Stoic Wisdom

Originally posted: Monday, July 9, 2007 3:48pm

A few months ago, I was in the bookstore and a copy of Marcus Aurelius' Meditations lept into my hands. It was weird, but it happened. I let it sit on my bedside table for a couple of weeks with the eight other uncracked books that permanently reside there. Every time I glanced at it, I rolled my eyes to think of the ten dollars I spent on yet another "classic" work that seemed like an intelligent and sophisticated purchase, but--in reality--was a waste of money.
Eventually, I did open it and have not only become a closet convert to Stoicism, but have recommended the book to several others. So, I thought I would save everyone a few bucks and share some of my favorite insights from my new favorite Roman Emperor ;-):
**A little flesh, a little breath, and a Reason to rule all--that is myself.
**For the sole thing of which any man can be deprived is the present; since this is all he owns, and nobody can lose what is not his.
**Do not waste what remains of your life in speculating about your neighbors, unless with a view to some mutual benefit. To wonder what so-and-so is doing and why, or what he is saying, or thinking, or scheming--in a word, anything that distracts you from the Ruler within you--means a loss of opportunity for some other task.
**That men of a certain type should behave as they do is inevitable. To wish it otherwise were to wish the fig-tree would not yield its juice. In any case, remember that in a very little while both you and he will be dead, and your very names will be forgotten ()
**Reject your sense of injury, and the injury itself disappears.
**Do not copy the opinions of the arrogant, or let them dictate your own, but look at things in their true light.
**Anything in any way beautiful derives its beauty from itself. . .Praise is no part of it, for nothing is made worse or better by praise. . .Does the emerald lose its beauty for lack of admiration?
**Most of what we do and say is not necessary, and its omission would save both time and trouble ()
**It is essential to remind ourselves that the pursuit of any object depends for its value upon the worth of the object pursued. If, then, you would avoid disappointment, never become unduly absorbed in things that are not of the first importance.
**If a god were to tell you, "Tomorrow, or at best the day after, you will be dead," you would not, unless the most abject of men, be greatly solicitous whether it was to the the later day, rather than the morrow--for what is the difference between them? In the same way, do not reckon it of great moment whether it will come years and years hence, or tomorrow.
**So here is a rule to remember in the future, when anything tempts you to feel bitter: not, "This is a misfortune," but "To bear this worthily is good fortune."
**it is difficult enough to put up with one's own self.
**To pursue the unattainable is insanity, yet the thoughtless can never refrain from doing so.
**Outward things can touch the soul not a whit; they know no way into it, they have no power to sway or move it. By itself if sways and moves itself; it has its own self-approved standards of judgment, and to them it refers every experience.
**Never rage at the culprit: rather, find out at what point his vision failed him.
**Look beneath the surface: never let a thing's intrinsic quality or worth escape you.
**To refrain from imitation is the best revenge.
**Because a thing is difficult for you, do not therefore suppose it to be beyond mortal power. On the contrary, if anything is possible and proper for man to do, assume that it must fall within your own capacity.
**If anyone can show me, and prove to me, that I am wrong in thought or deed, I will gladly change. I seek the truth, which never yet hurt anybody. It is only persistance in self-delusion and ignorance which does harm.
**Life is short, and this earthly existance has but a single fruit to yield--holiness within, and selfless action without.
**If you suppose anything over which you have no control to be either good or bad for you, then the accident of missing the one or encountering the other is certain to make you aggrieved with the gods, and bitter against the men whom you know or suspect to be responsible for your failure or misfortune. We do, in fact, commit many injustices through attaching importance to things of this class. But when we limit our notions of good and evil strictly to what is within our own power, there remains no reason to bring accusations against God or to set ourselves at variance with men.
**In this life one thing only is of precious worth: to live out one's days in truthfulness and fair dealing, and in charity even with the false and unjust.
**Accustom yourself to give careful attention to what others are saying, and try your best to enter into the mind of the speaker.
**There is no such thing as novelty; all is as trite as it is transitory.
**a man's worth is no greater than the worth of his ambitions.
**Think it no shame to be helped. Your business is to do your appointed duty, like a soldier in the breach. How, then, if you are lame, and unable to scale the battlements yourself, but could do it if you had the aid of a comrade?
**God is one, pervading all things; all being is one, all law is one (namely, the common reason which all thinking creatures possess) and all truth is one.
**If I do not view the thing as an evil, I take no hurt. And nothing compels me to view it so.
**Whatever the world may say or do, my part is to keep myself good.
**Soon you will have forgotten the world, and soon the world will have forgotten you ( ).
**When anyone offends against you, let your first thought be, Under what conception of good and ill was this committed? Once you know that, astonishment and anger will give place to pity.
**Do not indulge in dreams of having what you have not, but reckon up the chief of the blessings you do possess, and then thankfully remember how you would crave them if they were not yours. At the same time, however, beware lest delight in them leads you to cherish them so dearly that their loss would destroy your peace of mind.
**In every action let your own self-approval be the sole aim both of your effort and of your intention; bearing in mind that the event itself which prompted your action is a thing of no consequence to either of them.
**Always get to know the characters of those whose approval you wish to earn, and the nature of their guiding principles. Look into the sources of their opinions and their motives, and then you will not blame any of their involuntary offences, or feel the want of their approbation.
**Pain is never unbearable or unending, so long as you remember its limitations and do not indulge in fanciful exaggerations (quoting Epicurus).
**When inclined to grumble. . .tell yourself that you are giving in to pain.
**When men are inhuman, take care not to feel towards them as they do towards other humans.
**Vex not thy spirit at the course of things; they heed not thy vexation (quoting Euripides)
**How ridiculous not to flee from one's own wickedness, which is possible, yet to endeavor to flee from another's, which is not.
**To live each day as though one's last, never flustered, never apathetic, never attitudinizing--here is the perfection of character.
**To what, then, must we aspire? This, and this alone: the just thought, the unselfish act, the tongue that utters no falsehood, the temper that greets each passing event as something predestined, expected, and emanating from the One source and origin.

I think you probably get the point; isn't he great??