Marcus Aurelius wasn’t trying to write a bestselling book. Like many people the world over, he was writing for himself in a private journal. A journal we know today as the book, Meditations.
The Roman Empire straddled three continents, gladiatorial games were an entertainment staple, and news travelled no faster than a horse or a ship. Marcus Aurelius could never have imagined that almost two thousand years later, words from his private notebook would be translated into multiple languages and accumulate millions of likes and shares in the chaos of the new social media age.
Almost 580k posts are tagged with #marcusaurelius on Instagram, and that figure is a whopping 1.2m posts on Facebook.
Reworked into modernised language, his personal reflections are not only a core pillar of Stoic philosophy, they also clearly resonate with people from all walks today.
The words you’ll read below are simple and direct, and I would argue more relevant than ever in the rapidly changing times we live in. Steady your mind, focus only on what you can control, and maintain integrity, even when life feels hectic.
Marcus Aurelius never wrote Meditations for an audience. It was a private notebook filled with reminders, corrections, and self-talk
In this article…
Part 1) Popular Marcus Aurelius Quotes
On Life & Purpose
- “You have power over your mind, not over external things. Realize this, and you will find strength.”
— Meditations 12.36 - “The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts.”
— Meditations 5.16 - “If it is not right, do not do it; if it is not true, do not say it.”
— Meditations 12.17 - “Dwell on the beauty of life. Watch the stars, and see yourself running with them.”
— Meditations 7.47 - “Very little is needed to make a happy life; it is all within yourself, in your way of thinking.”
— Meditations 7.67 - “Do every act of your life as if it were your last.”
— Meditations 2.5 - “It is not death that a man should fear, but he should fear never beginning to live.”
— Meditations 12.36 - “Look within. Within is the fountain of good, and it will ever bubble up, if you will ever dig.”
— Meditations 7.59 - “He who lives in harmony with himself lives in harmony with the universe.”
— Meditations 12.16 - “Do not act as if you had ten thousand years to live. While you have life, while you still can, be good.”
— Meditations 4.17 - “A man’s worth is no greater than the worth of his ambitions.”
— Meditations 7.3 - “It is in your power to withdraw yourself whenever you desire. Perfect tranquillity within consists in the good ordering of the mind.”
— Meditations 12.3 - “Wherever a man can live, there he can also live well.”
— Meditations 5.16 - “A man’s true delight is to do the things he was made for. He was made to show goodwill to his kind, to rise above the prompting of his senses, to distinguish appearances from realities, and to pursue the study of universal Nature and her works.”
— Meditations 9.31 - “Let your one delight and refreshment be to pass from one service to the community to another, with the thought of God ever in mind.”
— Meditations 6.7 - “Look to what is within. Do not let the doing be inferior to the saying.”
— Meditations 7.31 - “Remember that very little is needed to live a happy life.”
— Meditations 7.67 - “To love only what happens, what was destined. No greater harmony.”
— Meditations 7.57
On Change & Impermanence
- “Time is like a river made up of the events which happen, and a violent stream; for as soon as a thing has been seen, it is carried away, and another comes in its place.”
— Meditations 4.43 - “Loss is nothing else but change, and change is nature’s delight.”
— Meditations 12.23 - “Observe constantly that all things take place by change, and accustom thyself to consider that the nature of the universe loves nothing so much as to change things which are and to make new things like them. For everything that exists is in a manner the seed of that which will be.”
— Meditations 4.36 - “Everything that happens is as familiar and ordinary as the rose in spring and the crop in summer.”
— Meditations 4.44 - “Whatever happens to you has been waiting to happen since the beginning of time.”
— Meditations 10.5 - “How quickly all things disappear — in the universe the bodies themselves, but in time the memory of them.”
— Meditations 7.10 - “The memory of everything is very soon overwhelmed in time.”
— Meditations 7.10 - “How ridiculous and how strange to be surprised at anything which happens in life!”
