Ryan Holiday

"To me, the striking thing about Meditations, how exquisite the writing is, even though Marcus Aurelius never wanted to publish it, because those were the standards he set for himself."

"While it's true that someone can impede our actions, Marcus Aurelius famously says in Meditations, they can't impede our intentions or our attitudes."

"In Meditations, Marcus Aurelius says, 'Ambition is tying your success to what other people do or say.' He says, 'Sanity is tying it to your own actions.'"

"You read Marcus's Meditations, you're like, 'This cannot be from a god king 2,000 years ago.'"

"And look, it's worth remembering that the famous passage in Meditations about how the obstacle is the way, right? When he's saying the impediment to action advances action, what stands in the way becomes the way."

"Marcus Aurelius talks about it in Meditations. He says, 'When you have trouble getting out of bed in the morning, say to yourself, is this what I was put here to do, to huddle under the covers and stay warm?'"

"Marcus Aurelius's Meditations — the primary text in Stoic philosophy."

"Marcus Aurelius was conscious about this very idea. In fact, he speaks about it in his famous Meditations. He says, 'Be careful that you are not imperialized, that you are not stained purple.'"

"Marcus Aurelius in Meditations would talk about how we change our life action by action. No one can stop you from doing that next right thing."

"Marcus Aurelius' Meditations, which survives to us, is the private thoughts of the most powerful man in the world."

"He mentions Antoninus in the beginning of Meditations and then it is in book 6:30 where Marcus Aurelius is talking about escaping the corruption of power."

"I remember I was 20 years old going through Marcus's Meditations, and this thing he said hit me, it hit me so hard. He said, 'We all love ourselves more than other people, but for some reason we care about other people's opinions more than our own.'"

"I think this is actually quite similar to what Marcus Aurelius talks about in Meditations where he says, 'You know, the impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way.'"

"In Meditations, Marcus Aurelius says, 'Ask yourself in every instance, is this essential?'"

"Marcus Aurelius's Meditations, a book written almost 2,000 years ago, it's the private thoughts of the emperor of Rome, never intended to be published. And what we see in it is how often he is having to deal with annoying people, obnoxious people, dishonest people."

"Marcus Aurelius' Meditations, a book written almost 2,000 years ago. It's the private thoughts of the emperor of Rome, never intended to be published."

"That's why I love this passage in book 12 of Meditations. Marcus Aurelius, the most powerful man in the world, the person who really had no reason to care about what anyone else thought."

"And in a way, that's what Marcus Aurelius is doing in Meditations itself."

"One of the cool passages in Meditations has Marcus Aurelius talking about how he knows he should get up early, but he doesn't want to."

"We can best understand Marcus Aurelius' Meditations as the most powerful man in the world trying to calm himself down, trying to get to a center, trying not to freak out."

"Here's a passage from a book 2,000 years ago, the Meditations of Marcus Aurelius. Where it says, 'Some things are rushing into existence and others out of it.'"

"There's actually a passage about this in Meditations. For Marcus really says, 'Adaptability is able to look at whatever happens and go, 'Ah, yes, that is exactly what I was looking for.'"

"This is book 7:27. He says, 'Treat what you don't have as nonexistent. 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.'"

"That's why this passage in book 12 is so great. He says you should practice even what seems impossible."

"In Marcus Aurelius's Meditations, he talks about practicing holding the reins with your non-dominant hand."

"Mark talks about this in Meditations where he says you know ask yourself is this essential like does this actually need to be happening right"

"In Marcus Aurelius's Meditations, he says, 'The despicable phoniness of people who say, Listen, I'm going to be level with you.'"

"There's a story about Marcus Aurelius late in life he's seen leaving the palace in Rome and a friend stops him and he says, 'Sir, where are you going?' He says, 'I'm off to see Sextus the philosopher to learn that which I do not yet know.'"

"Which is actually something Marcus Aurelius talks about in Meditations. This is one of my favorite passages."

"That's actually one of my favorite passages in Meditations where Marcus Aurelius is sort of like observing all these beautiful things in nature that actually aren't that beautiful."

"In meditations, Marcus Aurelius talks about practicing holding the resomant hand. He wanted to make himself uncomfortable."

"This comes from Marcus Aurelius. All of life is change. Everything good that's ever happened in your life has come from change."

"Marcus Aurelius says in Meditations, action by action, doing that thing in front of you."

"Marcus Aurelius compares us to a soldier storming a wall. He says, 'If you've fallen and you have to ask a comrade for help, so what?'"

"Marcus Aurelius writes in Meditations, 'Never be overheard complaining, not even to yourself.'"

"He talks about forgiveness in meditation, but then he has to actually apply it in his life."

"You're reading a book that is still a best-seller 2,000 years after it was written by one of the most famous people and powerful and beloved and admired people of all time."

"He says it here in book six two of Meditations. He says, 'Just that you do the right thing, the rest doesn't matter.'"

"One of my favorite exercises from the Stoics is and the most beautiful lines from the Stoics is not Marcus Aurelius describing the Colossus of Rhodes or the aqueducts or the Colosseum, it's Marcus Aurelius writing about the way a stalk of grain is bending under its own weight"

"When you read Meditations, it feels so perfectly done, it's almost inconceivable that this was a man's private diaries."

"You can't read Marcus Aurelius' Meditations, a work written 2,000 years ago at the beginning the decline and fall of the Roman Empire, and not see a good person just utterly depressing and disappointed"

"You can't read Meditations and not see this. He opens Meditations with a meditation on how frustrating and obnoxious other people are."

"At the beginning of Meditations, he meditates on how annoying and obnoxious and frustrating people are going to be"

"I've been referencing this book. I think it's important that this man who had the lives of millions of people on his shoulders... What is he doing? He's spending a little bit of time every day writing his thoughts down, working them out."

"One of the things Marcus Aurelius does say in Meditations about the people who would have always been flattering him and telling him he's amazing or people who would have been criticizing him or attacking him"

"His meditations are his philosophical writings to himself."

"The most famous passage in Meditations is Marcus Aurelius struggling to get out of bed at dawn."

"Mark Sha says in meditations, whether you're cold or you're warm, whether you're tired or you're hungry, whether you're loved for it or despised for it, you got to do the right thing."

"One of the interesting passages in Meditations, Marcus talks about, he says, 'Practice using the non-dominant hand.'"

"The most well-known stoic is Marcus Aurelius, who's the emperor of Rome, the philosopher king."

"Actually, Mark addresses this in meditations too. This is fundamentally what the philosophy is for."

"at the beginning of meditations, Mark Aurelius talks about one of his teachers taught him to be free of passion but full of love"

"Meditations is one sort of rule, admonishment, high almost impossible standard that he's setting for himself after another."

"Marcus Aurelius in his famous meditations. They're notes to the self. It's a dialogue with the self."

"In meditations, Marcus is ripping on Plato. He says, 'Against their will, their souls are cut off from truth.'"

"Marcus Aurelius tells us that's not allowed. As he says in the opening of book five of meditations at dawn when you have trouble getting out of bed tell yourself I have to go to work as a human being."

"This is one of the best passages in meditations. The most powerful man in the world telling himself to get out of bed and get after it."