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
reading writing men
He does not write at all whose poems no man reads
life past space
Deem not life a thing of consequence. For look at the yawning void of the future, and at that other limitless space, the past.
life vex may
Vex not thy spirit at the course of things; they heed not thy vexation. How ludicrous and outlandish is astonishment at anything that may happen in life.
opportunity clouds gone
There is a limit circumscribed to your time – if you do not use it to clear away your clouds, it will be gone, and you will be gone, and the opportunity will not return
solitude danger alone-life
He that lives alone lives in danger; society avoids many dangers.
wall soldier needs
Don't be ashamed to need help. Like a soldier storming a wall, you have a mission to accomplish. And if you've been wounded and you need a comrade to pull you up? So what?
perception world life-is
The world is nothing but change, our life is only perception.
color emeralds matter
No matter what anyone says or does, my task is to be emerald, my color undiminished.
decision upset shapes
You don't have to turn this into something. It doesn't have to upset you. Things can't shape our decisions by themselves.
soul perception substance
Constantly regard the universe as one living being, having one substance and one soul; and observe how all things have reference to one perception, the perception of this one living being; and how all things act with one movement; and how all things are the cooperating causes of all things which exist; observe too the continuous spinning of the thread and the contexture of the web.
love fate spun
Love only what befalls you and is spun for you by fate.
death ephemeral remember
Everything is ephemeral, both that which remembers and that which is remembered.
fate perfection each-day
This is moral perfection: to live each day as though it were the last; to be tranquil, sincere, yet not indifferent to one's fate.
giving advice attention
Give full attention and devotion to each act.