Author: Marcus Aurelius, translated by Robin Waterfield
ISBN: 1541673859
Date read: 2023/05/25
How strongly I recommend it: 10/10
I. Review
I can’t believe I’m reviewing this book. This is literally what every edgy teenager would do, learn some philosophy (though mostly political ones like Marxism or they read Madilog once) and then start marching on the streets.
This book, for those unfamiliar, is the “scripture” for a school of philosophy originating in ancient greece called Stoicism. This school is part of a movement where a lot of, mostly young men, on the internet and in Silicon Valley take it up as somewhat a guide for living. The following is an excerpt from Stanford’s encyclopedia:
Stoicism was one of the dominant philosophical systems of the Hellenistic period. The name derives from the porch (stoa poikilê) in the Agora at Athens decorated with mural paintings, where the first generation of Stoic philosophers congregated and lectured.
The Stoic school was founded around 300 BCE by Zeno of Citium. The Stoa competed with the school founded only a little before in Athens by Epicurus, and Stoic and Epicurean views are often compared and contrasted. Zeno was succeeded in the leadership of the Stoa first by Cleanthes of Assos and then by Chrysippus of Soli, who headed the school from around 230 until 206 BCE and was by all accounts its foremost theorist and systematizer. Following Chrysippus, the position of “scholarch” passed to his former students, the last of which being Diogenes of Babylon in the middle of the 2nd century BCE.
Stoicism became particularly fashionable in the Roman period. Although never identifying as a Stoic himself, Cicero, who studied philosophy in Athens and endeavored to popularize it at Rome, engaged extensively with Stoic theory in his philosophical works and modeled his On Proper Functions (De Officiis) on Panaetius’ treatise of the same name.
During the Imperial era, several prominent public figures were associated with the Stoic school. Appointed to the court of Emperor Augustus in the late 1st century BCE was the Stoic philosopher Arius Didymus, and a generation later Seneca served as advisor to Nero. Epictetus, a former slave, was expelled from Rome by Domitian along with other philosophers in 93 CE, and his works, recorded by his student Arrian, heavily influenced Marcus Aurelius, Roman Emperor from 161–180 CE.
So that’s where Marcus came into play. He was a roman emperor, the last of the so called “Good Emperors”. The book that he wrote was in all likelihood written for himself as a reminder and were not meant to be published. Throughout the book there are lots of parts where Marcus wrote about events that we are not familiar with. Miraculously though, this book survived, and over the centuries are cited by a lot of prominent people as a book that changed their lives.
I first encountered this book from The School of Life youtube channel which was founded by Alain de Botton, an English philosopher. Its importance were mentioned several times in the many video essays that the channel creates and subsequently I found another channel, the Daily Stoic, this one was founded by Ryan Holiday an author from the United States. Ryan especially always mentions this book that changed his life so naturally, being the book hoarder that I am I decided to download it and read it.
Oh boy, this book was good. I first read the edition from the Modern Library with Gregory Hays as the translator per Ryan’s advice. It was definitely more accessible than I thought. It took me just days to read it and I still read it from time to time until this day. I also spent the month of December last year to read all of the book myself and record it so I can listen to it while I drive or when I’m doing non-menial task in front of the computer. The total length was just under five hours so I think if you read the book it’s probably even shorter.
I would say the degree that this book and Stoicism in general has affected my life has been profound. I immediately got a copy of all of Epictetus’ and Seneca’s works. I also got like a dozen copy of other Stoicism related books by various authors, historians, and philosophers. I’m in the midst of reading them right now, one book at a time. I also became more into spiritual things in general. I’m finding the lectures from Sam Harris around the topic of minduflness and meditations very intriguing.
The introduction part of the book had done a much better job of explaining who Marcus was, what stoicism is, and the context of the book. I can only say that even if you have any preconceived notion of the world (in terms of faith let’s say) the secular nature of this book would allow anyone to read and greatly benefit from it. I would definitely recommend it to everyone. Below are my selected highlights from the book. I almost highlighted all of the book so what you’re about to see are mere glimpses.
II. Notes
Ruins with the Statue of Marcus Aurelius. Giovanni Paolo Panini. National Gallery of Ancient Art Rome.
What a way to behave! They’re reluctant to praise any of their contemporaries, who are actually here with them, but they attach considerable importance to being praised by future generations, whom they’ve never seen and never will see. This is pretty much the same as being upset because earlier generations didn’t compose eulogies for you!
How cruel it is to thwart people’s attempts to get what they think is proper to them and expedient for them! And yet, in a sense, you act as just such an obstacle when you get cross with them for their flaws. I mean, they’re bound in any case to be drawn to what they take to be proper to them and to their advantage. “But they’re wrong!” So instruct them and explain things to them, without getting angry.
It’s horrible that in this life, while your body keeps going, your mind gives up first.
If you treat things that aren’t subject to your volition as good or bad, it’s inevitable that, when you meet one of these “bad” things or fail to gain one of these “good” things, you’ll blame the gods and hate the men who are responsible for what happened or who you suspect may be responsible for such a thing in the future. In fact, many of the wrongs we commit are a consequence of our assigning value to these things. But if we judge only things that are up to us to be good and bad, you’ll be left with no reason to criticize the gods or adopt a hostile attitude toward other men.
