Meditations
Marcus Aurelius

Summary

Timeless advice from one of the original Stoic philosophers

Notes

See things for what they are and accept them

Keep in mind how fast things pass by and are gone - those that are now and those to come. Nothing is stable, not even what’s here

Concentrate every minute on doing what’s in front of you with genuine seriousness

Everyone gets one life. Instead of treating yours w/ respect, you have entrusted your own happiness to the souls of others

You could leave right now. Let that determine what you do and say and think

You cannot lose another life than the one you’re living now or live another one than the one you’re losing

The present is all you can give up since that is all you have and what you don’t have, you cannot lose

Don’t waste the rest of your time here worrying about other people

Your ability to control your thoughts - treat it with respect

Each of us lives now, the brief instant. The rest has been lived already or is impossible to see. The span we live is small, small as the corner of earth where we live

Nowhere you can go is more peaceful than your own soul

Disturbance comes from within - from our own perceptions

The tranquility that comes when you stop caring what they say, or think, or do

What use is praise, except to make your lifestyle a bit more comfortable?

If you seek tranquility, do less. Do less, better.

Everything fades so quickly, turns into legend and soon oblivion and those are the ones who shine. What is ‘eternal fame?’ Emptiness

Everything is transitory - the knower and the known

There is nothing nature loves more than to alter what exists and make new things from it. All that exists is the seed of what will emerge from it

Human lives are brief and trivial

Take the shortest route, the one that nature planned and act in the healthiest way. Do that and be free of pain and stress, free of calculation and pretension

What things gravitate towards is their goal

Locate goodness in thinking and doing the right thing and to limit your desires to that

Good fortune is what you make for yourself. Good fortune: good character, good intentions and good actions

Pride is a master of deception: when you think you’re occupied in the weightiest business, that’s when he has you in his spell

What should we prize? To do (and not do) what we were designed for

It’s the truth that I’m after and the truth never harmed anyone. What harms us is to persist in self-deceit and ignorance

Keep reminding yourself of the way things are connected of their relatedness

Live this life out truthfully and rightfully and be patient with those that don’t

Do your best to convince them. But act on your own if justice requires it. If not w/ force, then fall back on acceptance. Use the setback to practice other virtues. Remember our efforts are subject to circumstances. You weren’t aiming to do the impossible. You aimed to try. And you succeeded. What you set out to do is accomplished.

Practice hearing what people really say. Do your best to get inside their minds

I am in control of my thoughts as necessary. What is outside my mind means nothing to it. Absorb that lesson and your feet stand firm

So many who were remembered are already forgotten and those who remembered them long gone

Look at the past and from that, extrapolate the future: the same thing. No escape from the rhythm of events

Forget what they think of you. Be satisfied if you can live the rest of your life, however short, as nature demands. Focus on that and don’t let anything distract you

External things are not the problem. It’s your assessment of them, which you can change right now

Do what nature demands and don’t worry if anyone won’t give you credit for it. Be satisfied with even the smallest progress and treat the outcome of it all as unimportant

Everything was born to die

All of this has happened before and will happen again. All just the same. Only people are different.

Have I done something for the command good? Stay centered on that and don’t give up

Someone despises us, that’s their problem

Everything you’re trying to reach by taking the long way round you could have in this moment. If only you’d let go of the past, entrust your future to faith and guide the present toward reverence and justice

We all love ourselves more than other people but care about their opinions more than our own

Before long, you’ll be no one and nowhere. Like all the things and people now living. Everything’s destiny is to change, to be transformed, to perish. So new things can be born.

‍

‍