A cucumber is bitter— throw it away. There are briars in the path— turn aside from them. This is enough.
Catalog
Marcus Aurelius
Marcus Aurelius (/ɔːˈriːliəs/; Latin: Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus; 26 April 121 – 17 March 180 AD) was Emperor of Rome 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 Meditations, is the most significant source of the modern understanding of ancient Stoic philosophy, and although it is not as well-known as Plato's Dialogues or Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics, the Meditations is nevertheless considered by many commentators one of the greatest works of philosophy. During his reign, the Roman Empire defeated a revitalized Parthian Empire in the East: Aurelius' general Avidius Cassius sacked the capital Ctesiphon in 164. In central Europe, Aurelius fought the Marcomanni, Quadi, and Sarmatians with success during the Marcomannic Wars, although the threat of the Germanic tribes began to represent a troubling reality for the Empire. A revolt in the East led by Avidius Cassius failed to gain momentum and was suppressed immediately. Aurelius' Meditations, written in Greek while on campaign between 170 and 180, is still revered as a literary monument to a philosophy of service and duty, describing how to find and preserve equanimity, a state of psychological stability and composure, in the midst of conflict by following nature as a source of guidance and inspiration. 2Sources The major sources for the life and rule of Marcus Aurelius are patchy and frequently unreliable. The most important group of sources, the biographies contained in the Historia Augusta, claim to be written by a group of authors at the turn of the 4th century AD, but are in fact written by a single author (referred to here as "the biographer") from the later 4th century (
Never let the future disturb you. You will meet it, if you have to, with the same weapons of reason which today arm you against the present.
You have power over your mind - not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.
When you arise in the morning think of what a privilege it is to be alive, to think, to enjoy, to love.
At dawn, when you have trouble getting out of bed, tell yourself: ‘I have to go to work – as a human being. What do I have to complain of, if I’m going to do what I was born for – the things I was brought into the world to do? Or is this what I was created for? To huddle under the blankets and stay…
External things are not the problem. It's your assessment of them. Which you can erase right now. If the problem is something in your own character, who's stopping you from setting your mind straight? And if it's that you're not doing something you think you should be, why not just do it? –But there…
Never let the future disturb you. You will meet it, if you have to, with the same weapons of reason which today arm you against the present.
When you arise in the morning think of what a privilege it is to be alive, to think, to enjoy, to love ...
Every living organism is fulfilled when it follows the right path for its own nature.
It is not the actions of others which trouble us (for those actions are controlled by their governing part), but rather it is our own judgments. Therefore remove those judgments and resolve to let go of your anger, and it will already be gone. How do you let go? By realizing that such actions are…
If someone is able to show me that what I think or do is not right, I will happily change, for I seek the truth, by which no one was ever truly harmed. It is the person who continues in his self-deception and ignorance who is harmed.
It is not death that a man should fear, but he should fear never beginning to live.
The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts…
Very little is needed to make a happy life; it is all within yourself in your way of thinking.
If someone can prove me wrong and show me my mistake in any thought or action, I shall gladly change. I seek the truth, which never harmed anyone: the harm is to persist in one’s own self-deception and ignorance.
Never let the future disturb you. You will meet it, if you have to, with the same weapons of reason which today arm you against the present.
Act as your own nature commands you; put up with whatever common nature brings to you.
How much time he gains who does not look to see what his neighbor says or does or thinks, but only at what he does himself, to make it just and holy.
Life is warfare and a journey far from home.