I’ve been reading Marcus Aurelius a lot lately. I took his Meditations with me on a vacation this last week, and his words are so pointed, so clear (most of the time), that it is easy to imagine that he is speaking directly to me. I can read the whole thing cover to cover and find meaning in every line—the ones below are just some that I like tonight.

From Book X:

16. No longer talk at all about the kind of man that a good man ought to be, but be such.

27. Constantly consider how all things such as they are now are, in time past also were, and consider that they will be the same again. And place before your eyes entire dramas and stages of the same for, whatever you have learned from your experience or from older history; for example, the whole of the court of Hadrian, and the whole court of Antoninus, and the whole court of Philip, Alexander, Croesus; for all those were dramas such as we see now, only with different actors.

From Book XI:

21. He who has not one and always the same object in life cannot be one and the same all through his life. But what I have said is not enough, unless this also is added: what this object ought to be. For as there is not the same opinion about all the things that in some way or other are considered by the majority to be good, but only about some certain things, that is, things that concern the common interest, so also ought we to propose to ourselves an object that shall be of a common kind (social) and political. For he who directs all his own efforts to this object, will make all acts alike, and thus will always be the same.

From Book VI:

19. If it is difficult to accomplish something by yourself, do not think that it is impossible of man: but if anything is possible for man and conformable to his nature, think that this can be attained by you, too.

30. Take care that you are not made into a Caesar, that you are not dyed with this dye, for such things happen.

31. Return to your sober senses and call yourself back; and when you have roused yourself from sleep and have perceived that they were only dreams that troubled you, now in your waking hours look at these (the things about you) as you did look at those (your dreams).

38. Frequently consider the connection of all things in the universe and their relation to one another. For in a manner all things are implicated with one another, and all in this way are friendly to one another; for one thing comes in order after another, and this is by virtue of the active movement and mutual conspiration and the unity of the substance.

39. Adapt yourself to the things with which your lot has been cast: and the men among whom you have received your portion, love them. Do it truly, sincerely.

From Book IV:

3. Men seek retreats for themselves, houses in the country, seashores, and mountains; and you, too, are wont to desire such things very much. But this is altogether a mark of the most common sort of men, for it is in your power whenever you choose to retire into yourself. For there is no retreat that is quieter or freer from trouble than a man’s own soul, especially when he has within him such thoughts that by looking into them he is immediately in perfect tranquility; and tranquility is nothing else than the good ordering of the mind. …

For with what are you discontented? With the badness of men? Recall to your mind this conclusion., that rational animals exist for one another, and that to endure is a part of justice, and that men do wrong involuntarily; and consider how many already, after mutual enmity, suspicion, hatred, and fighting, have been stretched dead, reduced to ashes, and be quiet at last.

13. Do you have reason? I have. Why then do you not use it? For if reason does its own work, what else could you wish for?

17. Do not act as if you were going to live ten thousand years. Death hangs over you. While you live, while it is in your power, be good.