BOOK 6 -38

You should meditate often on the connection of all things in the universe and their relationship to each other. In a way all things are interwoven and therefore have a family feeling for each other: one thing follows another in due order through the tension of the movement, the common spirit inspiring them, and the unity of all being.

BOOK 6 -37

He who sees the present has seen all things, both all that has come top pass from everlasting and all that will be for eternity: all things are related and the same.

BOOK 6 -36-2

All things come from that other world, taking their start from that governing reason, or in consequence of it. So even the lion's gaping jaws, poison, every kind of mischief are like thorns or bogs, consequential products of that which is noble and lovely.

So do not think them alien to what you worship, but reflect rather on the fountain of all things.

BOOK 6 -36

Asia, Europe are mere nooks of the universe. Every ocean is a drop in the universe: Mount Athos a spadeful of earth in the universe The whole of present time is a pin-prick of eternity. All things are tiny, quickly changed, evanescent.

BOOK 6 -35

Do you not see how the working craftsman, while deferring to the layman up to a point, nevertheless sticks to the principle of his craft and will not bear to desert it? Is it not strange, then, that the architect and the doctor will show greater respect for the guiding principle of their craft than man will for his own guiding principle, which he has in common with the gods?

BOOK 6 - 34

As for pleasure, pirates, catamites, parricides, and tyrants have enjoyed it to the full.

BOOK 6 - 33

The pain of labour for hand or foot is not contrary to nature as long as the foot is doing the work of a foot and the hand the work of a hand. So likewise for man, qua man, there is nothing contrary to nature in pain, as long as he is doing the work of a man: and if not contrary to nature for him, not an evil either.

BOOK 6 -32

I am made of body and soul. Now to the poor body all things are indifferent, as it cannot even make any distinction. To the mind all that is not its own activity is indifferent: and its own activities are all in its control. But within these the mind is only concerned with the present: its activities in the future and in the past are also indifferent at any present moment.

BOOK 6 -31

Sober up, recall yourself, shake off sleep once more: realize they were mere dreams that troubled you, and now that you are awake again look on these things as you would have looked on a dream.

BOOK 6 -30-2

Always as a pupil of Antoninus: his energy for all that was done according to reason, his constant equability, his piety, his serene expression, his gentleness, his lack of conceit, his drive to take a firm grasp of affairs. How he would never put anything at all aside without first looking closely into it and understanding it clearly; how he would tolerate those who unfairly blamed him without returning the blame; how he was never rushed in anything. He would not listen to malicious gossip; he was an accurate judge of men's character and actions; slow to criticize, immune to rumor and suspicion, devoid of pretense. How he was content with little by way of house, bed, dress, food, servants, his love of work, and his stamina.

He was a man to stay at the same task until evening, not even needing to relieve himself except at his usual hour, such was his frugal diet. Constant and fair in his friendships; tolerant of frank opposition to his own views, and delighted to be shown a better way; god-fearing, but not superstitious. 

BOOK 6 -30

Take care not to be Caesarified, or dyed in purple: it happens. So keep yourself simple, good, pure, serious, unpretentious, a friend of justice, god-fearing, kind, full of affection, strong for your proper work. Strive hard to remain the same man that philosophy wished to make you. Revere the gods, look after men. Life is short. The one harvest of existence on earth is a godly habit of mind and social action.

BOOK 6 -29

Disgraceful if, in this life where your body does not fail, your soul should fail you first.

BOOK 6 -28

Death is relief from reaction to the senses, from the puppet-strings of impulse, from the analytical mind, and from service to the flesh.

BOOK 6 -27

How cruel it is not to allow people to strive for what seems to them their interest and advantage! And yet in a way you are forbidding them to do this, when you fuss that they are wrong: they are surely drawn to their own interest and advantage. 'But it is not actually so': well then, show them, do not fuss.

BOOK 6 -26

                          Walker Evans

If someone puts to you the question 'How is the name Antonius spelt?', will you shout your way through each of the syllables. What then if they get angry? Will you lose your temper too? Will you not rather calmly go through the sequence of letters, telling each one in turn? So also in your life here remember that every duty is the completed sum of certain actions. You must observe these, without being disconcerted or answering other's resentment with your own, but following each purpose methodically to its end.

BOOK 6 -24, 25

Alexander of Macedon and his muleteer were leveled to death: either they were taken up into the same generative principles of the universe, or they were equally dispersed into atoms. Reflect on how many separate events, both bodily and mental, are taking place in each one of us in the same tiny fragment of time: and then you will not be surprised if many more events, indeed all that comes to pass, subsist together in the one and the whole, which we call the Universe.

BOOK 6 -23

Since you have reason and they do not, treat dumb animals and generally all things and objects with generosity and decency; treat men, because they do have reason, with social concern; and in all things call on the gods. And do not let it matter to you for how long you will be alive in this work: even three hours spent thus are sufficient.

BOOK 6 -22

I do my own duty: the other things do not distract me. They are either inanimate or irrational, or have lost the road and are ignorant of the true way.

BOOK 6 -21

If someone can prove me wrong and show me my mistake in any thought or action, I shall gladly change. I seek the truth, which never harmed anyone: the harm is to persist in one's own self-deception and ignorance.

BOOK 6 -20

In the field of play an opponent scratches us with his nails, say, or gives us a butting blow with his head: but we do not 'mark' him for that, or take offence or suspect him afterwards of deliberate attack. True, we do keep clear of him but this is good-natured avoidance, not suspicion or treating him as an enemy. Something similar should be the case in the other areas of life too: we have people who are our 'opponents in the game', and we should overlook much of what they do. We can avoid them, as I say, without suspicion or enmity. 

BOOK 6 -19

Do not imagine that, if something is hard for you to achieve, it is therefore impossible for any man: but rather consider anything that is humanly possible and appropriate to lie within your own reach too.

BOOK 6 -18

What a way to behave! They refuse to speak well of people who live as their contemporaries and their company, but they set great store by their own good name among future generations which they have never seen not ever will see. Yet this is brother to feeling vexed that your predecessors were not singing your praises. 

BOOK 6 -17

Up, down, round and round are the motions of the elements, but the movement of active virtue follows none of these; it is something more divine, and it journeys on to success  along a path hard to understand.

BOOK 6 -16-2

So this is the true value: and if this is firmly held, you will not be set on acquiring any of the other things for yourself. Will you not then cease to value much else besides? Otherwise you will not be free or self-sufficient or devoid of passion; you will need to be envious and jealous, to suspect those who have the power to deprive you of all these things, and to intrigue against people who possess what you value. In short, anyone who feels the need of any of these things is necessarily sullied, and what is more he will often be driven to blame the gods t0o. But reverence of your own mind and value you give to it will make you acceptable to yourself, harmony with your fellows, and consonant with the gods - that is, praising all that they assign and have disposed.

BOOK 6 -16

There is nothing to value in transpiring like plants or breathing like cattle and wild creatures; nothing in taking the stamp of sense impressions or jerking to the puppet-strings of impulse; nothing in herding together or taking food - this last is to be better voiding the wastes of that food. What, then, is to be valued? Applause? No. Not therefore the applause of tongues either: the praise of the masses is the mere rattle of tongues. So you have jettisoned trivial glory too. What remains to be valued? To my mind, it is to act or refrain from action according to our own proper constitution, something to which skills and crafts show the way. Every craft seeks to make its product suit the purpose for which it is produced: this is the aim of the gardener, the vine-dresser, the breaker of horses, the dog trainer. And what is the end to which the training of children and their teaching strives?