Book Two
2:14
Book Subtitle: The classic from Marcus Aurelius.
Book Description: The personal notes of Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius.
This book has influenced many throughout history from students to statesmen. It's an inside look at a brilliant and thoughtful man working on living well.
The emperor and philosopher's thoughts are crucial to understand for any Stoic seeking to do their best in a complex world.
Chapter Subtitle: Begin the morning by saying to yourself I shall meet with the busy-body, the ungrateful, arrogant, deceitful, envious, unsocial.
14. Though you should be going to live three thousand years, and as many times ten thousand years, still remember that no man loses any other life than this which he now lives, nor lives any other than this which he now loses.
The longest and shortest are thus brought to the same.
For the present is the same to all, though that which perishes is not the same; and so that which is lost appears to be a mere moment.
For a man cannot lose either the past or the future: for what a man has not, how can any one take this from him?
These two things then you must bear in mind; the one, that all things from eternity are of like forms and come round in a circle, and that it makes no difference whether a man shall see the same things during a hundred years or two hundred, or an infinite time; and the second, that the longest liver and he who will die soonest lose just the same.
For the present is the only thing of which a man can be deprived, if it is true that this is the only thing which he has, and that a man cannot lose a thing if he has it not.
Book: Meditations
Subtitle: The classic from Marcus Aurelius.
Author: Marcus Aurelius
Chapter: Book Two
Chapter Subtitle: Begin the morning by saying to yourself I shall meet with the busy-body, the ungrateful, arrogant, deceitful, envious, unsocial.
Location: Chapter 2, Section 14
Content:
14. Though you should be going to live three thousand years, and as many times ten thousand years, still remember that no man loses any other life than this which he now lives, nor lives any other than this which he now loses.
The longest and shortest are thus brought to the same.
For the present is the same to all, though that which perishes is not the same; and so that which is lost appears to be a mere moment.
For a man cannot lose either the past or the future: for what a man has not, how can any one take this from him?
These two things then you must bear in mind; the one, that all things from eternity are of like forms and come round in a circle, and that it makes no difference whether a man shall see the same things during a hundred years or two hundred, or an infinite time; and the second, that the longest liver and he who will die soonest lose just the same.
For the present is the only thing of which a man can be deprived, if it is true that this is the only thing which he has, and that a man cannot lose a thing if he has it not.