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
life deeds firsts
Just as the sand-dunes, heaped one upon another, hide each the first, so in life the former deeds are quickly hidden by those that follow after.
men people sake
Men are born for each other's sake, so either teach people or endure them
past doe moments
No one can lose either the past or the future - how could anyone be deprived of what he does not possess? ... It is only the present moment of which either stands to be deprived: and if this is all he has, he cannot lose what he does not have.
joy deeds rift
Know the joy of life by piling good deed on good deed until no rift or cranny appears between them.
men loses dies
The longest-lived and the shortest-lived man, when they come to die, lose one and the same thing.
mean order mind
By a tranquil mind, I mean nothing else than a mind well ordered.
change things-change universe
Everything is only for a day ... the universe loves nothing so much as to change things.
running time recovery
Remember how often you have postponed minding your interest, and let slip those opportunities the gods have given you. It is now high time to consider what sort of world you are part of, and from what kind of governor of it you are descended; that you have a set period assigned you to act in, and unless you improve it to brighten and compose your thoughts, it will quickly run off with you, and be lost beyond recovery.
men years three
Were you to live three thousand years, or even thirty thousand, remember that the sole life which a man can lose is that which he is living at the moment; and furthermore, that he can have no other life except the one he loses...
thinking looks favors
Think not disdainfully of death, but look on it with favor; for even death is one of the things that Nature wills.
inspirational ambition mean
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 way in which a vulgar man aspires.
beauty beautiful art
Anything that is beautiful is beautiful just as it is. Praise forms no part of its beauty, since praise makes things neither better nor worse. This applies even more to what it commonly called beautiful: natural objects, for example, or works of art. True beauty has no need of anything beyond itself.
men done undone
A wrongdoer is often a man who has left something undone, not always one who has done something.
men done harm
If any man has done wrong, the harm is his own. But perhaps he has not done wrong.