But that which is useful is the better. - Marcus Aurelius
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But that which is useful is the better.
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About
Marcus Aurelius
Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (26 April 121 – 17 March 180) was Roman emperor from 161 to 180 and a Stoic philosopher. He was the last of the rulers known as the Five Good Emperors (a term coined some 13 centuries later by Niccolò Machiavelli), and the last emperor of the Pax Romana (27 BC to 180), an age of relative peace and stability for the Roman Empire. He served as Roman consul in 140, 145, and 161.
Portrait adapted from
Wikimedia Commons, Marie-Lan Nguyen (2011) (CC BY)
Also Known As
Native Name:
Marcus Aurelius Antoninus
Alternative Names:
Caesar Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus
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Marcus Annius Verus
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Marcus Catilius Severus Annius Verus
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Verissimus
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Marcus Aurelius Verus
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Antoninus
"Earth loves the rain, the proud sky loves to give it." The whole world loves to create futurity. I say then to the world, "I share your love." Is this not the source of the phrase, "This loves to happen"? ῾Ἐρᾷ μὲν ὄμβρου γαῖα, ἐρᾷ δὲ ὁ σεμνὸς αἰθήρ,᾿ ἐρᾷ δὲ ὁ κόσμος ποιῆσαι ὃ ἂν μέλλῃ γίνεσθαι. λέγω οὖν τῷ κόσμῳ ὅτι σοὶ συνερῶ. μήτι δὲ οὕτω κἀκεῖνο λέγεται, ὅτι: φιλεῖ τοῦτο γίνεσθαι; (The last phrase is quoted in J.D. Salinger's Franny and Zooey as "It loved to happen"; the tense is ambiguous in Greek.)
In the meantime, cling tooth and nail to the following rule: not to give in to adversity, not to trust prosperity, and always take full note of fortune’s habit of behaving just as she pleases.
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Turn thy thoughts now to the consideration of thy life, thy life as a child, as a youth, thy manhood, thy old age, for in these also every change was a death. Is this anything to fear?
