Rating: ★★★★
Review: I am of two minds about this book. On one hand, it is a timeless source of wisdom, filled with remarkable, quotable passages that shed unparalleled light on the human experience and the applicability of Stoic philosophy. On the other, it is—at times—discursive, incoherent, repetitive and antiquated. Perhaps it was my expectations that got the better of me. Perhaps I should have fully taken note when, in the introduction to the Modern Library edition, Gregory Hays wrote: "To try to extract a sustained and coherent argument from the Meditations as a whole would be an unprofitable exercise. It is simply not that kind of work."
Framed in this way, the book is exactly what it needs to be: the introspective musings of a Roman Emperor, set down by candlelight, intended for no one's eyes but his own. The moments of repetition in it are his way of crystallizing concepts, and reminding himself to adhere to his precepts and act in accordance with his nature.
The confusing bits are inside references to events, historical personages and privately lived experiences. And that's okay. We can glance at them on the page, and move on to more invigorating passages. I am ultimately satisfied with the moments, more frequent than one might expect, of intense illumination, of a world-class leader putting a finger on what it means to live life well. I've included some them here, below. Favorite Quotes: "When you wake up in the morning, tell yourself: The people I deal with today will be meddling, ungrateful, arrogant, dishonest, jealous, and surly. They are like this because they can't tell good from evil. But I have seen the beauty of good, and the ugliness of evil, and have recognized that the wrongdoer has a nature related to my own—not of the same blood or birth, but the same mind, and possessing a share of the divine. And so none of them can hurt me." "Then what should we work for? Only this: proper understanding, unselfish action, truthful speech." "At dawn, when you have trouble getting out of bed, tell yourself: "I have to go to work—as a human being. What do I have to complain of, if I'm going to do what I was born for—the things I was brought into the world to do? Or is this what I was created for? To huddle under the blankets and stay warm?" "You don't love yourself enough. Or you'd love your nature too, and what it demands of you. People who love what they do wear themselves down doing it, they even forget to wash or eat." "The things you think about determine the quality of your mind. Your soul takes on the colour of your thoughts." "Not to assume it's impossible because you find it hard. But to recognize that if it's humanly possible, you can do it too." "In a sense, people are our proper occupation. Our job is to do them good and put up with them."
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