The Meditations (Translated, Annotated)

by Marcus Aurelius

for how can one be deprived of what he has not?

the one is, that nothing will befall me but what is in accordance with the nature of the universe; the other, that I need do nothing contrary to my mind and divinity, since no one can force me to act thus, or force me to act against my own judgment.

It is in your power to be superior to pleasure and pain, to be deaf to the charms of ambition. It is in your power not only to forbear being angry with people for their folly and ingratitude, but over and above, to cherish their interest, and take care of them.

Thus you should let your sense shine out and diffuse, extended but not exhausted; and when you meet with opposition, never strike violently against it, nor yet drop your talent in despair. But let your beams be fixed, and enlighten where they find a capacity. And as for that body that will not transmit the light, it will but darken itself by its resistance.

the titles of a man of goodness and modesty, of truth and prudence, of resignation and magnanimity, take care that your practice answers to your character, and if any of these glorious names are lost in your mismanagement, recover them as soon as you can: remembering withal, that prudence implies consideration, care, and discriminating enquiry; that to be resigned signifies a cheerful compliance with the allotments of universal nature; that magnanimity imports a superiority of the reasoning part to the pleasure and pain of the body to glory and death, and all those things which people are either fond or afraid of.

our anger and impatience often prove much more mischievous than the things about which we are angry or impatient.

Mildness and temper are not only more human, but more masculine too.

If, since your life is almost up, you lay aside all other matters, and only cultivate your mind, and pay a regard to the governing and diviner part of yourself; if you are not at all afraid of losing your life, but only of never beginning to live in accordance with nature, then you will act suitably to your extraction, and deserve to be the offspring of the universe; then you will be no longer a stranger in your own country, nor be surprised at common accidents; you will never be dependent on this or that.

he that can overlook his body will hardly disturb himself about the clothes he wears, the house he dwells in, about his reputation, or any part of this pomp and magnificence.