Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Meditations, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Philosophy, The Mind, and Living Well
Relationships and The City
Nature and the Gods
Mortality and Dying Well
Summary
Analysis
1. Be humble, because you haven’t attained philosophy yet. Don’t worry about your reputation, but strive to live undistractedly as nature demands. That’s the only way to live.
Marcus recognizes that he hasn’t mastered his philosophy. However, this shouldn’t discourage him—it’s his job to keep striving, regardless of the outcome or how others react. This holds true no matter what happens.
Themes
2. When something happens, ask how it affects you, and whether you can change your mind about it.
This teaching briefly sums up a Stoic approach to life’s events—analyzing them and determining the best way to react.
Themes
3. Alexander, Caesar, and Pompey knew nothing but anxiety, whereas Diogenes, Heraclitus, and Socrates had their own minds.
7. For a rational mind, progress means getting control of one’s perceptions, acting unselfishly, accepting what one does or doesn’t have control over, and embracing what nature demands. Nature gives everything a purpose.
Progress in life is within each person’s control; it’s a matter of focusing their mind in such a way that they can react reasonably to whatever happens, trusting in nature’s purposes.
Themes
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9. Don’t complain to anybody about life at court, even to yourself.
Complaining, especially about Marcus’s singular role as emperor, benefits no one.
Themes
14. A person’s beliefs about pleasure and pain, life and death, determine their actions, so don’t be shocked when that person acts accordingly.
People act according to their beliefs, so their behavior shouldn’t be surprising. Accepting the roots of others’ behavior helps a person relate to them without resentment.
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17. Blaming people gets you nowhere—it’s like blaming the gods or atoms—and you shouldn’t do any pointless actions.
Because the gods (or else random chance) govern the universe, casting blame is a pointless waste—it doesn’t change anything.
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25. Even the most brilliant people are short-lived. Your elements, too, will someday be scattered. Either your life will be snuffed out, or you’ll get “marching orders and another posting.”
Here, Marcus emphasizes that we can’t know what the afterlife will be like; all we know is that life is short. Marcus’s use of military terminology—“marching orders”—reflects war’s prominence in his life and its impact on his thinking of life as a battle.
Themes
27. There are three relationships in life: with one’s own body, with the divine, and with the people around you.
Life can be broken down into three kinds of relationships. According to Stoic thought, analyzing life this way can help a person see themselves, people, and circumstances more realistically and make reasonable decisions about t hem.
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29. You have it within your power to keep your soul from harm. Just see things as they really are, eliminating false perceptions.
A person guards their soul by analyzing things and avoiding getting caught up in false ideas about reality.
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30. Whether you’re speaking to the Senate or to anyone else, don’t be overbearing, and choose your words carefully.
Interactions with any type of people, no matter their social status, are worthy of careful thought and a diplomatic attitude
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32. It’s up to you to build your life out of the materials you’ve been given. Even when you face obstacles, these are opportunities for alternatives. Take it one action at a time.
Nobody can control their circumstances, but they can control what they make of them, including the seemingly bad things, like obstacles.
Themes
35. One of your rational abilities is to work around obstacles, turning them to your own purposes.
As rational beings, humans can transform obstacles into opportunities instead of becoming angry about them.
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36. Don’t let your imagination run away from you. Just be concerned about the present—your mind can handle that much.
One’s imagination can also become an obstacle, but it must be kept in subjection to the mind and the present.
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41. No matter what external things happen, the only thing that’s really “harmful” to rational creatures is obstruction of the mind’s workings.
Because they’re rational—possessing minds—human beings can’t ultimately be harmed by whatever happens to them.
Themes
44. Why worry about posthumous fame? Future generations are just as mortal and as flawed as people today; it shouldn’t matter what they think of you.
Mortality is another aspect of being human, and it’s a good reason to let go of worries about fame, which isn’t within a person’s control
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48. The mind is a fortress that can’t be breached.
Because the mind is within a person’s control, nothing external can threaten its security.
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50. There’s no point in asking “why” when you see things in the world that seem broken or useless. Nature wastes nothing.
Nature, a harmonious force, never makes mistakes or neglects anything. People can trust the rational force at work within nature instead of being bewildered by apparent randomness.
Themes
51. Try to be a clear freshwater spring, not a muddy cistern. Do this by working constantly to gain freedom.
Clarity of mind is the most important thing for the soul’s freedom. It’s completely within a person’s control, under the power of the choices they make, regardless of what other people do or say. Neglecting this control results in an unclear, or “muddy,” mind.
Themes
55. Neither the world nor individuals are harmed by evil acts done to them. People can stop being harmed when they choose.
Harm depends on a person’s interpretation of events. So regardless of what evil things happens to a person externally, they don’t necessarily have to be hurt by them.
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56. Though we depend on one another, our wills are our own. Our happiness is our own responsibility.
A person’s will belongs to them alone. Not only can nobody else harm another’s will, they also can’t promote another’s happiness.
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59. You can either instruct or endure other people.
It’s possible to influence other people by teaching them, but if that’s ineffective, Marcus advises to put up with them as best you can, and don’t let them disturb your mind.
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