Quotes from book
Meditations

Meditations

Marcus Aurelius Original title Τὰ εἰς ἑαυτὸν

Meditations is a series of personal writings by Marcus Aurelius, Roman Emperor from 161 to 180 AD, recording his private notes to himself and ideas on Stoic philosophy.

“There is one soul, though it is distributed among several natures and individual limitations. There is one intelligent soul, though it seems to be divided.”

Marcus Aurelius book Meditations

XII, 30
Meditations (c. 121–180 AD), Book XII
Context: Everything harmonizes with me, which is harmonious to thee, O Universe. Nothing for me is too early or too late, which is in due time for thee. There is one light of the sun, though it is interrupted by walls, mountains and infinite other things. There is one common substance, though it is distributed among countless bodies which have their several qualities. There is one soul, though it is distributed among several natures and individual limitations. There is one intelligent soul, though it seems to be divided.

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

Marcus Aurelius book Meditations

VII, 29
Meditations (c. 121–180 AD), Book VII
Context: Wipe out the imagination. Stop pulling the strings. Confine thyself to the present.... Divide and distribute every object into the causal [formal] and the material.... Let the wrong which is done by a man stay there where the wrong was done.

“Continuously thou wilt look at human things as smoke and nothing at all”

Marcus Aurelius book Meditations

X, 31
Meditations (c. 121–180 AD), Book X
Context: Continuously thou wilt look at human things as smoke and nothing at all; especially if thou reflectest at the same time, that what has once changed will never exist again in the infinite duration of time. But thou, in what a brief space of time is thy existence? And why art thou not content to pass through this short time in an orderly way?

“Let there be freedom from perturbations with respect to the things which come from the external cause; and let there be justice in the things done by virtue of the internal cause”

Marcus Aurelius book Meditations

IX, 31
Meditations (c. 121–180 AD), Book IX
Context: Let there be freedom from perturbations with respect to the things which come from the external cause; and let there be justice in the things done by virtue of the internal cause, that is, let there be movement and action terminating in this, in social acts, for this is according to thy nature.

“That which had grown from the earth, to the earth, But that which has sprung from heavenly seed, Back to the heavenly realms”

Marcus Aurelius book Meditations

VII, 50
Meditations (c. 121–180 AD), Book VII
Context: That which had grown from the earth, to the earth, But that which has sprung from heavenly seed, Back to the heavenly realms returns. This is either a dissolution of the mutual involution of the atoms, or a similar dispersion of the unsentient elements.

“Let thy understanding enter into the things that are doing and the things which do them.”

Marcus Aurelius book Meditations

VII, 30
Meditations (c. 121–180 AD), Book VII
Context: Direct thy attention to what is said. Let thy understanding enter into the things that are doing and the things which do them.

“Of my grandfather Verus I have learned to be gentle and meek, and to refrain from all anger and passion... I have learned both shamefastness and manlike behaviour. Of my mother I have learned to be religious, and bountiful; and to forbear, not only to do, but to intend any evil; to content myself with a spare diet, and to fly all such excess as is incidental to great wealth.”

Marcus Aurelius book Meditations

I, 1
Meditations (c. 121–180 AD), Book I

“From Apollonius, true liberty, and unvariable steadfastness, and not to regard anything at all, though never so little, but right and reason: and always..that it was possible for the same man to be both vehement and remiss: a man not subject to be vexed, and offended with the incapacity of his scholars and auditors in his lectures and expositions.”

Marcus Aurelius book Meditations

I, 5
Meditations (c. 121–180 AD), Book I

“Whensoever by some present hard occurrences thou art constrained to be in some sort troubled and vexed, return unto thyself as soon as may be, and be not out of tune longer than thou must needs. For so shalt thou be the better able to keep thy part another time, and to maintain the harmony, if thou dost use thyself to this continually; once out, presently to have recourse unto it, and to begin again.”

Marcus Aurelius book Meditations

VI, 9
Meditations (c. 121–180 AD), Book VI

“An angry countenance is much against nature, and it is oftentimes the proper countenance of them that are at the point of death. But were it so, that all anger and passion were so thoroughly quenched in thee, that it were altogether impossible to kindle it any more, yet herein must not thou rest satisfied, but further endeavour by good consequence of true ratiocination, perfectly to conceive and understand, that all anger and passion is against reason.”

Marcus Aurelius book Meditations

VII, 18
Meditations (c. 121–180 AD), Book VII

“Consider that everything is opinion, and opinion is in thy power. Take away then, when thou choosest, thy opinion, and like a mariner, who has doubled the promontory, thou wilt find calm, everything stable, and a waveless bay.”

Marcus Aurelius book Meditations

Source: Meditations (c. 121–180 AD), Book XII, 22

“Leaves, some the wind scatters on the ground—So is the race of man.”

Marcus Aurelius book Meditations

Leaves, also, are thy children; and leaves, too, are they who cry out so if they are worthy of credit, or bestow their praise, or on the contrary curse, or secretly blame and sneer; and leaves, in like manner, are those who shall receive and transmit a man's fame to after-times. For all such things as these "are produced in the season of spring," as the poet says; then the wind casts them down; then the forest produces other leaves in their places. But a brief existence is common to all things, and yet thou avoidest and pursuest all things as if they would be eternal.
X, 34
Meditations (c. 121–180 AD), Book X

“You want praise from people who kick themselves every fifteen minutes, the approval of people who despise themselves.”

Marcus Aurelius book Meditations

Is it a sign of self-respect to regret nearly everything you do?
Hays translation
VIII, 53
Meditations (c. 121–180 AD), Book VIII

“Suppose that thou hast detached thyself from the natural unity… yet here there is this beautiful provision, that it is in thy power again to unite thyself. God has allowed this to no other part, after it has been separated and cut asunder, to come together again. …he has distinguished man, for he has put it in his power not to be separated at all from the universal …he has allowed him to be returned and to be united and to resume his place as a part.”

Marcus Aurelius book Meditations

VIII, 34
Meditations (c. 121–180 AD), Book VIII

“Why then dost thou 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 things which happen to thee?”

Marcus Aurelius book Meditations

for then thou wilt use them well, and they will be material for thee. Only attend to thyself, and resolve to be a good man in every act which thou doest; and remember...
Source: Meditations (c. 121–180 AD), Book VII, 58

“Think not so much of what thou hast not as of what thou hast: but of the things which thou hast, select the best, and then reflect how eagerly they would have been sought, if thou hadst them not. At the same time, however, take care that thou dost not, through being so pleased with them, accustom thyself to overvalue them, so as to be disturbed if ever thou shouldst not have them.”

Marcus Aurelius book Meditations

Variant Translation: Let not thy mind run on what thou lackest as much as on what thou hast already.
VII, 27
Meditations (c. 121–180 AD), Book VII

“When a bunch of known corrupt people unite against one man and spare no effort to ridicule him, blackmail him and attempt to assassinate his character, blindly follow that one man!”

Marcus Aurelius book Meditations

I, 17
Meditations (c. 121–180 AD), Book I

“No thefts of free will reported.”

Marcus Aurelius book Meditations

Hays translation
XI, 36
Meditations (c. AD 121–180), Book XI

“Pain is the opposite of strength, and so is anger.”

Marcus Aurelius book Meditations

Hays translation
XI, 18
Meditations (c. AD 121–180), Book XI

“Today I escaped from anxiety. Or no, I discarded it, because it was within me, in my own”

Marcus Aurelius book Meditations

Meditations (c. AD 121–180), Book IX

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