The arrangment and content of The Emperor’s Handbook suggest that it was written as a series of thought exercises consistent with a discipline encouraged by Stoics like Seneca and Epictetus, and out of which later grew the Christian practice of spiritual exercises. p3
Is it not ironic that the type of freedom Marcus thought unachievable, political freedom, we now regard as the only freedom possible, while the freedom of the mind that Marcus prized so highly now seems unattainable? In the world after Darwin, Marx, and Freud, Marcus forces us to re-examine our concept of freedom and to ask ourselves how much political freedoms are worth if we are the slaves of false opinion and harmful desire. Are we really free in our doing if we are not free in our thinking? p12
Much of The Emperor’s Handbook describes this subtle and complex interplay between the mind and the community. p14
Book 1
Book 2
To work against one another is contrary to nature, and what could be more like working against someone than resenting or abandoning him? p27
Remember how long you have procrastinated, and how consistently you have failed to put good use your suspended sentence from the gods. p28
Because you have chosen not to respect yourself, you have made your happiness subject to the opinions others have of you. p28
Does the news bother you? Do you worry about things our of your control? Then take the time to concentrate your mind in the acquisition of some new and useful knowledge and stop it from flitting about. p29
Be mindful at all times of the following: the nature of the whole universe, the nature of the part that is me, the relation of the one to the other, the one so vast, the other so small. p29
Act, speak, and think like a man ready to depart this life in the next breath. p29
How swiftly everything disappears–bodies in space and the memory of them in time! So it is with anything that touches our senses, especially those that entice us with the promise of pleasure, or terrify us with the threat of pain, or puff us up with pride and self-importance. The mind readily grasps how worthless and contemptible, filthy, fleeting, and moribund these things are. p30
Nothing is more pathetic than feverishly circling the earth and “probing into the depths,” as Pindar puts its, to guess what other people are thinking, while all the time failing to realize that one only needs to attend to the inner spirit and to serve it with unanswering devotion. p30
A man can only be deprived of the present moment, for this is all he has, and how can a man lose what he doesn’t possess? p31
Book 3
We must get on with our lives, then, not only because we are closing on death with each passing day, but because our mental capacities may desert us before death decides to take us. p33
The world is full of wonders like these that will appeal only to those who study nature closely and develop a real affinity for her works. p34
Do not waste the rest of your life speculating about others in ways that are not to your mutual advantage. Think of all that might be accomplished in the time you throw away–distracted from the voice of your own true and reasonable self–wondering what the next man is up to and why, what he’s saying, or thinking, or plotting. Purge your mind of all aimless and idle thoughts, especially those that pry into the affairs of others or wish them ill. Get in the habit of limiting yourself only to those thoughts that–if you are suddenly asked, “What are you thinking at this moment?”–enable you to reply without equivocation or hesitation, “This” or “That.” In this way, you show the world a simple and kindly man, a good neighbor, someone who is indifferent to sensual pleasures and luxuries and untocuhed by jealousy, envy, mistrust, or any other thought you would blush to admin. This sort of man, determined to be counted among the best in the pursuit of virtue, is a veritable priest and minister of the gods, especially of the god that dwells within him and keeps him untainted by evil, a mighty warrior in the greatest warfare of all–the struggle against passion’s dominion. With justice like marrow in his bones, he delights from the depths of his being in whatever happens, in whatever fate the gods allow. He never–except to achieve some great good on behalf of others–worries about what someone else might be saying, doing, or thinking. He minds his own business and keeps his gaze fixed on the pattern of his own destiny, making sure that he performs his work well and believing that his fate is good since it is subject to the universal good. He remembers his kinship with all rationalbeings and never abandons his natural inclination to care for others, but he listens only to the opinions of those who live in conscious accord with nature. As for those who do not live in this way, he observes how they live and what sort of vile company they keep, day and night, at home and abroad. He attaches no importance whatsoever to the praise of these men, who can find no reason to praise themselves. p35
Do not act unwillingly, or selfishly, or impusively, or tentatively. Do not dress your thought in much fine talk. Be short in speech and restrained in action. p35