— Meditations 12.13 - “Reflect constantly upon the fact that all kinds of people, of all professions and from all nations, are dead.”
— Meditations 9.33 - Think of the whole of existence, of which you are the tiniest part. Think of the whole of time, of which your life is a brief and fleeting moment. Think of destiny: what fraction of it are you?
— Meditations 5.24 - “Constantly regard the universe as one living being, having one substance and one soul; and observe how all things have reference to one perception, the perception of this one living being; and how all things act with one movement; and how all things are the cooperating causes of all things that exist; observe, too, the continuous spinning of the thread and the contexture of the web.”
— Meditations 4.40 - “Think constantly of all the kinds of men, of all sorts of occupations and all nations, that are dead and gone.”
— Meditations 9.30 - “Think of the whole of existence of which you are a very small part, and of the whole of time in which your life is but a brief moment.”
— Meditations 12.32
On Strength, Resiliance & Endurance
- “The art of living is more like wrestling than dancing.”
— Meditations 7.61 - “Look well into thyself; there is a source of strength which will always spring up if thou wilt always look.”
— Meditations 7.59 - “Reject your sense of injury and the injury itself disappears.”
— Meditations 4.7 - “Choose not to be harmed, and you will not feel harmed.”
— Meditations 4.7 - “Nothing happens to any man which he is not formed by nature to bear.”
— Meditations 5.18 - “Because a thing seems difficult for you, do not think it impossible for anyone to accomplish.”
— Meditations 6.51 - “If it’s endurable, then endure it. If it’s not endurable… then stop complaining.”
— Meditations 10.3 - “When you have trouble getting out of bed in the morning, remember that your nature is to work with others.”
— Meditations 5.1 - “The mind adapts and turns to its own purposes the obstacle to our acting.”
— Meditations 5.20 - “Receive without pride, let go without attachment.”
— Meditations 8.33 - “How much more grievous are the consequences of anger than the causes of it.”
— Meditations 11.18 - “Remember that your ruling part becomes invincible when it withdraws into itself and is content to do nothing but what is just.”
— Meditations 8.48 - “Receive wealth or prosperity without arrogance; and be ready to let it go.”
— Meditations 8.33
On Virtue & Character
- “The best revenge is not to be like your enemy.”
— Meditations 6.6 - “Waste no more time arguing what a good man should be. Be one.”
— Meditations 10.16 - “Nowhere can a man find a quieter or more untroubled retreat than in his own soul.”
— Meditations 4.3 - “Be content to seem what you really are.”
— Meditations 10.8 - “A wrongdoer is often a man who has left something undone, not always one who has done something.”
— Meditations 9.5 - “The best way of avenging yourself is not to become like the wrongdoer.”
— Meditations 6.6 - “If someone can prove me wrong and show me my mistake in any thought or action, I shall gladly change. I seek the truth, which never harmed anyone: the harm is to persist in one’s own self-deception and ignorance.”
— Meditations 6.21 - “Let not your mind run on what you lack as much as on what you have already.”
— Meditations 7.27 - “Remember that you are a little soul carrying a corpse.”
— Meditations 4.41
On Thoughts, Perception & Mindset
- “The soul becomes dyed with the color of its thoughts.”
— Meditations 5.16 - “If you are distressed by anything external, the pain is not due to the thing itself, but to your estimate of it; and this you have the power to revoke at any moment.”
— Meditations 8.47 - “Consider that everything is opinion.”
— Meditations 12.22 - “Such as are your habitual thoughts, such also will be the character of your mind; for the soul is dyed by the thoughts.”
— Meditations 5.16 - “If you are pained by any external thing, it is not this thing that disturbs you, but your own judgment about it. And it is in your power to wipe out that judgment now.”
— Meditations 8.47 - “No man is harmed by another; he is harmed only by his own opinion of the thing.”
— Meditations 4.7 - “Whatever happens, happens justly. Watch closely and you will see this to be so.”
— Meditations 4.10 - “No man is fortunate unless he believes himself so.”
