“Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth.”
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Work
Nearly two thousand years after it was written, Meditations remains profoundly relevant for anyone seeking to lead a meaningful life. Few ancient works have been as influential as the Meditations of Marcus Aurelius, philosopher and emperor of Rome (A.D. 161–180). A series of spiritual exercises filled with wisdom, practical guidance, and profound understanding of human behavior, it remains one of the greatest works of spiritual and ethical reflection ever written. Marcus’s insights and advice—on everything from living in the world to coping with adversity and interacting with others—have made the Meditations required reading for statesmen and philosophers alike, while generations of ordinary readers have responded to the straightforward intimacy of his style. For anyone who struggles to reconcile the demands of leadership with a concern for personal integrity and spiritual well-being, the Meditations remains as relevant now as it was two thousand years ago. In Gregory Hays’s new translation—the first in thirty-five years—Marcus’s thoughts speak with a new immediacy. In fresh and unencumbered English, Hays vividly conveys the spareness and compression of the original Greek text. Never before have Marcus’s insights been so directly and powerfully presented. With an Introduction that outlines Marcus’s life and career, the essentials of Stoic doctrine, the style and construction of the Meditations, and the work’s ongoing influence, this edition makes it possible to fully rediscover the thoughts of one of the most enlightened and intelligent leaders of any era.
Quotes
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Marcus Aurelius
Canonical work source
“Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth.”
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“Dwell on the beauty of life. Watch the stars, and see yourself running with them.”
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“The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts.”
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“You have power over your mind - not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.”
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“The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane.”
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“In the morning when thou risest unwillingly, let this thought be present - I am rising to the work of a human being. Why then am I dissatisfied if I am going to do the things for which I exi...”
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“Our life is what our thoughts make it.”
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“All things fade and quickly turn to myth.”
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“There is no man so blessed that some who stand by his deathbed won't hail the occasion with delight.”
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“Perfection of character is this: to live each day as if it were your last, without frenzy, without apathy, without pretence.”
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“Humans have come into being for the sake of each other, so either teach them, or learn to bear them.”
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“Don't go on discussing what a good person should be. Just be one.”
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“How ridiculous and how strange to be surprised at anything which happens in life”
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“Accept whatever comes to you woven in the pattern of your destiny, for what could more aptly fit your needs?”
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“striid andWthdraw into yourself. Our master-reason asks no more than to act justly, and thereby to achieve calm.”
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“All things of the body stream away like a river, all things of the mind are dreams and delusion; life is warfare, and a visit to a strange land; the only lasting fame is oblivion.”
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“The memory of everything is very soon overwhelmed in time.”
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“How much time he gains who does not look to see what his neighbour says or does or thinks, but only at what he does himself, to make it just and holy.”
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“What we cannot bear removes us from life; what remains can be borne.”
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“Observe the movements of the stars as if you were running their courses with them, and let your mind constantly dwell on the changes of the elements into each other. Such imaginings wash awa...”
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“For outward show is a wonderful perverter of the reason.”
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“Give up your thirst for books, so that you do not die a grouch.”
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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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“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...”
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