There is no present advantage in anything that may someday force you to break your word, or to lose respect for yourself, or to hate, suspect, or curse another, or to pretend to be other than what you are, or to lust after what you’d be ashamed to seek openly…All his life he has cared only about this: to take no detours from the high road and social responsibility. p37
Treat with utmost respect your power of forming opinions, for this power alone guards you against making assupmtions that are contrary to nature and judgements that overthrow the rule of reason. p37
Book 4
Never act without purpose and resolve, or without the means to finish the job. p41
But do not prolong these meditative moments beyond what is necessary to send you back to your work free of anxiety and full of vigor and good cheer. p41
Chief among the thoughts close at hand, keep these two: first, that nothing outside the mind can disturb it–trouble comes from the mind’s opinion of what lies outside: and second, that everythign you now see will change in a moment and soon be no more. p42
…what’s the point of fretting about it? In a moment, you will both be dead, and a moment later, no one will even be able to remember your names. p43
Your days are numbered like everyone else’s. In what remains of your allotted time, while you still can, become good. p44
How much time and effort a man saves by paying no attention to what his neighbor says or does or thinks, and by concentrating on his own behavior to make it holy and just! p44
“Do I really need to say or do this?” In this way, he will remove not only unneccessary actions, but also the superfluous ideas that inspire needless acts. p46
Cherish your gifts, however humble, and take pleasure in them. p47
Words that everyone once used are now obsolete, and so are the men whose names were once on everyone’s lips…For all things fade away, become the stuff of legend, and are soon buried in oblivion. Mind you, this is true only for those who blazed once like bright stars in the firmament, but for the rest, as soon as a few clods of earth cover their corpses, they are “out of sight, out of mind.” In the end, what would you gain from everlasting remembrance? Absolutely nothing. So what is left worth living for? This alone: justice in thought: goodness in action, speech that cannot deceive, and a disposition glad of whatever comes, welcoming it as necessary, a familiar, as flowing from the same source and fountain as yourself. p48
Just imagine the gods saying to you, “Tomorrow, you’re going to die, or at the latest, the day after tomorrow.” Are you going to make a big deal over the difference between tomorrow and the day after and start begging the gods for an extra day? Not unless you’re a thorough-going coward. Really, what’s the difference? Well then, take the same attitude toward living to be a ripe old age or dying tomorrow. p50
Book 5
How easy it is to push away and block out every rude and unwelcome idea, and suddenly to recover one’s peace of mind. p53
…pay no attention to the chatter of your critics. p53
You ought to be like that third fellow, who does good without giving it a second thought. p55
Add up the sum of all being and see how microscopic your share of it is; the sum of all time and how infintesimal your span; and of destiny–what fraction of it is yours? p60
Someone wrongs me. Why should I care? That’s his business–his inclincations and actions are up to him. p60
Recall how many beautiful sights you have seen, how many pleasures and pains you have risen above, how many honors you have turned down, how many persons you have treated with courtesy. p62
Book 6
Do your duty… “to the best of your abilities.” p65
The best revenge is not to do as they do. p65
Factual descriptions like these penetrate to the heart of the matter and allow you to see things for what they are. Practice this method of observation throughout your life, and whenever something makes ambitious claims for itself, lay those claims bare by stripping away all the fancy dress and exposing the naked facts. For vanity is the supreme sophist, and when you flatter yourself that you are engaged in some good or worthy enterprise, then you are most easily deceived. p67
If someone accidently scratches us with his nails or butts us with his head when we’re working out in the gym, we don’t make a fuss, or strike back in anger, or suspect him of intending to do us future harm…. You can always avoid them, as I said, without suspecting or hating them. p69
Persuade me or prove to me that I am mistaken in thought or deed, and I will gladly change–for it is the truth I seek, and the truth never harmed anyone. Harm comes from persisting in error and clinging to ignorance. p69
Don’t be a Caesar drunk with power and self-importance: it happens all to easily. Keep yourself simple, good, pure, sincere, natural, just, god-fearing, kind affectionate, and devoted to your duty. p70
Live in harmony with everything around you, and love–without reservations or conditions–those with whom you live and work. p72
Life’s one prize is in seeking truth and doing justice and being charitable even to those who lie and cheat. p 74
