Quotes from Meditations

“And as for thy life, consider what it is; a wind; not one constant wind neither, but every moment of an hour let out, and sucked in again.”

A compact physical image, with a precise qualifying clause, that makes a moral point about the transience of life.

“Not as though thou hadst thousands of years to live. Death hangs over thee: whilst yet thou livest, whilst thou mayest, be good.”

Short, blunt imperatives that press the reader toward action in the present.

“Many small pieces of frankincense are set upon the same altar, one drops first and is consumed, another after; and it comes all to one.”

A concrete, domestic image used to express calm acceptance of mortality.

“Let that of Heraclitus never be out of thy mind, that the death of earth, is water, and the death of water, is air; and the death of air, is fire; and so on the contrary.”

Shows the author's habit of turning cosmic change into a plain, memorable sequence for daily reflection.

“That which doth not hurt the city itself; cannot hurt any citizen.”

A crisp, general principle stated in plain terms, typical of the work's practical reasoning.

“Let then thine own judgment and opinion concerning those things be at rest; and as for the things themselves, they stand still and quiet, without any noise or stir at all; and so shall all pursuing and flying cease.”

Describes the discipline of withholding judgment, using the image of things standing still to show how opinion creates disturbance.

'They kill me, they cut my flesh; they persecute my person with curses.' What then? May not thy mind for all this continue pure, prudent, temperate, just?

Uses a rhetorical question and a hypothetical attack to test the reader's resolve, in a measured, conversational voice.

“But now, what a toil it is for thee to live with men of different opinions, thou seest: so that thou hast rather occasion to say, Hasten, I thee pray, O Death; lest I also in time forget myself.”

Shows weariness with others' opinions expressed candidly, with a dry turn at the end.

“How base and putrid, every common matter is! Water, dust, and from the mixture of these bones, and all that loathsome stuff that our bodies do consist of: so subject to be infected, and corrupted.”

A blunt, unflinching list of bodily matter that strips away vanity by plain description.

“For what wouldst thou have more? Unto him that is a man, thou hast done a good turn: doth not that suffice thee? What thy nature required, that hast thou done. Must thou be rewarded for it? As if either the eye for that it seeth, or the feet that they go, should require satisfaction.”

An analogy to the eye and feet that makes the argument about doing good without expecting reward concrete and vivid.

“Then do the trees begin to bud again, and by the spring-time they put forth new branches. So is the generation of men; some come into the world, and others go out of it.' Of these leaves then thy children are.”

Extends the leaf image into a gentle, sorrowful reflection on generations, showing the author's use of nature for consolation.

“And that as often as thou shalt behold them, thou shalt still see the same: as the same things, so the same shortness of continuance of all those things. And, behold, these be the things that we are so proud and puffed up for.”

A deflating observation that sets worldly pride against the repetitive, brief nature of what is admired.