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Book 7
Themes
and Colors
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.
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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.
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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.
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9. Don’t complain to anybody about life at court, even to yourself.
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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.
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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.
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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.”
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27. There are three relationships in life: with one’s own body, with the divine, and with the people around you.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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48. The mind is a fortress that can’t be breached.
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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.
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51. Try to be a clear freshwater spring, not a muddy cistern. Do this by working constantly to gain freedom.
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55. Neither the world nor individuals are harmed by evil acts done to them. People can stop being harmed when they choose.
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56. Though we depend on one another, our wills are our own. Our happiness is our own responsibility.
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59. You can either instruct or endure other people.
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