In fresh and unencumbered English, Hays vividly conveys the spareness and compression of the original Greek text. With an Introduction that outlines Marcus's life and career, the essentials of Stoic doctrine, the style and construction of the Meditations, and the work's ongoing influence, this edition makes it possible to fully rediscover the thoughts of one of the most enlightened and intelligent leaders of any era. To recognize the malice, cunning and hypocrisy that power produces, and the peculiar ruthlessness often shown by people from "good families. Marcus's insights and advice--on everything from living in the world to coping with adversity and interacting with others--have made the "Meditations required reading for statesmen and philosophers alike, while generations of ordinary readers have responded to the straightforward intimacy of his style. It’s all that protects your mind from false perceptions—false to your nature, and that of all rational beings.

It captures the perennial appeal of the book, which is that it offers a way to “master care and pain” by providing philosophical insights that promise to elevate our minds above worldly concerns, both the things we crave and those we fear. With the way the introduction was written, who knows what was lost to history and what the translator had the liberty of changing. Independence and unvarying reliability, and to pay attention to nothing, no matter how fleetingly, except the logos. However, it wasn’t necessarily the impoverished view of humanity that bothered me, so much as the structure and length of the writings.That I conferred on the people who brought me up the honors they seemed to want early on, instead of putting them off (since they were still young) with the hope that I'd do it later. A straightforward, honest person should be like someone who stinks: when you’re in the same room with him, you know it. A kind of single-mindedness, almost, never content with first impressions, or breaking off the discussion prematurely. With an Introduction that outlines Marcus’s life and career, the essentials of Stoic doctrine, the style and construction of the Meditations, and the work’s ongoing influence, this edition makes it possible to fully rediscover the thoughts of one of the most enlightened and intelligent leaders of any era. I never in a million years would believe that I have something in common with the most powerful person who lived two thousand years ago.

This account of Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius is an insightful book on the ideas of righteous living and facing adversities. Stoicism is not without its faults, but it absolutely has tenants and perspectives that have enriched my everyday lived experience. Her reverence for the divine, her generosity, her inability not only to do wrong but even to conceive of doing it.The thing you have to understand is that this book is a series of entries some guy made of his, sometimes completely random, thoughts. Similarly, not to be always ducking my responsibilities to the people around me because of "pressing business. Nearly two thousand years after it was written, Meditations remains profoundly relevant for anyone seeking to lead a meaningful life. At several points Marcus expresses disapproval of the Epicureans for making pleasure their highest goal. The robe from his farm at Lorium, most of the things at Lanuvium, the way he accepted the customs agent's apology at Tusculum, etc.