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At long last I have managed to read Marcus Aurelius' renowned opus Meditations! I purposefully chose to pace myself when reading this book. Typically I would read 1 or 2 'books' (i.e., chapters) per day, followed by a period of reflection. So in this way it took me just over ten days to finish Meditations. I would recommend using a similar approach if you are interested in extracting deeper insights from the experience of reading this book.

I most enjoyed the poetry in Aurelius' writing, which distilled so precisely the wisdom that he imparts. He frequently employs very compelling pithy aphorisms to drive home his wise points. A few gems that stood out to me for their finesse and profoundness are:

"All is ephemeral, both memory and the object of memory" (Book 4, para. 37)

"There is a river of creation, and time is the violent stream..."(Book 4, para. 43)

"Observe the movement of the stars as if you were running their courses with them, and let your mind constantly dwell on the changes of the elements into each other." (Book 7, para. 47)

"You should leave another's wrong where it lies" (Book 9, para. 20)

"Nature gives all and takes back all." (Book 10, para. 14)

"'No nature is inferior to art': in fact the arts imitate the variety of natures." (Book 11, para. 10)

In truth I could easily spend hours meditating on a single line of Meditations. In fact, what is most remarkable is that the advice contained in this book is still applicable to our modern way of life, after almost 2 millennia.

My only minor quibble with Meditations is that at times I found it repetitive (hence the 4 â­� rating). Although this was explained in the Introduction as a way in which Aurelius sought to reinforce and ingrain the principles that he was expounding.

Meditations is certainly a book that I will revisit in the future and I will definitely recommend it to anyone seeking inspiration and direction in their life.