Marcus Aurelius – Meditations
Penguin Books – 2006
“The best revenge is not to be like your enemy.“
“The art of living is more like wrestling than dancing,
in that it stands ready for what comes and is not thrown by the unforeseen.”
Be like the rocky headland on which the waves constantly break.
It stands firm, and round it the seething waters are laid to rest.
‘It is my bad luck that this has happened to me.’
No, you should rather say:
‘It is my good luck that, although this has happened to me,
I can bear it without pain,
neither crushed by the present nor fearful of the future.’
Because such a thing could have happened to any man,
but not every man could have borne it without pain.
So why see more misfortune in the event than good fortune in your ability to bear it?
Or in general would you call anything a misfortune for a man
which is not a deviation from man’s nature?
Or anything a deviation from man’s nature
which is not contrary to the purpose of his nature?
Well, then. You have learnt what that purpose is.
Can there be anything, then, in this happening which prevents you bring just,
high-minded,
self-controlled,
intelligent,
judicious,
truthful,
honorable and free –
or any other of those attributes whose combination is the fulfillment of man’s proper nature?
So in all future events which might induce sadness remember to call on this principle:
‘This is no misfortune, but to bear it true to yourself is good fortune.’ – Book IV, N 49 (p. 33)
They cannot admire you for intellect.
Granted – but there are many other qualities of which you cannot say,
‘but that is not the way I am made.’
So display those virtues which are wholly in your own power –
integrity,
dignity,
hard work,
self-denial,
contentment,
frugality,
kindness,
independence,
simplicity,
discretion,
magnanimity.
Do you not see how many virtues you can already display
without any excuse of lack of talent or aptitude?
And yet you are still content to lag behind.
Or does the fact that you have no inborn talent oblige you to grumble,
to scrimp,
to toady,
to blame your poor body,
to suck up,
to brag,
to have your mind in such turmoil?
No, by heaven, it does not!
You could have got rid of all this long ago,
and only be charged – if charge there is –
with being rather slow and dull of comprehension.
And yet even this can be worked on –
unless you ignore or welcome your stupidity.” – Book V, N. 5 (p. 36)
So there are two reasons why you should be content with your experience.
One is that this has happened to you,
was prescribed for you,
and is related to you,
a thread of destiny spun for you from the first by the most ancient causes.
The second is that what comes to each individual is a determining part of the welfare,
the perfection, and indeed the very coherence of that which governs the Whole.
Because the complete Whole is maimed
if you sever even the tiniest fraction of its connections and continuity:
this is true of its constituent parts, and true likewise of its causes.
And you do sever something, to the extent that you can,
whenever you fret at your lot: this is, in a sense, a destruction. – Book V, N. 8 (p. 38)
Reflect often upon the speed with which all things in being,
or coming into being,
are carried past and swept away.
Existence is like a river in ceaseless flow,
its actions a constant succession of change,
its causes innumerable in their variety;
scarcely anything stands still, even what is most immediate.
Reflect too on the yawning gulf of past and future time,
in which all things vanish.
So in all this it must be folly for anyone to be puffed with ambition,
racked in struggle,
or indignant at his loss –
as if this was anything lasting or likely to trouble him for long. – Book V, N. 23 (p. 42)
The best revenge is not to be like your enemy. – Book VI, N 6 (p. 46)
Think constantly of all the sorts of men,
of various professions and of all the nations on earth,
who have died: and so bring your thought down to Philistion,
Phoebus,
and Origanion.
Pass now to the other classes of men.
We too are bound to change our abode to that other world,
where there are so many skilled orators,
so many distinguished philosophers –
Heraclitus,
Pythagoras,
Socrates –
so many heroes of old, so many later commanders and kings.
Add Eudoxus, Hipparchus, Archimedes,
add other men of penetrating intellect,
men of great vision,
men dedicated to their work:
add rogues, bigots, and even satirists of this transient mortal life,
like Menippus and his kind.
Reflect of all of these that they are long dead and buried.
So is this anything terrible for them –
or indeed for men whose very names are lost?
In this world there is only one thing of value, to live out your life in truth and justice,
tolerant of those who are neither true nor just. – Book VI, N 47 (pp. 55-56)
Do not let the future trouble you.
You will come to it (If that is what you must)
possessed of the same reason that you apply now to the present. – Book VII, N 8 (p. 59)
Whatever anyone does or says, I must be a good man.
It is as if an emerald, or gold or purple, were always saying:
‘Whatever anyone does or says,
I must be an emerald and keep my own colour.’ – Book VII, N 15 (p. 60)
The art of living is more like wrestling than dancing,
in that it stands ready for what comes and is not thrown by the unforeseen. – Book VII, N 61 (p. 67)
Always remember this:
remember too that the happy life depends on very little.
And do not think,
just because you have given up hope of becoming a philosopher or a scientist,
you should therefore dispose of a free spirit,
integrity,
social conscience,
obedience to god.
It is wholly possible to become a ‘divine man’
without anybody’s recognition. – Book VII, N 67 (p. 68)
Do not let the panorama of your life oppress you,
do not dwell on all the various troubles which may have occurred in the past
or may occur in the future.
Just ask yourself in each instance of the present:
‘What is there in this work which I cannot endure or support?’
You will be ashamed to make any such confession.
Then remind yourself that it is neither the future nor the past which weighs on you,
but always the present; and the present burden reduces,
if only you can isolate it and accuse your mind of weakness
if it cannot hold against something thus stripped bare. – Book VIII, N 36 (p. 77)
If you have sharp sight, use it: but as the poet says, add wise judgement. – Book VIII, N 38 (p. 78)
Constantly reflect that all the things which happened now have happened before:
reflect too that they will happen again in the future.
Have in your mind’s eye whole dramas with similar settings,
all that you know of from your own experience or earlier history –
for example, the whole court of Hadrian,
the whole court of Antoninus,
the whole court of Philip, Alexander, Croesus.
All the same as now: just a different cast. – Book X, N 17 (p. 100)
I have often wondered how it is that everyone loves himself more than anyone else,
but rates his own judgement of himself below that of others.
Anyway, if a god or some wise tutor appeared at his side
and told him to entertain no internal thought or intention
which he won’t immediately broadcast outside,
he would not tolerate this regime for a single day.
So it is that we have more respect for what our neighbors will think of us
than we have for ourselves. – Book XI, N 4 (p. 116)