the architect and the doctor will show greater respect for the guiding principle of their craft than man will for his own guiding principle, which he has in common with the gods?” – 6.35

“Just as you are content with the amount of matter allocated to you, so you should be content with your allocation of time.” – 6.49

“How to understand your own good: the lover of glory takes it to be the reactions of others; the lover of pleasure takes it to be his own passive experience; the intelligent man sees it as his own action.” – 6.51

“bear in mind that a person’s worth is measured by the worth of what he values.” – 7.3

“Whatever I do, either by myself or with another, should have this sole focus – the common benefit and harmony.” – 7.5

“Soon you will have forgotten all things: soon all things will have forgotten you.” – 7.21

“It is human nature to love even those who trip and fall.” – 7.22

“Take your joy in simplicity, in integrity, in indifference to all that lies between virtue and vice.” – 7.31

“A king’s lot: to do good and be damned.” – 7.36

“…no one ever escapes the day of his fate: his thought should be on this further question, how best to live his life in the time he has to be alive.” – 7.46

“The art of living is more like wrestling than dancing, in that it stands ready for what comes is not thrown by the unforeseen.” - 7.61

“Regret is a censure of yourself for missing something beneficial.” – 8.10

“You must compose you life action by action, and be satisfied if each action achieves its own end as best can be: and no one can prevent you from your achievement.” – 8.32

“Accept humbly: let go easily.” – 8.33

“The mind cannot be touched by fire, steel, tyranny, slander, or anything whatever, once it has become ‘a perfect round in solitude.’” – 8.41

“Don’t let your mind settle into depression or elation. Allow some leisure in your life.” – 8.51

“the pursuit of pleasure as a good and the avoidance of pain as an evil constitutes sin.” – 9.3

“anyone who is not himself indifferent to pain and pleasure, death and life, fame and obscurity – things which universal Nature treats indifferently – is clearly committing a sin.” – 9.4

“Irrational creatures share in one animate soul, and rational creatures partake in one intelligent soul…” – 9.8

“Reflect that neither memory nor fame, nor anything else at all, has any importance worth thinking of.” – 9.30

“If he is going wrong, teach him kindly and show him what he has failed to see. If you can’t do that, blame yourself – or perhaps not even yourself.” – 10.4

“Nature gives all and takes all back. To her the man educated into humility says: ‘Give what you will; take back what you will.’ And he says this in no spirit or defiance, but simply as her loyal subject.” – 10.14

“Always have clear in your mind that ‘the grass is not greener’ elsewhere, and how everything is the same here as on the top of a mountain, or on the seashore, or wherever you will.” – 10.23

“In your fits of anger have this thought ready to mind, that there is nothing manly in being angry, but a gentle calm is both more human and therefore more virile. It is the gentle who have strength, sinew, and courage – not the indignant and complaining.” – 11.18

“Practice even what you have despaired of mastering. For lack of practice the left hand is awkward for most tasks, but has a stronger grip on the bridle than the right – it is practiced in this.” – 12.6

“Your impulse on every occasion should be to a complete survey of what exactly this thing is which is making an impression on your mind – to open it out by analysis into cause, material, reference, and the time-span within which it must cease to be.” – 12.18

Marcus Aurelius, "Meditations", translated by Martin Hammond with an introduction by Diskin Clay, Penguin Classics, 2006.