April 27, 2003 – B

Ethics and Philosophy

Selected Quotations from Meditations by Marcus Aurelius
Part I

…to work with my own hands, and not to meddle with other people’s affairs, and not to be ready to listen to slander.

..not to give credit to what was said by miracle-workers and jugglers about incantations and the driving away of daemons and such things

…with respect to those who have offended me by words, or done me wrong, to be easily disposed to be pacified and reconciled, as soon as they have shown a readiness to be reconciled

…From Apollonius I learned freedom of will and undeviating steadiness of purpose; and to look to nothing else, not even for a moment, except to reason

…the idea of living conformably to nature; and gravity without affectation, and to look carefully after the interests of friends… (1)

Notes

[1] Marcus Aurelius “The Meditations” translated by George Long, Book I
Quotations from file at Project Gutenberg: http://gutenberg.net/
Also found at: http://classics.mit.edu/Antoninus/meditations.html