“Men seek retreats for themselves, houses in the country, sea-shores, and mountains; and thou too art wont to desire such things very much. But this is altogether a mark of the most common so...”
0 likes
Author detail
Marcus Aurelius Antoninus was Roman Emperor from 161 to 180. He ruled with Lucius Verus as co-emperor from 161 until Verus' death in 169. He was the last of the "Five Good Emperors", and is also considered one of the most important Stoic philosophers. During his reign, the empire defeated a revitalized Parthian Empire; Aurelius' general Avidius Cassius sacked the capital Ctesiphon in 164. Aurelius fought the Marcomanni, Quadi, and Sarmatians with success during the Marcomannic Wars, but the threat of the Germanic Tribes began to represent a troubling reality for the empire. A revolt in the east led by Avidius Cassius failed to gain momentum and was suppressed immediately. Marcus Aurelius' work Meditations, written in Greek while on campaign between 170 and 180, is still revered as a literary monument to a government of service and duty. It serves as an example of how Aurelius approached the Platonic ideal of a philosopher-king and how he symbolized much of what was best about Roman civilization.
Quotes
Showing 61-80 of 144
“Men seek retreats for themselves, houses in the country, sea-shores, and mountains; and thou too art wont to desire such things very much. But this is altogether a mark of the most common so...”
0 likes
“From the philosopher Catulus, never to be dismissive of a friend's accusation, even if it seems unreasonable, but to make every effort to restore the relationship to its normal condition.”
0 likes
“The time of a man's life is as a point; the substance of it ever flowing, the sense obscure; and the whole composition of the body tending to corruption. His soul is restless, fortune uncert...”
0 likes
“striid andWthdraw into yourself. Our master-reason asks no more than to act justly, and thereby to achieve calm.”
0 likes
“If the gods have determined about me and about the things which must happen to me, they have determined well, for it is not easy even to imagine a deity without forethought; and as to doing...”
0 likes
“If someone is able to show me that what I think or do is not right, I will happily change, for I seek the truth, by which no one was ever truly harmed. It is the person who continues in his...”
0 likes
“For outward show is a wonderful perverter of the reason.”
0 likes
“The soul becomes dyed with the colour of its thoughts.”
0 likes
“There is no man so blessed that some who stand by his deathbed won't hail the occasion with delight.”
0 likes
“We must make haste then, not only because we are daily nearer to death, but also because the conception of things and the understanding of them cease first.”
0 likes
“Very little is needed to make a happy life; it is all within yourself in your way of thinking.”
0 likes
“No man is happy who does not think himself so.”
0 likes
“The memory of everything is very soon overwhelmed in time.”
0 likes
“Short-lived are both the praiser and the praised; and the rememberer and the remembered; and all this in a nook of this part of the world; and not even here do all agree; no not anyone with...”
0 likes
“Give up your thirst for books, so that you do not die a grouch.”
0 likes
“Nothing has such power to broaden the mind as the ability to investigate systematically and truly all that comes under thy observation in life.”
0 likes
“Because a thing seems difficult for you, do not think it impossible for anyone to accomplish.”
0 likes
“The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts: therefore, guard accordingly, and take care that you entertain no notions unsuitable to virtue and reasonable nature.”
0 likes
“We are too much accustomed to attribute to a single cause that which is the product of several, and the majority of our controversies come from that.”
0 likes
“Observe constantly that all things take place by change, and accustom thyself to consider that the nature of the Universe loves nothing so much as to change the things which are, and to make...”
0 likes