The Thoughts of the Emperor M. Aurelius AntoninusGeorge Bell, 1880 - 210 pages |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
according to nature Antoninus Pius Apology art thou Avidius Cassius Bishop Butler body cause Christians Commodus conformable consider constitution daemon death deity Dion Cassius disposition divinity dost thou emperor Epictetus Euripides Eusebius everything which happens evil exist external fame formed by nature Fundanus Gataker give gods Greek Hadrian happen to thee harm Heraclitus honour intelligence justice Justinus kind labour letter live according look man's nature manner Marcus matter meaning Melitene notion observe opinion Orosius pain passage perish philosophy Plato pleasure Plutarch praise Quadi rational animal reason religion remember Rescript Roman ruling faculty Rusticus says sense social Socrates soul speaks Stoic substance thou art thou dost thou hast thou shalt thou shouldst thou wilt thoughts thy duty thy mind thy power thyself Trajan tranquillity translation trouble truth universal nature Valesius Verus virtue whole wilt thou word wrong Zeus
Popular passages
Page 100 - Everything harmonizes with me, which is harmonious to thee, O Universe. Nothing for me is too early nor too late, which is in due time for thee. Everything is fruit to me which thy seasons bring, O Nature : from thee are all things, in thee are all things, to thee all things return.
Page 124 - If any man is able to convince me and show me that I do not think or act right, I will gladly change; for I seek the truth by which no man was ever injured. But he is injured who abides in his error and ignorance.
Page 65 - All things come alike to all: there is one event to the righteous and to the wicked; to the good, and to the clean, and to the unclean; to him that sacrificeth, and to him that sacrificeth not: as is the good, so is the sinner; and he that sweareth, as he that feareth an oath.
Page 106 - ... from having modesty, freedom, and everything else, by the presence of which man's nature obtains all that is its own? Remember too on every occasion which leads thee to vexation to apply this principle: not that this is a misfortune, but that to bear it nobly is good fortune.
Page 114 - Such as are thy habitual thoughts, such also will be the character of thy mind; for the soul is dyed by the thoughts. Dye it then with a continuous series of such thoughts as these: for instance, that where a man can live, there he can also live well.
Page 95 - Constantly then give to thyself this retreat, and renew thyself; and let thy principles be brief and fundamental, which, as soon as thou shalt recur to them, will be sufficient to cleanse the soul completely, and to send thee back free from all discontent with the things to which thou returnest.
Page 65 - This is an evil among all things that are done under the sun, that there is one event unto all: yea, also the heart of the sons of men is full of evil, and madness is in their heart while they live, and after that they go to the dead.
Page 87 - And, again, figs, when they are quite ripe, gape open ; and, in the ripe olives, the very circumstance of their being near to rottenness adds a peculiar beauty to the fruit. And the ears of corn bending down, and the lion's eyebrows, and the foam which flows from the mouth of wild boars, and many other things, though they are far from being beautiful, if a man should examine them severally, still, because they are consequent upon the things which are formed by nature, help to adorn them, and they...
Page 91 - Never value anything as profitable to thyself which shall compel thee to break thy promise, to lose thy self-respect, to hate any man, to suspect, to curse, to act the hypocrite, to desire anything which needs walls and curtains...
Page 101 - For the greatest part of what we say and do being unnecessary, if a man takes this away, he will have more leisure and less uneasiness. Accordingly on every occasion a man should ask himself, Is this one of the unnecessary things? Now a man should take away not only unnecessary acts, but also unnecessary thoughts for thus superfluous acts will not follow after.