“Let it be your constant method to look into the design of people's actions, and see what they would be at, as often as it is practicable; and to make this custom the more significant, practi...”
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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 81-100 of 144
“Let it be your constant method to look into the design of people's actions, and see what they would be at, as often as it is practicable; and to make this custom the more significant, practi...”
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“The act of dying is one of the acts of life.”
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“We ought to do good to others as simply as a horse runs, or a bee makes honey, or a vine bears grapes season after season without thinking of the grapes it has borne.”
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“Never let the future disturb you. You will meet it, if you have to, with the same weapons of reason which today arm you against the present.”
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“When you arise in the morning, think of what a precious privilege it is to be alive - to breathe, to think, to enjoy, to love.”
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“How much more grievous are the consequences of anger than the causes of it.”
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“Anger cannot be dishonest.”
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“When thou art above measure angry, bethink thee how momentary is man's life.”
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“Aptitude found in the understanding and is often inherited. Genius coming from reason and imagination, rarely.”
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“Waste no more time arguing about what a good man should be. Be one.”
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“A noble man compares and estimates himself by an idea which is higher than himself; and a mean man, by one lower than himself. The one produces aspiration; the other ambition, which is the w...”
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“Because your own strength is unequal to the task, do not assume that it is beyond the powers of man; but if anything is within the powers and province of man, believe that it is within your...”
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“Reject your sense of injury and the injury itself disappears.”
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“The only wealth which you will keep forever is the wealth you have given away.”
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“Here is the rule to remember in the future, When anything tempts you to be bitter: not, 'This is a misfortune' but 'To bear this worthily is good fortune.'”
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“Nothing happens to any man that he is not formed by nature to bear.”
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“That which is not good for the bee-hive cannot be good for the bees.”
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“Begin - to begin is half the work, let half still remain; again begin this, and thou wilt have finished.”
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“It is not death that a man should fear, but he should fear never beginning to live.”
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“The best revenge is to be unlike him who performed the injury.”
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