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4.1 AVERAGE
4.1 AVERAGE
challenging
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
informative
reflective
slow-paced
As expected, extremely repetitive. Curiously close to Western Buddhism.
Very important writing that came at a crucial time in my life
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
fast-paced
While a lot of Marcus’s key points were repeated (a bit annoyingly) over and over to the point where I felt like I was reading the same chapters with just slight differences among them, a lot of his key points are very good advice. Though not written as a self-help book, I felt like a lot of his points were applicable in that way. Fame and wealth are not long-lasting, the finer things in life are just ordinary when you look closely at them, anger has no direct effect on you, etc.
“Men are born for the sake of each other. So either teach or tolerate.”
“Vanity is the greatest seducer of reason: when you are most convinced that your work is important, that is when you are most under its spell.”
“And you will achieve this vacation if you perform each action as if it were the last of your life: freed, that is, from all lack of aim, from all passion-led deviation from the ordinance of reason, from pretence, from love of self, from dissatisfaction with what fate has dealt you.”
“Failure to read what is happening in another’s soul is not easily seen as a cause of unhappiness: but those who fail to attend to the motions of their own soul are necessarily unhappy.”
“Self-harm, my soul, you are doing self-harm: and you will have no more opportunity for self-respect. Life for each of us is a mere moment, and this life of yours is nearly over…”
“In man’s life his time is a mere instant, his existence a flux, his perception fogged, his whole bodily composition rotting, his mind a whirligig, his fortune unpredictable, his fame unclear. To put it shortly: all things of the body stream away like a river, all things of the mind are dreams and delusion; life is warfare, and a visit in a strange land; the only lasting fame is oblivion.”
“Well then, will a little fame distract you? Look at the speed of universal oblivion, the gulf of immeasurable time both before and after, the vacuity of applause, the indiscriminate fickleness of your apparent supporters, the tiny room in which all of this is confined.”
“How good it is, when you have roast meat or suchlike foods before you, to impress on your mind that this is the dead body of a fish, this is the dead body of a bird or pig; and again, that the Falernian wine is the mere juice of grapes, and your purple-edged robe simply the hair of a sheep soaked in shell-fish blood! And in sexual intercourse that it is no more than the friction of a membrane and a spurt of mucus ejected.”
“All the time you should consider who are these people whose endorsement you wish, and what are the minds that direct them. When you look into the sources of their judgement and impulse, you will not blame their unwitting error, nor will you feel the need of their endorsement.”
“Men are born for the sake of each other. So either teach or tolerate.”
“Vanity is the greatest seducer of reason: when you are most convinced that your work is important, that is when you are most under its spell.”
“And you will achieve this vacation if you perform each action as if it were the last of your life: freed, that is, from all lack of aim, from all passion-led deviation from the ordinance of reason, from pretence, from love of self, from dissatisfaction with what fate has dealt you.”
“Failure to read what is happening in another’s soul is not easily seen as a cause of unhappiness: but those who fail to attend to the motions of their own soul are necessarily unhappy.”
“Self-harm, my soul, you are doing self-harm: and you will have no more opportunity for self-respect. Life for each of us is a mere moment, and this life of yours is nearly over…”
“In man’s life his time is a mere instant, his existence a flux, his perception fogged, his whole bodily composition rotting, his mind a whirligig, his fortune unpredictable, his fame unclear. To put it shortly: all things of the body stream away like a river, all things of the mind are dreams and delusion; life is warfare, and a visit in a strange land; the only lasting fame is oblivion.”
“Well then, will a little fame distract you? Look at the speed of universal oblivion, the gulf of immeasurable time both before and after, the vacuity of applause, the indiscriminate fickleness of your apparent supporters, the tiny room in which all of this is confined.”
“How good it is, when you have roast meat or suchlike foods before you, to impress on your mind that this is the dead body of a fish, this is the dead body of a bird or pig; and again, that the Falernian wine is the mere juice of grapes, and your purple-edged robe simply the hair of a sheep soaked in shell-fish blood! And in sexual intercourse that it is no more than the friction of a membrane and a spurt of mucus ejected.”
“All the time you should consider who are these people whose endorsement you wish, and what are the minds that direct them. When you look into the sources of their judgement and impulse, you will not blame their unwitting error, nor will you feel the need of their endorsement.”
This is a collection of Stoic philosophy. It is collected into 12 chapters, but I think it is fragments from Marcus Aurelius' "diaries" -- it has that feel. It is very interesting, but I think this edition with the ~100 page historical and philosophical context and background was especially good. This is similar in feel (but more fragmentary) than Ryan Holiday's "The Obstacle is the Way" -- but actually written by someone with amazing historical context and life experience (that is, "the last great Roman emperor" rather than a "media strategist").
challenging
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
reflective
slow-paced
This definitely needs a read-through, and I definitely recommend picking up The Power of Now to draw some connections. It reminded me much of Hindu/Buddhist philosophy and helped ground me in the present without it being a deeply religious/spiritual text. Deeply interesting, as it was written by a Hellenist Roman, but drew a lot of parallels and connections from different cultures.
I read this back in high school and it really drives home how little things have changed to read it again and still get so much out of it.
The majority of this book is just... reminders and well-worded phrases that reflect things many of us struggle with in our day to day lives, and even if it's being filtered both through ancient thought processes and modern interpretations, it still applies.
We're not that different; people haven't changed, and we still struggle with the same things.
Great book for anyone considering old-fashioned morality without turning to the Bible due to the baggage it holds.
Strongly recommend, will read again.
The majority of this book is just... reminders and well-worded phrases that reflect things many of us struggle with in our day to day lives, and even if it's being filtered both through ancient thought processes and modern interpretations, it still applies.
We're not that different; people haven't changed, and we still struggle with the same things.
Great book for anyone considering old-fashioned morality without turning to the Bible due to the baggage it holds.
Strongly recommend, will read again.
Even over the span of a few months, this gets repetitive. The last four books or more offered nothing new to the table.