You have power over your mind — not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.
Marcus Aurelius (121–180) was a Roman emperor and the last of the so-called Five Good Emperors. His Meditations began as private notes, written in Greek during military campaigns and never meant for publication — which gives them a tone rarely found elsewhere in ancient literature. He wrote them largely as reminders to himself.
About this theme: Wisdom
In the Western tradition wisdom is almost always defined by what it is not. Socrates is famous for claiming to know that he knew nothing; that was not modesty but method. Knowledge is a set of facts, wisdom is knowing what to do with them — and, more often, knowing when there are not enough of them.
More by Marcus Aurelius
- The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts.
- Waste no more time arguing about what a good man should be. Be one.
- Very little is needed to make a happy life; it is all within yourself.
- The best revenge is to be unlike him who performed the injury.
- When you arise in the morning, think of what a precious privilege it is to be alive — to breathe, to think, to enjoy, to love.
More on Wisdom
- Do the difficult things while they are easy and do the great things while they are small.— Lao Tzu
- An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.— Benjamin Franklin
- Talent hits a target no one else can hit; genius hits a target no one else can see.— Arthur Schopenhauer
- He who knows that enough is enough will always have enough.— Lao Tzu
- Do not weep; do not wax indignant. Understand.— Baruch Spinoza