When your spirits need a lift, think of the virtues and talents of those around you–one’s energy, another’s modesty, the generosity of a third, something else in a fourth. Nothing is so inspiring or uplifting as the sight of these splendid qualities in our friends. Keep them always in mind. p75
Be content with what you have. p75
The happiness of those who want to be popular depends on others; the happiness of those who seek pleasure fluctuates with moods outside their control; but the happiness of the wise grows out of their own free acts. p75
You always own the option of having no opinion. There is never any need to get worked up or to trouble your sould about things you can’t control. p75
Learn to concentrate on what those around you are saying. Enter as deeply as possible into the mind of each speaker. p75
Book 7
Beat in mind that the measure of a man is the worth of the things he cares about. p77
Is my mind to this task or not? If it is, I shall use it to do the work as one would a tool suuplied by nature. If not, I will leave the job to someone better able to accomplish it, or if that is not possible, I will do it as best I can with help of someone who, with my guidance and support, can complete a timely and useful work for the community. But in whatever I do, whether on my own or with someone else, my one objective will be this and only this: to benefit and to live in harmony with the community. p78
Don’t fear the future. p78
Let come what may to those who are affected by outward cicumstance. They will always find something to complain about. For to view whatever happens as evil, no harm will come to me. And I can so choose. p 79
Stop fantasizing! Cut the strings of desire that keep you dancing like a puppet… Leave the wrong with the person who did it. p80
Focus in what is being said. Enter with your mind into what is being done and into the mind of the person doing it. p80
It is within your power, always and everywhere, to be content with what the gods have given you, to deal justly with people as you find them, and to guard your thoughts against intrusion of untested or inchoate ideas. p85
In every crisis, bear in mind the examples of those who in similar circumstances lost control of themselves, were taken by surprise, or complained bitterly. Where did their actions get them? Nowehere. Do you want to end up in the same place? Why not leave these emotional outbursts to those who are controlled or distracted by them? Concentrate instead on taking advantage of the crisis, using it as raw material with which to build something beautiful and good. Just remember that in the end you must approve of your own actions and that the aim of the action also matters. p86
Whether standing or reclining, control the body’s posture by not sluching or sprawling. Just as you can read a person’s intelligence and character in his face, you can see them in the way he holds his body. But these appearances should be preserved without conscious effort. p87
Reflect carefully on those whose good opinion you covet and on what motivates them. If you examine the reasons for their likes and dislikes, you will not blame them for failing to speak well of you, nor will their praise mean that much to you. p87
Live freely and joyfully even if you are surrounded by those who plot and shout against you, even if wild beasts claw away the soft clay that encases you. p88
When you have done something well and someone else has benefited from it, why do you crave yet a third reward, as fools do, who want to be thanksed or to be repaid? p89
No one tires of being helped, and acts that are consistent with nature, like helping others, are their own reward. How then can you grow tired of helping others when by doing so you help yourself? p89
Book 8
Before you ask yourself: “What are the likely consequences of this act? Will I later have cause to regret it?” p 91
Above all, there is no point in worrying. p92
Whenever you meet someone, ask yourself straightaway: What are the things this person deems good and evil? For if he holds certain beliefs about pleasure and pain and the causes of each, about fame and obscurity, or about death and life, then I won’t think it surprising or weird if he behaves in a certain way. Indeed, I’ll regard it as inevitable. p93
Build your life one action at a time, and be happy if each act you perform contributes to a fulfilling and complete life. No one can prevent you from doing this. p96
Don’t panic before the picture of your entire life. Don’t dwell on all the troubles you’ve faced or have yet to face, but instead ask yourself as each trouble comes: What is so unbearable or unmanageable in this? Your reply will embarrass you. Then remind yourself that it’s not the future or the past that bears down on you, but only the present, always the present, which becomes an even smaller thing when isolated in this way and when the mind that cannot bear up under so slender an object is chastened. p97
Some delight in this: others in that. My delight is in clear thinking and a clean conscience, in not turning away from any man or from anything that happens to men, but in looling on all with compassion and using everything according to its worth. p99
Give yourself the present. Those who chase after future fame fail to realize that the men whose praise they crave tomorrow will be no different from the men whose opinions they despise today, and all these men will die. What do you care whether tomorrow’s men know the sound of your name or say nice things about you? p99
