#marcus-aurelius — Public Fediverse posts

The impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way.

— Marcus Aurelius

#Stoic #Stoicism #MarcusAurelius

Marcus Aurelius Monday! Selected Quotes!

Drum Roll! Here is this week’s quote from Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius – known as the "Philosopher King".

"The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts."

#FamousQuotes #WordstoLiveBy #MarcusAurelius #PhilosopherKing #Romans #LifeLessons #FamousQuotes

I have often wondered how it is that every man loves himself more than all the rest of men, but yet sets less value on his own opinion of himself than on the opinion of others.

— Marcus Aurelius

#Stoic #Stoicism #MarcusAurelius

Every hour focus your mind attentively…on the performance of the task in hand, with dignity, human sympathy, benevolence and freedom, and leave aside all other thoughts. You will achieve this, if you perform each action as if it were your last.

— Marcus Aurelius

#Stoic #Stoicism #MarcusAurelius

📰 Today's top stories, personally curated for you by Zorz Studios: http://zorz.it/newspaper

- What can you do with a #PhotographyDegree: #career options beyond #photography;
- When should you replace a #MemoryCard?
- The #WeddingDress hack every #bride needs;
- Western charm: the #SenderoProvisionsCo Wyatt Pearl Snap #CorduroyShirt;
- The daily routine of #MarcusAurelius: how to live like a #Stoic, and more

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Wat heet mooi? De teksten

Wat heb ik me op de hals gehaald, dacht ik, toen ik de ruim 230 mooie voorwerpen en tekstennoot Een tekst is natuurlijk ook een voorwerp, meer precies een werktuig, en nog preciezer een container (voor informatie). zag waarmee u reageerde op mijn oproep anderen met schoonheid te verrijken en te bevoordelen. U leverde teveel schoonheid voor één blogje, en sometimes there’s so much beauty in the world, I feel like I can’t take it. Ik begin met een lijst van mooie teksten, en heb op 11 september een blogje over architectuur, en wat daarna komt weet ik nu nog niet.

Observatie vooraf: je zou hebben verwacht dat als mensen houden van een bepaalde cultuur en bijvoorbeeld sculptuur noemen, ze ook wel architectuur zouden noemen en teksten. Maar dat blijkt niet zo te zijn. Soms kan ik verklaren waarom mensen die een bepaalde esthetiek waarderen die wel in de ene kunstcategorie kunnen benoemen maar niet in een andere. Keltische voorwerpen liggen in allerlei musea maar Keltische architectuur is feitelijk niet overgeleverd. Even vaak kan ik het verschil niet verklaren.

Maar goed. Jalla, mes enfants, let’s go.

Nabije Oosten

Ik begin meteen met een verrassing: ik had niet verwacht dat het Indische Theyyam-ritueel zou worden genoemd, dat oeroude wortels schijnt te hebben. Een volgend oeroud item is de Hurritische hymne voor de godin Nikkal, de oudste wat langere melodie die is overgeleverd. De Nederlandse oudheidkundige Theo Krispijn heeft het muziekstuk weleens gespeeld. Ook genoemd: het Bijbelboek Prediker.

Grieks

Het kon niet missen dat van de Griekse teksten de poëzie van Homeros als eerste werd genoemd (“niet voor niets al ruim 2½ millennium een hit”). U noemde de Ilias, het verhaal over de wrok van Achilleus, drie keer, en ook de Odyssee, over de uitgestelde wraak van Odysseus, noemde u driemaal. De vroegste Griekse poëzie leverde ook het leerdicht op van Parmenides, waarin hij redeneert dat aangezien het zijnde is en het niet-zijnde niet is, verandering niet kan bestaan, een redenering waarmee hij feitelijk de hele westerse filosofie ontketende.

Van het Atheense toneel werd Aischylos’ Smekelingen genoemd “vanwege het vooruitlopen op de twee verloren delen van de trilogie”. Uit het oeuvre van Sofokles selecteerde u de Oidipous en de Antigone. Euripides bleef onvermeld, al is hij natuurlijk wel het lijdend voorwerp van het toneelstuk van Aristofanes, De kikkers. “Ik heb meermaals luidop gelachen toen ik dit voor het eerst in vertaling las.”

