The Thoughts of Marcus Aurelius - College of Stoic Philosophers

vi MARCUS AURELIUS 135
if
Some such effort as this But thou attainest thy object,
the things to which thou wast moved are [not] accom
plished, f
51. He who loves fame considers another man s activity
to be his own good ;
and he who loves pleasure, his own
sensations ;
but he who has understanding, considers his
own acts to be his own good.
52. It is in our power to have no opinion about a thing,
and not to be disturbed in our soul for ; things themselves
have no natural power to form our judgments.
53. Accustom thyself to attend carefully to what is said
by another, and as much as it is possible, be in the speaker s
mind.
54. That which is not good for the swarm, neither is it
good for the bee.
55. If sailors abused the helmsman or the sick the doctor,
would they listen to anybody else ;
or how could the helms
man secure the safety of those in the ship or the doctor
the health of those whom he attends ?
56. How many together with whom I came into the
world are already gone out of it.
57. To the jaundiced honey tastes bitter, and to those
bitten by mad dogs water causes fear ;
and to little children
the ball is a fine thing. Why then am I angry ? Dost
thou think that a false opinion has less power than the
bile in the jaundiced or the poison in him who is bitten
by a mad dog ?
58. No man will hinder thee from living according to
the reason of thy own nature :
nothing will happen to
thee contrary to the reason of the universal nature.
59. What kind of people
are those whom men wish to
please, and for what objects, and by what kind of a,cts ?
How soon will time cover all things, and how many
it has
covered already.