Just as the productions that are put on in the amphitheater and such places exasperate you because it’s merely the same show over and over again, and the lack of variety makes them boring, so is your experience of life as a whole: look where you will, everything is the same and consists of the same components. For how long, then?
Soon you’ll have forgotten everything; soon everyone will have forgotten you.
When someone mistreats you, the first question you should ask yourself is what conception of good and bad led him to do so. Understanding this will lead you to feel sorry for him, and will dispel any shock or anger, once you see that your own conception of goodness is still either the same as his or closely related. And so you’re bound to forgive him. On the other hand, if you’ve moved beyond this kind of conception of goodness and badness, it will be all the easier for you to be lenient toward him for not seeing things right.
Instead of imagining that you possess things you don’t, select, from among those you do have, the ones you count yourself most fortunate to have, and remind yourself in their case how much you’d have wanted them if you didn’t have them. But at the same time take care not to let your pleasure in them get you into the habit of valuing them too highly, to the extent that you’d be upset if you ever lost them.
On fame: Look at the kinds of thoughts they entertain, and what they like or dislike. Consider also that, just as sand dunes drift over other dunes and hide the earlier ones, so in life what went before is very soon covered up by what came later.
“It’s pointless to let mere things make you angry, since they lack the ability to care.”
Wherever you find yourself, it’s within your power, at every moment, to be reverently content with your present circumstances, to behave with justice toward the people who are presently around you, and to manage your present impressions so that nothing slips into your mind that you haven’t adequately grasped.
For every experience that you have, imagine the people to whom the same thing happened in the past, and their subsequent annoyance, surprise, or indignation. Where are they now? Nowhere. Well, do you want to be like them? Why not leave others’ moods to the modifiers and the modified, while you focus solely on how to make use of your experiences? You’ll get the best out of them that way, and they’ll act as the raw material of your life. Just pay attention and make sure that what you want for yourself is for all of your actions to be those of an honorable person. And bear in mind the following two points: that your actions are important, and that the context of those actions is a matter of indifference.
Remember that neither changing your mind nor being guided by someone who’s setting you straight impairs your self-reliance. It’s your own doing, the outcome of your own impulse and judgment, and of your own mind.
If it’s up to you: why are you doing what you’re doing? If it’s not up to you: who or what do you hold responsible? Atoms? Gods? Blaming either of these is crazy. There’s no point in assigning blame, because either you can set the person straight, in which case you should do that, or, if you can’t do that, you should straighten out the business itself. And if you can’t do that, what’s to be gained by assigning blame? There’s no point in doing something pointless.
See how many people there are who don’t even know your name, how many of them will very soon forget you, and how many of them may be praising you now but will very soon be denouncing you. Recognize that neither memory nor fame nor anything else at all has any importance.
Everything you see will very soon perish, and those who witness the perishing of these things will very soon perish themselves. A man who died in extreme old age and a boy who died early will be made the same.
Whenever a person’s lack of shame offends you, you should immediately ask yourself: “So is it possible for there to be no shameless people in the world?” It isn’t, and you should therefore stop demanding the impossible. He’s just one of those shameless people who must necessarily exist in the world. You should keep the same thought readily available also for when you’re faced with devious and untrustworthy people, and people who are flawed in any way. As soon as you remind yourself that it’s impossible for such people not to exist, you’ll be kinder toward each and every one of them.
If you’ve done someone good, what more do you want? Aren’t you satisfied with having acted in conformity with your nature? Do you want remuneration as well? It’s as if the eyes sought compensation for seeing or the feet for walking. Just as eyes and feet were made for a particular purpose, which fulfills them because the performance of that function is what they were designed to do, so, because human beings were made to do others good, when a man does something that benefits someone else, he’s doing what he was made for, and is fulfilled.
Where it’s within your power to consider what has to be done, there’s no need for guesswork. If you can see the way forward, take it without turning aside, and if you can’t, hold back and consult your best advisers. If you meet with obstacles, make use of the resources you have and proceed cautiously, keeping always to the course that seems to you to be just. For there’s nothing better than the attainment of justice, since the only real failure is falling short of justice. Anyone who follows reason in all things is immune to external pressures, unencumbered, joyful, and composed.
Either you continue to live here in your familiar routine, or you withdraw from life by your own choice, or you die if you’ve completed your service. Those are the only alternatives, so there’s no need to worry.
Is someone going to despise me? That’s his concern. Mine is to see that I don’t do or say anything that deserves to be despised. Is someone going to hate me? That’s his concern. I’ll remain kind and benevolent to everyone.
If it’s not right, don’t do it; if it’s not the truth, don’t say it. Your impulses should be under your control.
First, never act without plan and purpose. Second, set your sights on no other goal but the common good.
What a tiny fraction of the infinite gulf of time has been allotted to each of us! It’s very quickly swallowed up by eternity. What a tiny fraction of the entirety of substance! What a tiny fraction of the entirety of soul! What a tiny clod of earth you crawl on, compared to the earth as a whole! Bear all this in mind and think nothing important except acting in compliance with your nature and being acted upon by whatever universal nature brings your way.