About this title: In these personal reflections, the Roman emperor and second-century Stoic philosopher Marcus Aurelius discusses life, morality, duty, and community. Originally entitled "To Himself", the work did not surface until the fourth century, but it has inspired readers ever since.
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Description: Good. Shows some signs of wear, and may have some markings on the inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Description: Very Good. Great condition for a used book! Minimal wear. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Description: Good. Light shelf wear and minimal interior marks. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Prometheus Books
Date Published: 1991
ISBN-13:9780879757021ISBN:0879757027
Description: Good. No dust jacket as issued. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 122 p. Great Books in Philosophy. Audience: General/trade. U-34 read more
Description: Good. 1853264865. Fast shipping from Ohio. Worn edges and covers. May have stickers from a previous sale. Otherwise the item is in very good condition. #DNRP# IID: Ohio(5.04)515K121207102103PM Review: The "Meditations" of Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius are a readable exposition of the system of metaphysics known as stoicism. Stoics maintained that by putting aside great passions, unjust thoughts and indulgence, man could acquire virtue and live at one with nature. Alibris Order. read more
Description: Good. Shows some signs of wear, and may have some markings on the inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Description: Good. Light shelf wear and minimal interior marks. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Description: Very good. Book has appearance of light use with no easily noticeable wear. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Dover Publications
Date Published: 1997
ISBN-13:9780486298238ISBN:048629823X
Description: New. No dust jacket as issued. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 112 p. Dover Thrift Editions. Audience: General/trade. New and Instock read more
Description: Good. 1997, Paperback. Used-Good Hall Street Books Proudly ships all books from Brooklyn, NY. All orders are processed and shipped within 24 hours M-F. 100% Money-Back Guarantee and No-Worry return policy. read more
Description: Good. 1991-Paperback---Used-Good. Hall Street Books proudly ships from Brooklyn, NY. All orders are processed and shipped within 24 hours, M-F. 100% money back No-Worry guarantee with expedited delivery and delivery confirmation available. read more
"This book is a great introduction to stoic thought. Marcus Aurelius became emperor by a double twist of fate across two generations. He may have become Plato's "philosopher king". Now read his thoughts while on campaign, jotted by the fire, to none but himself.
The essential thought seems to be if someone does not harm your character, how can they harm you? And you determine who affects your character. Therefore, you are impervious.
Life shows that this is easier thought than done. But still, it is encouraging . . . .
Also, book ii, page 17, by the river phaedon, is a great place to plunge in."
"The writing in the Meditations of Marcus Aurelius, written by this wise Roman Emperor, is very flowing, personable, and readable, almost like a personal letter in tone, easy to understand as a man's journal and thoughts for himself. Reading it makes me wish that I could have sat in Aurelius's presence and listened to him, talked with him. Having his writings is the next best thing, and one can read him as if one were in his presence.
"Constantly regard the universe as one living being, having one substance and one soul; ...all things are the cooperating causes of all things which exist." This is Thich Nhat Hanh's inter-being, isn't it? Aurelius goes on to equate Zeus with the universe, thus bridging the gap between theism and a non-theistic appreciation of underlying order. Living and dying are like a breathing in and a breathing out: we breathe in and are born, we breathe out and we die; nothing more and nothing less, so why fret? And the universe goes on, continually remaking itself and its manifestations.
Aurelius's work is really a "personalized" Epictetus. It is more a series of aphorisms than an extended discourse. As Epictetus' work is ideal as a didactic exposition of the principles of Stoicism, Aurelius' work would be ideal as a small handbook of wisdom to be kept at one's side and dipped into regularly as a source of seeds for contemplation. It is a wise and charming book, a perfect companion for living."
"If you read Marcus Aurelius like he's a Buddhist, it makes it awesome. I had fun picking out lines that sound like a stodgy Roman Pema Chodron:
"Every hour of the day give vigorous attention, as a Roman and as a man, to the performance of the task in hand with precise analysis, with unaffected dignity, with human sympathy, with dispassionate justice -- and to vacating your mind from all its other thoughts. 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 pretense, from love of self, from dissatisfaction with what fate has dealt you.""
"This translation is better than other translations. If you are going to buy it, don't buy it from Barnes & Noble as I stupidly did. It cost about $22! What a rip-off. It's under $5, used, on Amazon. I could have returned it -- and could still, I guess -- but I had already exchanged a copy of Meditations with a terrible translation (H. Long) for this one. And I don't think I could withstand the glares of the floor manager at B&N trying to return a book I had already exchanged a book for.
And that is my story about Emperor Marcus Aurelius' Meditations."
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