Verder de claim dat

wie het priemgetallenbewijs van Eukleides niet noemt, de ware schoonheid nooit gezien heeft en niet begrijpt hoe anders dan spreektaal taal kan zijn.

Dat is wel heel stellig, maar ik heb nog nooit iemand ontmoet die niet met plezier terugdacht aan de frappe waarmee de wiskundeleraar in de brugklasnoot Ik begrijp dat het inmiddels geen brugklasstof meer is. We doen onze kinderen zwaar tekort. het bewijs uitlegde. En nu ik toch persoonlijk commentaar geef: ik had Theokritos’ Tweede Idylle (“de tovenares”, over een meisje dat haar geliefde probeert terug te winnen) nooit gelezen en doe mijn voordeel van de goede raad. Het Seikiloslied is eveneens genoemd.

Verder werden getipt: 1 Korintiërs 13, de lofzang op de liefde van de apostel Paulus en een evergreen bij bruiloften. Wie het noemde, is in gezelschap van de Cambridge-historicus G.E.M. de Ste Croix, die dit zelfs het allermooiste noemde dat hij ooit in het Grieks had gelezen. Nu we bij de Griekse literatuur van de keizertijd zijn, kan Lukas’ versie van het kerstverhaal niet ontbreken, die prachtige omkering van de keizerlijke propaganda.

Uit de tweede eeuw na Chr.: Ploutarchos’ biografie van Julius Caesar, de poëzie van Julia Balbilla op de Memnonkolossen in Thebe en de Persoonlijke Notities van keizer Marcus Aurelius. De o zo menselijke correspondentie uit Oxyrhynchos is het jongste voorbeeld dat u noemde, en ik concludeer dat u niet houdt van de Griekse kerkvaders. (Van de Latijnse en Aramese vaderen ook niet, trouwens.)

Latijn

Iemand noemde het Latijn als taal en gaf enkele beklijvende voorbeelden uit de poëzie van Quintus Horatius Flaccus en Publius Vergilius Maro. Waarmee meteen de allerklassiekste klassieke Latijnse poëzie is vermeld. Lichtvoetiger is Publius Ovidius Naso’s beroemde Metamorfosen, dat driemaal werd genoemd, inclusief een mooie vertaling.

Verder noemde u de toespraken van Cicero, zoals de eerste redevoering tegen Catilina, “omdat hij al in de eerste zinnen zijn tegenstander omver blaast en hem verder geen kans meer geeft”. Van Gaius Valerius Catullus noemde u de gedichten 5, 64 (de haarlok van Berenike), 85 en 101 (“omdat we onze tranen niet konden bedwingen”). Uit dezelfde generatie: het oeuvre van Marcus Terentius Varro en de Gallische Oorlog van Julius Caesar (“omdat ik als kind de vertaling stukgelezen heb” en “een meesterwerk in manipulatie”).

Uit de tijd van keizer Augustus: “Titus Livius’ beschrijving van de opkomst van Rome vond ik indrukwekkend en uitermate boeiend geschreven”. Ik had niet verwacht dat iemand de interessante landbouwgeschriften van Lucius Junius Moderatus Columella zou noemen als iets dat ook mooi was, of de al even interessante graffiti uit Pompeii. Verrassend. Leuk!

Uit de tweede eeuw noemde u de Historiën van Publius Cornelius Tacitus, met name de passage over de moord op keizer Galba, en Tacitus’ Annalen. Het jongste dat u noemde was de correspondentie uit Vindolanda. Ik had verwacht dat iemand wel Ausonius’ gedicht over de Moezel zou noemen of het christelijke Latijn. Ik voeg daarom het Te Deum toe. Let niet op de kitscherige kerkklokken die men rond 400 niet kende.noot Neutralere versies laten zich niet integreren in dit blogje.

Tot zover voor vandaag. Veel plezier hiermee!

Marcus Aurelius Monday! Selected Quotes!

Drum Roll! Here is this week’s quote from Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius – known as the "Philosopher King".