— Meditations 7.27 - “Confine yourself to the present.”
— Meditations 8.36
On Dealing with People
- “Men exist for the sake of one another. Teach them, then, or bear with them.”
— Meditations 8.59 - “When another blames you or hates you, or when people voice similar criticisms, go to their souls and penetrate inside, and see what kind of people they are.”
— Meditations 9.27 - “Be tolerant with others and strict with yourself.”
— Meditations 5.33 - “Whenever you are about to find fault with someone, ask yourself the following question: What fault of mine most nearly resembles the one I am about to criticize?”
— Meditations 10.30 - “The best way to deal with those who offend you is to behave in a way that shows their behaviour has no place in your character.”
— Meditations 11.18 - “Accustom yourself to attend carefully to what is said by another, and as far as possible be in the speaker’s mind.”
— Meditations 6.53
Part 2) Fake Marcus Aurelius Quotes
Not everything attributed to Marcus Aurelius online was written by him. These misquotes are either modern inventions, lines from a certain blockbuster movie, inaccurate translations, general stoic principles, or lines taken from completely different authors.
Fake Quote #1
“The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane.”
Misattributed. First appears in Leo Tolstoy’s 1904 book, “Bethink Yourselves!” He claims it comes from Marcus Aurelius. No equivalent exists in Meditations.
It is essentially Tolstoy summarising Stoic themes in his own words. Bethink on that, Leo!
Fake Quote #2
“Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth.”
MA never said this. It’s not from Meditations and seems to be a modern invention that isn’t in the spirit of Stoicism. Wait…is that my opinion or a fact?!
To the best my knowledge Aurelius didn’t believe that there’s no objective truth, or that everything is just a subjective perspective. That’s closer to modern relativism than Stoicism.
I could argue that a more Stoic view would be to accept something as it is, and then to dig a little deeper, examine and test, and ultimately align one’s perspective with objective reality. So it’s more than a misquote, it flies in the face of what Marcus Aurelius actually believed.
Fake Quote #3
“Live a good life. If there are gods and they are just, then they will not care how devout you have been, but will welcome you based on the virtues you have lived by. If there are gods, but unjust, then you should not want to worship them. If there are no gods, then you will be gone, but will have lived a noble life that will live on in the memories of your loved ones.”
It’s wordy and wise, and on the surface, it has that Aurelius air about it. It’s the kind of thing you want to be true. Unfortunately, there’s no sign of it in Meditations or its translations.
It appears to be a modern and quite elaborate paraphrase, loosely inspired by Book 2.11. There’s a bit of divine justice, memory, and noble living, but Marcus never expressed those themes in this way. A compilation of modern moral reasoning and Stoic themes, if you will, but not a genuine Aurelius passage
Part 3) Sayings From the Gladiator Movie
I’ve probably watched this movie 15+ times. It’s the blockbuster about a fictional Roman army commander, Maximus Decimus Meridius (“Commander of the Armies of the North, General of the Felix Legions, loyal servant to the true emperor, Marcus Aurelius…” of course you remember the line!), who is stripped of everything by a vengeful Commodus, son of our aforementioned subject.
Released in 2000, it generated fresh interest in the Roman Empire, and while some of the lines carry a Stoic essence, it also resulted in some spectacular Marcus Aurelius misquotes.
These examples are both spoken by Russell Crowe’s character, but relate to Marcus Aurelius in different ways.
Misquote #1
“What we do now echoes in eternity.”
Not even spoken by the great Richard Harris, playing Marcus Aurelius. It’s in a rallying speech to the troops by Maximus, early in the movie.
It’s shared widely as an Aurelius quote, but it’s nowhere to be found in Meditations or any other ancient document. You might argue that it’s not really a Stoic sentiment either, because MA writes that fame fades, and no one is remembered for long.
Go to 0:50 for the line…
Misquote #2
“Death smiles at us all. All a man can do is smile back.”
