HomeQuotesMarcus Aurelius
Stoic philosophy
Do not act as if thou wert going to live ten thousand years. Death hangs over thee. While thou livest, while it is in thy power, be good.
Meditations, Book IV, c. 170 AD
Translated by George Long · Stoic philosophy
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What this means, and why it matters to a father

Book IV of the Meditations returns repeatedly to mortality as a spur to present virtue, urging the reader not to postpone good living.

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