If you’re troubled by something outside yourself, it isn’t the thing itself that bothers you, but your opinion of it, and this opinion you have the power to revoke immediately. If what troubles you arises from some flaw in your character or disposition, who prevents you from correcting the flaw? If it’s your failure to do something good or necessary work that frustrates you, why not put your energy into doing it rather than fretting about it? p99
Don’t make more of things than what your senses initialy tell you… Always stick to your first impressions, and don’t begin adding inferences of your own, and you’ll be safe. p100
Do you cover the praises of someone who three times every hour curses himself? Do you hope to please the person who isn’t pleased with himself? If he is pleased with himself who regrets nearly everything he does? p101
He who fears death fears either the loss of sensation or some new sensation. But if he feels no sensation, how will he feel hurt? And if he experiences a new sensation, it will be as a new creature, yet still alive. p102
Men exist for the sake of one another. Teach them to be better or put up with them. p102
Book 9
Another’s wrongdoing–leave it alone. p107
How many don’t even know your name? How many who do will soon forget it? How many who praise you today will slander you tomorrow? Memory, fame, and the like–all counterfeit. p109
When facing whatever happens outside your control, be calm; when taking actions for which you are responsible, be fair. p109
Many of the things that trouble you are easily disposed of, for they are all in your mind. p109
Enough of this pathetic way of life, this continual complaining and aping of others. Why worry? There’s nothing new for you to get all worked up about. Do the causes of things disturb you? Then look to them. Or is it the things themselves? Then take a hard look at them. Formal cause and material effect–that’s all there is. p110
What’s so bad or surprising about the ignoramous who acts out of ignorance? Find fault instead with yourself for failing to anticipate his offensive behavior. Your ability to reason should have told you that he would misbehave, but you refused to listen and are now shocked by his misbehavior. p112
Book 10
If someone makes a mistake, correct him with knowledge and point out where he went wrong. If you fail, blame only yourself, or better yet, don’t blame anyone. p114
When you allow others to call you good, modest, sincere, openminded, fair-minded, high-minded, be sure that you don’t disappoint them, or if you do, be quick to restore these virtues to their eyes. p115
His mind is no longer troubled by what someone may say or think about him, or do against him; and he finds perfect contentment in these two things only: to do the task at hand justly and to embrace his fate gladly. p117
Book 11
It is possible for us to grow back together with our neighbor and to contribute once more to the whole… Generally speaking, the branch that is grafted on after having been broken off is not the same as the one that grows up with the tree and breathes with it from birth. p127
Stand guard in both reepects: be tough-minded in thought and action while being gentle to those who oppose or annoy you. p127
We cannot be just when we are distracted by lesser things or deceived by them into making rash or fickle judgements. p128
There’s no need to dress up the truth. It will be evident in your words. Written on your face. Ringing in your voice. p129
Many things are done for reasons that are not apparent. p130
To ward of anger, keep these maxims handy:
There is nothing manly about petulance
Because they are more natural to our species, qualities like courtesy and kindness are the more manly. These qualities, not irritability and bad temper, bespeak strength and fiber and manly fortitude.
The freer the mind from passion, the closer the man to power.
Anger is as much a proof of weakness as gried. Both involve being wounded and giving in to one’s wounds.
For this reason, it makes sense to aim at the common good, the well-being of society as a whole. He who strives to achieve this aim in life will be consistent in his behavior and therefore one and the same person throughout his life. p133
“When kissing your child,” said [[Epictetus]], “you would do well to whisper these words to yourself, ‘You may be deas tomorrow.” p134
We must abstain from desire no matter what, and pay no attention to the things over which we have no influence or control. p134
Book 12
All the good things you want someday to attain can be yours today. Just get out of your own way. Put the past behind you and the future in the hands of God… p137
Often I marvel at how men love themselves more than others while at the same time caring more about what others think of them than what they think of themselves. p138
Be done with blame. p140
If it’s not right, don’t do it. If it’s not true, don’t say it. p140
What an infintesimal fraction of time’s fathomless abyss is assigned to each of us! An instant, and it flickers out in eternity. What a speck in the plentitude of being w are! p144