Dwell on the beauty of life. Watch the stars, and see yourself running with them - Marcus Aurelius

• When you wake up in the morning, tell yourself: The people I deal with today will be meddling, ungrateful, arrogant, dishonest, jealous, and surly. They are like this because they can’t tell good from evil. But I have seen the beauty of good, and the ugliness of evil, and have recognized that the wrongdoer has a nature related to my own - not of the same blood or birth, but the same mind, and possessing a share of the divine. And so none of them can hurt me.
• Because life is short, take away your complaints and your judgments
• Stop allowing your mind to be a slave, to be jerked about by selfish impulses, to kick against fate and the present, and to mistrust the future.
• Since you will not live forever, be good while it is in your power.
• We all love ourselves more than other people, but care more about their opinion than our own.
• You’ll avoid worries in trouble by not worrying about what your neighbor says or does or thinks, but only concerning yourself with your own thoughts and actions
• People who labor all their lives but have no purpose to direct every thought and impulse toward are wasting their time—even when hard at work.
• Change is necessary for the universe for anything to happen.

• Neither in writing nor in reading would you be able to lay down rules for others before you shall first learn how to obey rules your self
• You cannot lose another life than the one you’re living now, or live another one than the one you’re losing.
• Let go of opinion and you will be free from burden.
• You can’t lose either the past or the future; how could you lose what you don’t have?
• Don’t waste the rest of your time here worrying about other people—unless it affects the common good. It will keep you from doing anything useful. You’ll be too preoccupied with what so-and-so is doing, and why, and what they’re saying, and what they’re thinking, and what they’re up to, and all the other things that throw you off and keep you from focusing on your own mind.
• Every event is the right one. Look closely and you’ll see.
• Most of what we say and do is not essential. If you can eliminate it, you’ll have more time, and more tranquillity. Ask yourself at every moment, ‘Is this necessary?
• Suppose that a god announced that you were going to die tomorrow ‘or the day after. Unless you were a complete coward you wouldn’t kick up a fuss about which day it was - what difference could it make? Now recognize that the difference between years from now and tomorrow is just as small.

• Remember that our efforts are subject to circumstances; you weren’t aiming to do the impossible. Aiming to do what, then? To try. And you succeeded. What you set out to do is accomplished.
• Don’t be ashamed to need help. Like a soldier storming a wall, you have a mission to accomplish. And if you’ve been wounded and you need a comrade to pull you up? So what?
• When people injure you, ask yourself what good or harm they thought would come of it. If you understand that, you’ll feel sympathy rather than outrage or anger. Your sense of good and evil may be the same as theirs, or near it, in which case you have to excuse them.
• Treat what you don’t have as non-existent. Look at what you have, the things you value most, and think of how much you’d crave them if you didn’t have them. But be careful. Don’t feel such satisfaction that you start to overvalue them—that it would upset you to lose them.
• If they’ve made a mistake, correct them gently and show them where they went wrong. If you can’t do that, then the blame lies with you. Or no one.
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            In a world full of chaos and distractions, Marcus Aurelius's wise thoughts help us find our way, make peace inside, and handle life's challenges calmly. What he said is still really important today, maybe even more than 2000 years ago. He gives us lots of short but strong messages that can be useful for anyone, no matter where they are in life. I really think you should give it a read!
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Reasons to read it:

• The book guides you to find a sense of calm within yourself, which can be incredibly useful in our fast-paced lives.
• Marcus Aurelius offers valuable insights that are relevant even in today's world, helping you deal with stress, confusion, and challenges.
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Reasons to skip it:

• If you prefer more contemporary books with step-by-step instructions, "Meditations" might not align with your reading preferences.
• Given its philosophical depth, "Meditations" might require more time and concentration to fully grasp and appreciate, which could deter readers looking for quick, light reads.