Meditations

"This one may be the world’s ultimate self-help book. Marcus Aurelius was the most powerful man in the world when he wrote these notes to himself two millennia ago; he had a literal empire at his disposal. Yet the philosophy presented here is a humble one that shuns material rewards in favor of a quiet stoicism that helps build resilience."

"I hope that I have not missed the editors’ purpose entirely by listing books that affected one rather rebellious adolescent in the 1940s, but I was quite surprised myself when I came up with this list after careful reflection. Let me make partial amends by citing the work that I pull off the shelf most often, and gives me the greatest pleasure, now that I am in my fifties: Meditations , by Marcus Aurelius. For this work reflects the point to which I have come, in company with such a magnifice..."