"You have power over your mind—not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength."

#FamousQuotes #WordstoLiveBy #MarcusAurelius #PhilosopherKing #Romans #LifeLessons #FamousQuotes

The soul becomes dyed with the colour of its thoughts.

— Marcus Aurelius

#Stoic #Stoicism #MarcusAurelius

more inkblot art I made. Paired with a quote from Seneca.

#mastoArt #art #ink #stoicism #seneca #marcusAurelius #artist #inkblot

Do not indulge in dreams of having what you have not, but reckon up the chief of the blessings you do possess, and then thankfully remember how you would crave for them if they were not yours

— Marcus Aurelius

#Stoic #Stoicism #MarcusAurelius

Very little is needed to make a happy life; it is all within yourself, in your way of thinking.

— Marcus Aurelius

#Stoic #Stoicism #MarcusAurelius

Marcus Aurelius Monday! Selected Quotes!

Drum Roll! Here is this week’s quote from Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius – known as the "Philosopher King".

"You shouldn't give circumstances the power to rouse anger, for they don't care at all."

#FamousQuotes #WordstoLiveBy #MarcusAurelius #PhilosopherKing #Romans #LifeLessons #FamousQuotes

Marcus Aurelius Monday! Selected Quotes!

Drum Roll! Here is this week’s quote from Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius – known as the "Philosopher King".

"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."

#FamousQuotes #WordstoLiveBy #MarcusAurelius #PhilosopherKing #Romans #LifeLessons #FamousQuotes

The Stoic Antidote to Frustration: Marcus Aurelius on How to Keep Your Mental Composure and Emotional Equanimity When People Let You Down

https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://www.themarginalian.org/2026/08/09/marcus-aurelius-meditations-robin-waterfield/

A quotation from Wodehouse

   “So, Jeeves!”
   “Yes, sir.”
   “What do you mean, Yes, sir?”
   “I was endeavouring to convey my appreciation of the fact that your position is in many respects somewhat difficult, sir. But I wonder if I might call your attention to an observation of the Emperor Marcus Aurelius. He said: ‘Does aught befall you? It is good. It is part of the destiny of the Universe ordained for you from the beginning. All that befalls you is part of the great web.'”
   I breathed a bit stertorously.
   “He said that, did he?”
   “Yes, sir.”
   “Well, you can tell him from me he’s an ass.”

P. G. Wodehouse (1881-1975) Anglo-American humorist, playwright and lyricist [Pelham Grenville Wodehouse]
The Mating Season, ch. 4 (1949)

More about this quote: wist.info/wodehouse-p-g/46199/

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #wodehouse #pgwodehouse #marcusaurelius #jeeves #wooster #acceptance #advice #destiny #fate #foreordainment #nature #stoicism #trouble #universe

Marcus Aurelius Monday! Selected Quotes!

Drum Roll! Here is this week’s quote from Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius – known as the "Philosopher King".

" 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?"

#FamousQuotes #WordstoLiveBy #MarcusAurelius #PhilosopherKing #Romans #LifeLessons #FamousQuotes

Or is it your reputation that’s bothering you? But look at how soon we’re all forgotten. The abyss of endless time that swallows it all. The emptiness of those applauding hands. The people who praise us; how capricious they are, how arbitrary. And the tiny region it takes place. The whole earth a point in space – and most of it uninhabited.

— Marcus Aurelius

#Stoic #Stoicism #MarcusAurelius

Marcus Aurelius Monday! Selected Quotes!

Drum Roll! Here is this week’s quote from Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius – known as the "Philosopher King".

"Often, injustice lies in what you aren't doing, not only in what you are doing."

#FamousQuotes #WordstoLiveBy #MarcusAurelius #PhilosopherKing #Romans #LifeLessons #FamousQuotes

#MarcusAurelius

Marcus Aurelius Monday! Selected Quotes!

Drum Roll! Here is this week’s quote from Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius – known as the "Philosopher King".

"You always own the option of having no opinion. There is never any need to get worked up or to trouble your soul about things you can't control. These things are not asking to be judged by you. Leave them alone."

