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
freedom bees honey-bee
What is not good for the swarm is not good for the bee.
home men house
The man who has a house everywhere has a home nowhere
dog light crumbling
Light may earth's crumbling sand be laid on thee, that dogs may dig thy bones up easily
ashes too-late glory
Glory arrives too late when it comes only to one's ashes
character perfection lasts
To live each day as though one's last, never flustered, never apathetic, never attitudinizing - here is the perfection of character.
silly people trying
It's silly to try to escape other people's faults. They are inescapable. Just try to escape your own.
judging looks philosopher
If thou canst see sharp, look and judge wisely, says the philosopher.
reality evil fear-of-death
He who fears death either fears to lose all sensation or fears new sensations. In reality, you will either feel nothing at all, and therefore nothing evil, or else, if you can feel any sensations, you will be a new creature, and so will not have ceased to have life.
love-is earth holy
The earth loveth the shower," and "the holy æther knoweth what love is." The Universe, too, loves to create whatsoever is destined to be made.
pain men evil
Yet living and dying, honour and dishonour, pain and pleasure, riches and poverty, and so forth are equally the lot of good men and bad. Things like these neither elevate nor degrade; and therefore they are no more good than they are evil.
procrastination years thousand
Do not act as if you had a thousand years to live.
moved universe
The nature of the All moved to make the universe.
passion men ignorant
The mind which is free from passions is a citadel, for man has nothing more secure to which he can fly for refuge and for the future be inexpugnable . He then who has not seen this is an ignorant man: but he who has seen it and does not fly to this refuge is unhappy.
cutting age states
He that dies in extreme old age will be reduced to the same state with him that is cut down untimely.