Listen to the AudioBook: Meditations by Emperor of Rome Marcus Aurelius

MEDITATIONS

BOOK ONE

From my grandfather Verus, I have learned gentleness and to keep from anger.

From the report of my tutor, Diognetus, freedom from the common superstitions, and to have nothing to do with the tricks of the charlatans and sorcerers.

From Rusticus, to have learned from the writings of Zeno, and to have got hold of clear and settled principles in the matter of good and evil.

From Apollonius, patience, and an unchangeable resolution in the face of pain, and to be a man of real courage, not rashly facing danger.

From Sextus, to be observant of the nature of men and their actions, and of the fact that men are often mistaken in what they think is their duty.

From Alexander the Grammarian, to be patient with the talkative and the quarrelsome, and to know how to return to one’s own proper business.

From Antoninus, to be easy to deal with, and to be affectionate to my own family, and to show affection only to those who are really affectionate. And to be sincere in my studies, and not to be a mere pretender or a pedant.

From Fronto, to know how to judge of the natural talents of men, and to be content with my own company, and to have a taste for books.

From the gods, that I have brothers, and such friends as are honest and true, and that I have a love for them, and that I have been taught by them to be just and true in my own dealings.

From Nature, the world and the order of it, and that this is an ordered whole, and that what is good for the whole is also good for me.

From my mother, piety and a generous mind, and to avoid meanness and baseness, even in thought.

From my tutor, who was the master of my childhood, to learn to endure hardship, and to need less, and to be satisfied with little, and to do my own work without being a slave to others.

And from myself, to abstain from all that is vain and empty, and to be always comparing myself with the actions of men and of gods.

To be temperate in all things, and to rejoice in whatever comes to pass, because it is destined to happen.

To be free from the madness of the circus, the passion of the gladiatorial fights, and the fever of the contests about the colours of the silks.

To bear pain and not to cry out. To love plainness in dress, and simplicity in life.

To live according to nature, and to be tranquil, and to attend to my own business, and not to be a busybody in the affairs of others.

To consider the gods to be real, and to be kind, and to abstain from self-love and from all vanity, and to keep my temper in the face of injury.

To be fond of true wisdom, and to be modest in the praise of my friends, and to have no patience with the flatterers.

To use the works of the philosophers, and to be patient with fools and liars.

To be like the lion in matters of courage, and to be like him in the endurance of pain, and to be like him in the strength of his will.

To be like the gods in doing good to all mankind, and to have pity on the mistaken.

To avoid all that is soft and effeminate.

To put away vanity, and to endure all things, both pain and pleasure, loss and gain, as things which are natural, and which happen to us according to the universal law.

To be constant in every action, and to be cheerful in the midst of my duties.

To be ready to accept death, as a natural event, and to give up my individuality without any sense of tragedy.

To be of the same mind as the gods, and to act for the good of mankind.

To remember that a man’s life is but a moment, and that all that is corporeal is swift to decay.

To be firm in the principles of justice, and to be of the same mind as those who have laid down laws and precepts for our guidance.

To be moderate in all things, and to be content with what I have.

To be a friend to all, and to love mankind as a brother.

To know that all that happens is necessary, and that what is necessary is good.

To love what happens, and to love it because it happens, and not to think that it could be otherwise.

To be simple and honest, and to be content with the present.

To hate the desire for applause, and to shun the company of those who make a noise about their greatness.

To be humble, and to avoid all that is vain and empty.

To be a man of peace, and to study how to make myself better.

To be a friend to wisdom, and to be a friend to justice.

To be an example to others, and to correct myself.

To be always in motion, and to be always striving after something better.

To be a man of truth, and to be a friend to justice.

To be a man of integrity, and to be a friend to wisdom.

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