About
Meditations is a compilation of 12 volumes written by Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius that will teach you to Stoic philosophy, the notion of logic, and self-discipline, and give you trust that the world’s direction is correct. This book, a wonderful compilation of Marcus Aurelius’ personal writings, will help you realize that simple and truthful concepts may be the most important things to live life to the fullest. Things pass, as do people and their emotions, but what does not pass is the effort we put into growing as individuals. This book is an eye-opening read that will challenge your views.
Notable quotes
- “You have power over your mind – not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.”
- “Dwell on the beauty of life. Watch the stars, and see yourself running with them.”
- “The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts.”
- “Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth.”
- “Waste no more time arguing about what a good man should be. Be one.”
- “If you are distressed by anything external, the pain is not due to the thing itself, but to your estimate of it; and this you have the power to revoke at any moment.”
- “When you arise in the morning think of what a privilege it is to be alive, to think, to enjoy, to love …”
- “The best revenge is to be unlike him who performed the injury.”
- “Accept the things to which fate binds you, and love the people with whom fate brings you together, but do so with all your heart.”
- “The soul becomes dyed with the color of its thoughts.”
- “It is not death that a man should fear, but he should fear never beginning to live.”
- “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.”
- “Our life is what our thoughts make it.”
- “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.”
- “Whenever you are about to find fault with someone, ask yourself the following question: What fault of mine most nearly resembles the one I am about to criticize?”
- “I have often wondered how it is that every man loves himself more than all the rest of men, but yet sets less value on his own opinion of himself than on the opinion of others.”
- “The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane.”
- “If it is not right do not do it; if it is not true do not say it.”
- “Very little is needed to make a happy life; it is all within yourself in your way of thinking.”
- “The best revenge is not to be like your enemy.”