Poem/Quote: May 25, 2019

Marcus Aurelius Quote

from Meditations

The speed with which all of them vanish-

the objects in the world, and the memory

of them in time. And the real nature

of the things our senses experience,

especially those that entice us with pleasure

or frighten us with pain or are loudly

trumpeted by pride. To understand

those things- how stupid, contemptible,

grimy, decaying and dead they are-

that's what our intellectual powers are for.

And to understand what those people

really amount to, whose opinions

and voices constitute fame.

And what dying is- and if you look at it

in the abstract and break down

your imaginary ideas of it

by logical analysis, 

you realize

that it's nothing

but a process

of nature,

which only children can be afraid of.