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
self fire different
As the same fire assumes different shapes When it consumes objects differing in shape, So does the one Self take the shape Of every creature in whom he is present.
inspirational flames fire
The blazing fire makes flames and brightness out of everything thrown into it.
fire lamps use
The inner master, when confronted with an obstacle, uses it as fuel, like a fire which consumes things that are thrown into it. A small lamp would be snuffed out, but a big fire will engulf what is thrown at it and burn hotter; it consumes the obstacle and uses it to reach a higher level.
opportunity flames fire
When the sovereign spirit within us is true to nature, it stands poised and ready to adjust to every change in circumstances and to seize each new opportunity. It doesn't approach an object with prejudice or preconception, but handles each thing dispassionately before embracing it and, if necessary, finds advantage in what opposes it. It is like fire in this regard. Whereas a feeble flame might suffocate under a pile of dry sticks, a robust fire consumes everything it touches. The more objects of any kind heaped on it, the higher it rises, the hotter it burns.
fire needs inward
Our inward power, when it obeys nature, reacts to events by accommodating itself to what it faces - to what is possible. It needs no specific material. It pursues its own aims as circumstances allow; it turns obstacles into fuel. As a fire overwhelms what would have quenched a lamp. What's thrown on top of the conflagration is absorbed, consumed by it - and makes it burn still higher.
drinks mistake morning next till
It is a mistake to think that Acerra reeks of yesterday's liquor: Acerra always drinks till next morning
earth lightly rest thee
Rest lightly on her earth, for she trod never heavily on thee
act dignity life observed performance proper proportion remember
Remember this, - that there is a proper dignity and proportion to be observed in the performance of every act of life
life lives loses man nor remember
Remember that no man loses any other life than this which he now lives, nor lives any other than this which he now loses
challenged magnitude
I think if we had the same magnitude of devastation that they had, we would be very much challenged as well,
likes needs none pity
I think he needs our pity who likes none
false itself man vice vicious
It is false to say that you are a vicious man, Zoilus; you are not a vicious man, you are vice itself
clue hesitate knowledge life
Knowledge the clue to life can give: Then wherefore hesitate to live
cut lost nose operation outraged persuaded wife wretched
Who persuaded you to cut off the nose of your wife's lover? Wretched husband, that was not the part which outraged you! Fool, what have you done? Your wife has lost nothing by the operation