On Meditations

The cover of the book says it's a Wordsworth classic of world literature. I'm not sure what it means for it to be a Wordsworth classic, to be true, but I do agree that it's quite the masterpiece. Here's what wiki has to say about it.

Book 1 was a series of tributes to people who influenced Aurelius's life. At first, I was in awe of the abundance of positive influence around him. On greater introspection, I realized that it was his ability to see this goodness that made it so abundant, for we are all just as surrounded by goodness, though perhaps in varying measure and manifestation. If we chose to, made even feeble attempts to, we would see it everywhere and in fact, in every interaction we share with nature. This book quickly then became my most humbling read in memory.

Book 2 is where I'm at now, and I share with you its first paragraph.

Say to yourself at break of day, I shall meet with meddling, ungrateful, violent, treacherous, envious, and ungrateful men. All these vices have fallen to them because they have no knowledge of good and bad. But I, who have beheld the nature of the good, and seen that it is the right; and of the bad, and seen that it is the wrong; and of the wrongdoer himself, and seeing that his nature is akin to my own - not because he is of the same blood and seed, but because he shared with me in mind and a portion of the divine - I, then, can neither be harmed by any of these men, nor can I become angry with one who is akin to me, nor can I hate him, for we have come into being to work together, like feet, hands, or eyelids, or the two rows of teeth in our upper and lower jaws. To work against one another is therefore contrary to nature; and to be angry with another and turn away from him is surely to work against him.

I cannot say this is my favorite paragraph, only because I find each one surpasses the previous and stimulates in its own unique manner. Meditations has quickly moved into my top 100 book-list, and while I would be only too happy to write out passage after passage for you, I do urge you to read it for yourself as well. MIT has been kind enough to put a translation online.