#FamousQuotes #WordstoLiveBy #MarcusAurelius #PhilosopherKing #Romans #LifeLessons #FamousQuotes

Marcus Aurelius on the Good Luck of Your Bad Luck: The Stoic Strategy for Weathering Life’s Waves and Turning Suffering into Strength

https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://www.themarginalian.org/2026/07/16/marcus-aurelius-luck/

Marcus Aurelius Monday! Selected Quotes!

Drum Roll! Here is this week’s quote from Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius – known as the "Philosopher King".

"Your days are numbered. Use them to throw open the windows of your soul to the sun. If you do not, the sun will soon set, and you with it."

#FamousQuotes #WordstoLiveBy #MarcusAurelius #PhilosopherKing #Romans #LifeLessons #FamousQuotes

Unlock the Stoic wisdom of Marcus Aurelius and learn how the Roman Emperor faced the ultimate human challenge: mortality. Whether you're new to Stoicism or a longtime practitioner, these insights offer a powerful shift in mindset for overcoming fear and embracing life's transience. Full new episode of Podmasana, out now, wherever you get your podcasts or this link.

https://podmasana.com/stoicism-for-modern-chaos/

#Stoicism #MarcusAurelius #Mindset #Philosophy #Wisdom

Marcus Aurelius Monday! Selected Quotes!

Drum Roll! Here is this week’s quote from Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius – known as the "Philosopher King".

"It isn't manly to be enraged. Rather, gentleness and civility are more human, and therefore manlier. The nearer a man comes to a calm mind, the closer he is to strength."

#FamousQuotes #WordstoLiveBy #MarcusAurelius #PhilosopherKing #Romans #LifeLessons

Ketika Kebodohan Duduk di Singgasana: Catatan tentang Kuasa yang Tak Ditopang Kebijaksanaan

https://legawa.com/2026/07/04/ketika-kebodohan-duduk-di-singgasana-catatan-tentang-kuasa-yang-tak-ditopang-kebijaksanaan/

#zitate #unrecht #courage #marcusaurelius

“If it is not right, do not do it; if it is not true, do not say it.”*…

Stoicism is having a moment. The estimable Timothy Snyder considers the events of the day in the light of Marcus Aurelius‘ thoughts– and actions…

As Donald Trump announced his whimsy war in Iran, I was reading about another imperial campaign, long ago, against an Iranian people.

In the late second century AD, the Roman Empire confronted armies that had crossed the border at the Danube River and even broached the Alps in northern Italy. Among them were the Iazyges, speakers of an Iranian language, who hailed from the Ukrainian steppe.

In Ukraine this February, I was learning about an archaeological find which reveals the interactions of the Romans and the Iazyges, which included alliance as well as enmity. The Roman war against the Iazyges allies was commanded personally by Emperor Marcus Aurelius, who spent the years between 171 and 180 AD at the front. During that time he kept a philosophical diary, probably written at night in his tent. Discovered after his death, that text, known as the Meditations, is a great work of Stoic philosophy.

I turned to the Meditations to see if I could learn anything that would help me to understand the work of Ukrainian archaeologists about the interactions between Romans and Iazyges. I found something else: perspective on the wars of today, and a sense of why, beyond his obvious incompetence in military matters, Trump had to lose his.

It was shaming to read the bombast of Trump: (”no president was willing to do what I have done tonight”) alongside the reflections of Marcus (“when things have such a plausible appearance, show them naked, see their shoddiness, strip away their own boastful account of themselves.”) Trump broadcast his arrogance to millions of people; Marcus wrote for himself.

Despite the fact he was commanding an army at the front, Marcus never mentioned the war in his Meditations. War was simply something he had to do; he had no difficulty seeing the other side as people, or understanding their motivations. He mentions the Iazyges only once in the text: to make a broader point about hubris, to suggest that it was wrong for Romans to take pride in taking a prisoner of war.

