Meditations of Marcus Aurelius is really a manual for living. So much of what he teaches is very relevant for today. "If you don't have a consistent goal in life, you can't live in a consistent way."

The book is actually a lot of short to the point lessons for living a better life. "If you seek tranquillity, do less." "Which brings a double saftisfaction to do less, better." That is a philosophy that we all would do well to ponder and then employ.

Another of my favorite bits of wisdom, "Not to assume it's impossible because you find it hard. But to recognize that if it's humanly possible, you can do it too."

Marcus Aurelius spends a lot of time on death and how to approach it. Some of that is very good. However he also spends a lot of time thinking about man's right and priviledge of deciding if and when to end live voluntary.

There is an excellent though somewhat long introduction to the book. Hays also provides a list of persons referred to in the book. This is very helpful to at least know who Aurelius was talking about.

I only rate the book four stars because I found The Emperior's Handbook by David Hicks easier to read and understand. I recommend that everyone read at least one of the books by Marcus Aurelius. If you can only read one, pick The Emperor's Handbook.

this is the finest translation of marcus aurelius's meditations that i have read. previous translations i have read were loaded with so many thee's and thou's that the reading was tedious and slow. i found my self scanning the pages instead of reading until i would come across an obvious jem. this made me oblivious to the hidden jems that make up this excellent work. this book gives the emperor's words a modern flair that doesn't lose the original flavor. i highly recommend it.