In the constitution of a rational being, I find no virtue implanted for the combating of justice, but I do find self-control implanted for the combating of pleasure.
Marcus Aurelius (AD 120 – 180), Meditations (8.39)
Tag: Marcus Aurelius
All Compositions of Matter fly off apace to the common stock and Receptacle: Spirits are quickly swallow’d up in the Soul of the Universe, and so is Memory and Fame in the Gulph of Time.
Marcus Aurelius (AD 120 – 180), Meditations (7.10)
The above comes from this 1726 translation of Meditations…
The “Soul of the Universe” and the “Gulph of Time” are maybe more evocative than the more recent version from Gregory Hays:
All substance is soon absorbed into nature, all that animates it soon restored to the logos, all trace of them both soon covered over by time.
Ryan Holiday, author of The Obstacle is the Way and founder of The Daily Stoic, talks about his personal introduction to Stoicism.
Drawing on his favourite verses from Meditations, he shows the commonsense, its real-world application of Stoicism. It’s not for “turtle-necked professors”, it’s for the man in the street.
If you’re curious, this is a great place to start…
In talk, mark carefully what is being said, and when action is afoot, what is being done. In the latter case, look at once to see what is purposed; and in the other, make certain what is meant.
Marcus Aurelius (AD 120 – 180), Meditations (7.4)
How is my soul’s helmsman going about his task? For in that lies everything. All else, within my control or beyond it, is dead bones and vapour.
Marcus Aurelius (AD 120 – 180), Meditations (12.33)
Highly recommended!
This week, I finished Donald Robertson’s new book How To Think Like a Roman Emperor. And, what a remarkable book it is.
It succeeds in being a practical introduction to Stoicism whilst combining biography, history, psychotherapy and philosophy. Each chapter uses a period in Marcus’s life to illustrate an issue, for example, conquering desire or relinquishing fear. It describes Marcus’s situation, then demonstrates Stoic exercises that deal with the topic in question.
Continue reading “Now thinking like a Roman emperor – @DonJRobertson”Give it the whole of your attention, whether it be a material object, an action, a principle, or the meaning of what is being said.
This disappointment serves you right. You would rather hope for goodness tomorrow than practise it today.
Marcus Aurelius (AD 120 – 180), Meditations (8.22)
The first rule is, to keep an untroubled spirit; for all things must bow to Nature’s law, and soon enough you must vanish into nothingness, like Hadrian and Augustus.
The second is to look things in the face and know them for what they are, remembering that it is your duty to be a good man. Do without flinching what man’s nature demands; say what seems to you most just – though with courtesy, modesty and sincerity.
Marcus Aurelius (AD 120 – 180), Meditations (8.5)
Image: Andrew Munro: young Marcus Aurelius, bust from Temple of Flora, Stourhead Gardens, Wiltshire
Finally arrived today.
I’ve just read the introduction and already I’m hooked.
The must-read shelf has been bullied into submission.
Perfection of character: to live your last day, every day, without frenzy, or sloth, or pretence.
Marcus Aurelius (AD 120 – 180), Meditations (7.59)
Note, unusually, I’ve taken the above from the Gregory Hays translation. My more usual Maxwell Staniforth translation has…
To live each day as though one’s last, never flustered, never apathetic, never attitudinising – here is the perfection of character.