Meditations (tr. George Long, 1862)

The book opens with

Acting against one another, including being vexed and turning away, is contrary to nature

Their wordsTo act against one another, then, is contrary to nature; and it is acting against one another to be vexed and to turn away.

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Every claim below was made in this book, quoted word for word and numbered in the order the piece makes them, so you can read it there rather than take our word for it. The book prints chapter headings its extracted text does not preserve, so the claims below are in the book's order but not grouped. The sentence above each quote is our reading of the claim, not their wording. Each quote was checked against a stored copy of the page at build time; where the two differ, the quote is the fact.

Our reading
Acting against one another, including being vexed and turning away, is contrary to nature

Their wordsTo act against one another, then, is contrary to nature; and it is acting against one another to be vexed and to turn away.
Our reading
No one loses any life but the one they are living now, however long they live

Their wordsThough thou shouldest be going to live three thousand years and as many times ten thousand years, still remember that no man loses any other life than this which he now lives, nor lives any other than this which he now loses.
Our reading
The universe is transformation, and life is opinion

Their wordsThe universe is transformation: life is opinion.
Our reading
Remove your judgement that you have been harmed and the harm goes with it

Their wordsTake away thy opinion, and then there is taken away the complaint, "I have been harmed." Take away the complaint, "I have been harmed," and the harm is taken away.
Our reading
The mind takes on the character of the thoughts it habitually holds

Their wordsSuch as are thy habitual thoughts, such also will be the character of thy mind; for the soul is dyed by the thoughts.
Our reading
As a rational, social being, a person's city is the whole world

Their wordsBut my nature is rational and social; and my city and country, so far as I am Antoninus, is Rome, but so far as I am a man, it is the world.
Our reading
The source of good is within you and keeps flowing if you keep digging

Their wordsLook within. Within is the fountain of good, and it will ever bubble up, if thou wilt ever dig.
Our reading
Stop discussing what a good person should be, and be one

Their wordsNo longer talk at all about the kind of man that a good man ought to be, but be such.

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