“At dawn, when you have trouble getting out of bed, tell yourself: I have to go to work — as a human being. What do I have to complain of, if I am going to do what I was born for — the things I was brought into the world to do?”
Marcus Aurelius never intended his Meditations to be published — they were a private journal, written mostly in the pre-dawn hours during military campaigns. As Roman Emperor from 161–180 AD, he led an empire through catastrophic plagues, border wars, and the deaths of several of his own children.
There is more to this one. The full context — the events behind the words, what the author was living through, and how it applies to the specific situations of fatherhood — is in the app under Deeper Understanding.
Read the full context in DadViceDadVice matches wisdom like this to the real situations of fatherhood — the hard conversation, the long night, the moment you do not know what to say. Every quote is sourced. No motivational filler.