Meditations

by Marcus Aurelius

If you deeply understand people and life today, you already understand how it's always been—and how it always will be. The world changes, but human nature doesn't.

One thing here is worth a great deal, to pass thy life in truth and justice, with a benevolent disposition even to liars and unjust men.

he who has understanding considers his own acts to be his own good.

It is in our power to have no opinion about a thing, and not to be disturbed in our soul; for things themselves have no natural power to form our judgments.

That which is not good for the swarm, neither is it good for the bee.

What kind of people are those whom men wish to please, and for what objects, and by what kind of acts? How soon will time cover all things, and how many it has covered already.

understand however that every man is worth just so much as the things are worth about which he busies himself.

How many after being celebrated by fame have been given up to oblivion; and how many who have celebrated the fame of others have long been dead.

Be not ashamed to be helped;

Let not future things disturb thee, for thou wilt come to them, if it shall be necessary, having with thee the same reason which now thou usest for present things.

Whatever any one does or says, I must be emerald and keep my color.

Near is thy forgetfulness of all things; and near the forgetfulness of thee by all.

above all, that the wrong-doer has done thee no harm, for he has not made thy ruling faculty worse than it was before.

Think not so much of what thou hast not as of what thou hast:

Let the wrong which is done by a man stay there where the wrong was done

Adorn thyself with simplicity and modesty, and with indifference towards the things which lie between virtue and vice. Love mankind.

the mind maintains its own tranquillity by retiring into itself,

But the parts which are harmed by pain, let them, if they can, give their opinion about it.

“Think about the people who chase after fame. Look at their minds, what they care about, what they fear, and what they admire. Is their opinion really something to value? And even if you were famous, remember: generations come and go like piles of sand in the desert. You’re not remembered for long—and often not truly at all.”

A person who sees the big picture—across all time and all existence—cannot possibly think human life is of immense importance. And such a person, seeing the whole, would also understand that death is not something evil or to be feared.

It is royal to do good and to be abused.

It is a base thing for the countenance to be obedient and to regulate and compose itself as the mind commands, and for the mind not to be regulated and composed by itself.

It is not right to vex ourselves at things, For they care ...

Whatever happens, the true good—virtue, justice, integrity—is already within me. That’s what truly matters, not external fortune.

You are mistaken if you believe that a truly good person should weigh their actions based on the risk of living or dying. What matters is not survival, but whether the act is just or unjust, noble or base, the deed of a good or bad person.

For thus it is, men of Athens, in truth: wherever a man has placed himself thinking it the best place for him, or has been placed by a commander, there in my opinion he ought to stay and to abide the hazard, taking nothing into the reckoning, either death or anything else, before the baseness [of deserting his post].

no man can escape his destiny, the next inquiry being how he may best live the time that he has to live.[A]

look also at earthly things as if he viewed them from some higher place;

to have contemplated human life for forty years is the same as to have contemplated it for ten thousand years. For what more wilt thou see?

Everywhere and at all times it is in thy power piously to acquiesce in thy present condition, and to behave, justly to those who are about thee, and to exert thy skill upon thy present thoughts, that nothing shall steal into them without being well examined.

Do not look around thee to discover other men’s ruling principles, but look straight to this, to what nature leads thee, both the universal nature through the things which happen to thee, and thy own nature through the acts which must be done by thee.

The prime principle then in man’s constitution is the social. And the second is not to yield to the persuasions of the body,—for it is the peculiar office of the rational and intelligent motion to circumscribe itself, and never to be overpowered either by the motion of the senses or of the appetites, for both are animal: but the intelligent motion claims superiority, and does not permit itself to be overpowered by the others. And with good reason, for it is formed by nature to use all of them. The third thing in the rational constitution is freedom from error and from deception. Let then the ruling principle holding fast to these things go straight on, and it has what is its own.

Love that only which happens to thee and is spun with the thread of thy destiny. For what is more suitable?

In everything which happens keep before thy eyes those to whom the same things happened, and how they were vexed, and treated them as strange things, and found fault with them: and now where are they? Nowhere. Why then dost thou too choose to act in the same way? and why dost thou not leave these agitations which are foreign to nature to those who cause them and those who are moved by them; and why art thou not altogether intent upon the right way of making use of the things which happen to thee? For then thou wilt use them well, and they will be a material for thee [to work on]. Only attend to thyself, and resolve to be a good man in every act which thou doest: and remember

Look within. Within is the fountain of good, and it will ever bubble up, if thou wilt ever dig.

Your body should be well-composed—balanced in how it moves and how it holds itself. Just as your face should reflect the calm intelligence of your mind, so too should your posture and physical presence. But let this natural grace come without pretense or show—it should flow from inner discipline, not from vanity or performance.

The art of life is more like the wrestler’s art than the dancer’s, in respect of this, that it should stand ready and firm to meet onsets which are sudden and unexpected.

Constantly observe who those are whose approbation thou wishest to have, and what ruling principles they possess. For then thou wilt neither blame those who offend involuntarily, nor wilt thou want their approbation, if thou lookest to the sources of their opinions and appetites.

Pay close attention to whose approval you’re seeking—and ask yourself what really guides their thoughts and values. When you understand what drives them, you’ll see there’s no need to resent people who do wrong without meaning to. And more importantly, you’ll realize you don’t need their approval at all, because their judgment is shaped by values that may not be wise or virtuous.

Every person who does wrong is missing the truth—not by choice, but because they genuinely don’t see it. And because truth is the foundation of all virtues like justice, self-control, and kindness, anyone lacking truth is also lacking those virtues—not willfully, but unknowingly. Keep this in mind at all times, and you’ll find yourself reacting to others with more patience and compassion.

In every pain let this thought be present, that there is no dishonor in it, nor does it make the governing intelligence worse,

pain is neither intolerable nor everlasting, if thou bearest in mind that it has its limits, and if thou addest nothing to it in imagination:

very little indeed is necessary for living a happy life.

It is in thy power to live free from all compulsion in the greatest tranquillity of mind, even if all the world cry out against thee as much as they choose, and even if wild beasts tear in pieces the members of this kneaded matter which has grown around thee. For what hinders the mind in the midst of all this from maintaining itself in tranquillity and in a just judgment of all surrounding things and in a ready use of the objects which are presented to it, so that the judgment may say to the thing which falls under its observation: This thou art in substance [reality], though in men’s opinion thou mayest appear to be of a different kind; and the use shall say to that which falls under the hand: Thou art the thing that I was seeking; for to me that which presents itself is always a material for virtue both rational and political, and in a word, for the exercise of art, which belongs to man or God. For everything which happens has a relationship either to God or man, and is neither new nor difficult to handle, but usual and apt matter to work on.

The perfection of moral character consists in this, in passing every day as the last, and in being neither violently excited nor torpid nor playing the hypocrite.

It is a ridiculous thing for a man not to fly from his own badness, which is indeed possible, but to fly from other men’s badness, which is impossible.

When thou hast done a good act and another has received it, why dost thou still look for a third thing besides these, as fools do, either to have the reputation of having done a good act or to obtain a return?

even the chief things towards which the ruling power of the universe directs its own movement are governed by no rational principle.

if there is no Providence which governs the world, man has at least the power of governing himself according to the constitution of his nature; and so he may be tranquil if he does the best that he can.

If then thou hast truly seen where the matter lies, throw away the thought, How thou shall seem [to others], and be content if thou shalt

speak as it seems to thee most just, only let it be with a good disposition and with modesty and without hypocrisy.