Although Marcus did not broach the subject of my interest, I could not stop reading his Meditations. The contrast with Trump’s utterances was astounding, and vertiginous. The one could spend nine years in command and write a philosophical diary in which he did not even mention the war; the other immediately leapt to praise himself for a war he would lose in weeks…

[With an focus on the “adventure in Iran,” Snyder elaborates the (painfully unflattering) comparison…]

… The American leaders had no idea of who they were or what they wanted, aside from the satisfaction of their emotional needs by the killing of others. They were unable to imagine that people on the other side might have ideas about their own interests and plans for their own behavior. The could not see the world, even in its plainest representation as geography; whereas Marcus exploited a bend in the Danube River to tactical advantage to win a battle; Trump chose to ignore the physical limit the Straits of Hormuz can place on world trade. As soon as the war began, the Iranians did the obvious: they responded to American long-range attacks with the same; and they blocked the Straits.

Because the Americans were operating without a sense of themselves, of the world, or other people, this came as a surprise. Marcus Aurelius offers this mild comment: “How absurd — and a complete stranger to the world– is the man surprised at any aspect of his experience in life!”

The Americans, strangers to the world, reacted to their feelings of surprise with fantasies of destruction. The pleasure they took in killing became a vision of annihilation. Rather than confront the errors they made about war, the Americans leapt to visions of violence in which no one would ever have to think again. Trump lost control on Easter Sunday when he tweeted: “Open the Fuckin’ Strait, you crazy bastards, or you’ll be living in Hell.” He then promised that he would bomb Iran “back to the Stone Age, where they belong” and said that “a whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again.” In our modern legal and ethical language, this is of course genocidal language. The American bombast was followed by American surrender.

Marcus Aurelius won his war against the Iazyges. He combined victory and prudence, and for this he was and will be remembered. The defeated Iazyges returned to their previous role as Roman clients, offered thousands of cavalrymen as soldiers of Rome, and opened trade routes to the east. Marcus’s philosophical diary has been read for the better part of two millenia; so long as we are present as a literate civilization, it will be read. Despite Marcus’s certainty that we will all be forgotten, others built a victory column in his honor after his death; it still stands in Rome, more than one thousand eight hundred years later.

Another legacy of Marcus’s victory also touches the center of what we think of as Western culture. As part of the peace accord, he dispatched 5,500 Iazyges cavalrymen, taken into his service, to the north of what is now northern England, to defend the Roman border at Hadrian’s Wall. Their first commander was a man named Arthur, and it is possible that the Iazyges and some of their Iranian-speaking kin incorporated his name into stories of their own — of a lady in the lake, of a sword in a stone, of a quest for a golden cup — which, with time, became the legend of Christian chivalry. That is another story, and one worth telling.

But it is also part of the story of Marcus Aurelius, which, despite the fact that he chose not to tell it himself, or rather precisely for that reason, is instructive about our predicament today. Stoicism is a way not to be a stranger to the world; it can protect the powerful from vanity and folly. To fall into a stupor of self-absorption, as Trump has done, is to flee from reality. Few wars are worth fighting; those that are fought can only be won in the world, and not within the tortured confines of estranged minds. Trump hastens now towards our shared horizon of death, seeking honors that only posterity can accord and will not…

On what Trump could– and should– learn from Marcus Aurelius: “Of Stoicism and Stupor,” from @timothysnyder.bsky.social.

“We are the other of the other”

“Ask yourself at every moment, ‘Is this necessary?”

“Kindness is invincible.”

– Marcus Aurelius

(TotH to MKM)

* Marcus Aurelius

###

As we barrel back to basics, we might recall that it was on this date in 1956 that Elvis Presley, working for the first time with  backing vocal group the Jordanaires, recorded “Don’t Be Cruel,” which had been written by Otis Blackwell. 

The single was released on July 13, 1956, backed with “Hound Dog.”  Within a few weeks “Hound Dog” had risen to No. 2 on the Pop charts with sales of over one million. Soon after it was overtaken by “Don’t Be Cruel,” which took No. 1 on all three main charts; Pop, Country, and R&B. Between them, both songs remained at No. 1 on the Pop chart for a run of 11 weeks. “Don’t Be Cruel” was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2002. In 2004, it was ranked No. 197 in Rolling Stone’s list of 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

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