Meditations

• [2.1] At the start of the day tell yourself: I shall meet people who are officious, ungrateful, abusive, treacherous, malicious, and selfish.

• [2.17] In short: the body is nothing but a river; the soul is dream and delusion; life is war and a sojourn in a strange land; and oblivion is all there is to posthumous fame.

• [3.2] So there’s almost nothing that a sensitive person, with a deep enough understanding of the workings of the universe, will fail to find pleasing in its manifestations, including these incidental concomitans.

• [6.28] Death brings relief from reacting to sense impressions, from being tugged here and there by one’s impulses, from associative thinking, and from service to the body.

• [7.21] Soon you’ll have forgotten everything; soon everyone will have forgotten you.

• [8.25] All creatures of a day, all long dead. Some of them weren’t even remembered for very long, while others were turned into stories, and some have by now faded even from stories.

• [8.32] Your life must be constructed one action at a time, and if each action is performed as successfully as may be, you can be content.

• [8.33] Accept graciously, let go easily.

• [9.5] Wrongdoing is the outcome not just of action but often of inaction as well.

• [9.19] Everything is changing. You yourself are constantly changing and, in a sense, perishing, and so is the universe as a whole.

• [12.14] If the flood should carry you off, it can take only your body and your spirit; it won’t carry off your mind.

• [12.36] “But I haven’t played all five acts, only three!” Quite so, but in life the play might be over after three acts. The ending is decided by the one who was formerly responsible for your constitution and is now responsible for your disintegration. You have no responsibility for either. Go serenely, then, matching the serenity of the god who is dismissing you.