--- description: How to live life fully and meaningfully. title: How to Live Your Best Life, According to a Roman Emperor image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfb52f9fc63c28414/69886fc08e060176494632ea/marcus-aurelius.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Ideas](/section/ideas/) ## Ideas Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Books](/tag/books/) ## Books Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # How to Live Your Best Life, According to a Roman Emperor by [Shane Parrish](/author/shane-parrish/) ## Shane Parrish Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Nov 7, 2015 5:01 AM CUT  2nd century A.D., Roman art 2nd century A.D., Roman artGetty Images by [Shane Parrish](/author/shane-parrish/) ## Shane Parrish Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Nov 7, 2015 5:01 AM CUT Marcus Aurelius has been read for 1800 or so years now and he’s arguably just as relevant today as he was when he was ruler of the Roman Empire. Aurelius, the ruler of the Roman Empire for almost two decades, was also the author of the immortal [_Meditations_](http://a-fwd.com/es=farstrblo068-21&it=farstrblo0a-21&fr=farstrblo08-21&de=farstrblo07-21&uk=farstrblo-21&ca=farst-20&com=farnamstreet-20&asin-es=0812968255&asin-it=0812968255&asin-fr=0812968255&asin-de=0812968255&asin-uk=0812968255&asin-ca=0812968255&asin-com=0812968255 "undefined"). “Yet the title,” writes Gregory Hays in the introduction, “is one that Marcus himself would surely have rejected. He never thought of himself as a philosopher. He would have claimed to be, at best, a diligent student and a very imperfect practitioner of a philosophy developed by others.” Everyone who reads Meditations—from elementary school children to [presidents](http://www.farnamstreetblog.com/2014/08/bill-clinton-favorite-books/ "undefined")—takes away some lessons. Be wary though, the book presents a dim view of human life. To understand [_Meditations_](http://a-fwd.com/es=farstrblo068-21&it=farstrblo0a-21&fr=farstrblo08-21&de=farstrblo07-21&uk=farstrblo-21&ca=farst-20&com=farnamstreet-20&asin-es=0812968255&asin-it=0812968255&asin-fr=0812968255&asin-de=0812968255&asin-uk=0812968255&asin-ca=0812968255&asin-com=0812968255 "undefined"), we must first understand the role of philosophy in ancient life. While there was certainly an academic side to philosophy back then it also had a more practical side expected to provide a design for living—”a set of rules to live one’s life by.” A need not met by ancient religion, “which privileged ritual over doctrine and provided little in the way of moral and ethical guidelines.” Philosophy was expected to fill the gap. “The questions that Meditations tries to answer are metaphysical and ethical ones,” Hays writes. These are timeless questions that we are still asking. Why are we here? How can I cope with the stresses and pressures of daily life? How can I do what is right? How can I cope with loss and pain? How can I handle misfortune? How do we live when we know that one day we won’t? Book one, a special section entitled Debts and Lessons, is “distinguished from the rest of the work by its autobiographical nature.” It consists of seventeen entries in which Marcus Aurelius reflects upon what he has learned from various influential individuals in his life. Here are some lessons we can draw from book one. Do Your Own Work --- > “” --- Read Attentively --- > “” --- The Greatest Compliment --- > “” --- The Ruthlessness of Good Families --- > “” --- Staying on the Path --- > “” --- From his adopted father, Marcus Aurelius learned: --- > “” --- **Still curious?** [_Meditations_](http://a-fwd.com/es=farstrblo068-21&it=farstrblo0a-21&fr=farstrblo08-21&de=farstrblo07-21&uk=farstrblo-21&ca=farst-20&com=farnamstreet-20&asin-es=0812968255&asin-it=0812968255&asin-fr=0812968255&asin-de=0812968255&asin-uk=0812968255&asin-ca=0812968255&asin-com=0812968255 "undefined") is part of the [Stoic Reading List](http://www.farnamstreetblog.com/2014/04/the-stoic-reading-list/ "undefined"). **_Read next:_** [**_A Philosopher’s Guide to Happiness_**](http://time.com/3944883/philosopher-guide-happiness-life/ "undefined") **_This piece originally appeared on_** [**_Farnam Street_**](https://www.farnamstreetblog.com/2014/08/marcus-aurelius-debts-and-lessons/ "undefined")**_._** **Join over 60,000 readers and get a free weekly update via email** [**here**](http://www.farnamstreetblog.com/newsletter/ "undefined")**.** ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4101367/meditations-marcus-aurelius/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4101367/meditations-marcus-aurelius/"},"headline":"How to Live Your Best Life, According to a Roman Emperor","datePublished":"2015-11-07T05:01:48.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-31T08:51:48.627Z","description":"How to live life fully and meaningfully.","url":"https://time.com/4101367/meditations-marcus-aurelius/","keywords":["Books","Culture"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfb52f9fc63c28414/69886fc08e060176494632ea/marcus-aurelius.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Shane Parrish","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/shane-parrish/"}],"articleSection":"Ideas","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfb52f9fc63c28414/69886fc08e060176494632ea/marcus-aurelius.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"marcus-aurelius","caption":"marcus-aurelius","creditText":"Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/ideas/","name":"Ideas"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/books/","name":"Books"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4101367/meditations-marcus-aurelius/","name":"How to Live Your Best Life, According to a Roman Emperor"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Lee Daniels on the Women Who Changed His Life","description":"“I never saw myself as a filmmaker because I didn’t know there were African American filmmakers, so I never really had anyone to look up to, because there weren’t any really,” says Daniels, a filmmaker and creator of the TV series Empire.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/DUbV2mi7/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-04-16T01:05:46.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/DUbV2mi7.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4101367/meditations-marcus-aurelius/","duration":"PT2M37S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4101367/meditations-marcus-aurelius/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```