I love this quote. No fear, battle-hardened, nothing left to lose. Just before the final fight scene (Maximus vs Commodus in Rome’s Colosseum), Maximus says this line and references Marcus Aurelius as having said it. Powerful words, but it’s the work of screenwriters, not the man himself.
This is the full pre-final fight scene clip. Go to 2:18 for the line…
Part 4) Reworded for Better Readability
There have been various translations of Meditations over the years, stretching as far back as 1634 when Méric Casaubon produced the first. George Long’s 1862 effort is probably the most widely circulated public domain translation, and more recently, some more modern and readable versions by Gregory Hays (2002) and Martin Hammond (2011) have proven very popular..
Given there are so many translations and unsourced versions of his words, I thought that I would have a go at modernising some of Long’s 1862 work. Why this version? Well, it’s accurate, but the Victorian phrasing is tough reading. Remember, Meditations was a personal document, a journal. I keep one myself, and it certainly isn’t polished! So a bit of light modernisation can make those dated words more relatable.
So this is my attempt. The modernised versions below keep Long’s meaning intact while smoothing out the stiff language structure. It’s not an attempt to replace his words, just smoother, clearer versions, written in language that feels natural in 2025.
Reword #1
“Whenever you choose, you can turn inward and find calm, free from life’s distractions. There is no better refuge than your own inner world.”
(“At what time soever thou wilt, it is in thy power to retire into thyself, and to be at rest, and free from all businesses. A man cannot any whither retire better than to his own soul.”)
Reword #2
“Anyone who doesn’t guide their inner life with reason and good judgment will inevitably be unhappy”
(“Tell whosoever they be that intend not, and guide not by reason and discretion the motions of their own souls, they must of necessity be unhappy.”)
Reword #3
“Hold to your first, bare impression of circumstances as they appear, without adding your own negative judgments on top.”
(“Keep thyself to the first bare and naked apprehensions of things, as they present themselves unto thee, and add not unto them.”)
Reword #4
“If you claim to be good, modest, and truthful, make sure your behavior reflects those virtues, or the words become meaningless.”
(“Now that thou hast taken these names upon thee of good, modest, true; take heed lest at any times by doing anything that is contrary, thou be but improperly so called, and lose thy right to these appellations.”)
Reword #5
“When you don’t want to get up in the morning, remind yourself that you were born for meaningful work, not for staying comfortable.”
(“In the morning when thou findest thyself unwilling to rise, consider with thyself presently, it is to go about a man’s work that I am stirred up. Am I then yet unwilling to go about that, for which I myself was born and brought forth into this world?”)
Part 5) Meditations Translation History
Making sense of MA’s ancient document has been a challenge taken up by various translators for almost 400 years. Below are the exact dates and links where you can find the free or most readable versions.
1634
Meric Casaubon
First English translation; archaic
1701
Jeremy Collier
Old-fashioned, ornate style
1742
Hutcheson & Moor
Enlightenment-era
1862
George Long
Most quoted online; Victorian
Read for free…
1869
Gerald Rendall
Lesser-known
1916
C.R. Haines
Literal, scholarly
1944
A.S.L. Farquharson
Clear mid-century
1964
Maxwell Staniforth
Influential, readable
2002
Gregory Hays
Most widely read modern translation
Get the book…
2006
Martin Hammond
Very clear modern style
Get the book…
2011
Robin Hard
Literal, modern, academic
Get the book…
Final Thoughts
He reigned almost 1900 years ago and kept a private journal that he never expected would survive, let alone guide millions of people in a completely different age. We could be living on Mars and his reflections would still apply, as they did in ancient Rome.
Stay present, be kind, question your judgments, and live with purpose, just some of the nuggets. And if you haven’t read Meditations, you just might find it a useful companion for navigating the pressures of our time-starved, tech-driven, and chaotic modern world.
Let’s finish up where we started. It can’t be repeated enough. A core takeaway from the great man and one of my favorite quotes ever…
“You have power over your mind, not over external things. Realize this, and you will find strength.”
— Meditations 12.36