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Tout en traduisant marc-aurele, M. Couat annotait la Cité de Dieu et les Pensées de Pascal. Quel livre devait sortir de ces méditations et de ces recherches? Le travail est assez avancé pour qu'on en puisse apercevoir le dessein; il est tr0p fragmentaire pour qu'on le publie. Les notes de cette traduction auront permis du moins de sauver une partie de l'étude que M. Couat avait consacrée à ces trois grandes âmes, de même lignée, dont l'une fut pourtant l'âme d'un païen, l'autre celle d'un saint et la derniere celle d'un hérétique. A sa traduction et à sa critique du texte des Pensées, il avait entrepris de joindre, en effet, une critique de la doctrine bien que ce commentaire moral, limité au second livre de marc-aurèle, tienne beaucoup moins de place dans les papiers de M. Couat que ceux des Pensées de Pascal et dela Cité de Dieu, on pourra, d'après lui, s'imaginer ce qu'est le reste, sinon ce qu'eût été le tout.
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This book took me much longer to read than I expected, not because it was difficult, but because I kept stopping to underline, reflect, and make notes. I don’t always read for entertainment. Sometimes I read to learn, and Meditations was exactly that kind of book.What amazed me most is how similar the human mind remains despite the centuries between us. In so many of Marcus Aurelius’ thoughts, I could see myself. The fears, the motivations, the inner struggles, they feel timeless. It’s incredible to witness how philosophical thinking evolves, yet continues to circle around the same fundamental questions of purpose, discipline, and meaning.If you enjoy philosophy and observing how human thought changes while remaining deeply familiar, this book is for you. Short, powerful, and full of wisdom. A small book with so much to say.
I read a few of Marcus Aurelius' journal entries(?) in college but hadn't read all of them. It is amazing that his writings still hold up. This guy, who was arguably the most powerful man in the world at the time some 1800 years ago, had many of the same mundane problems and internal struggles we all do. While I don't completely ascribe to the ideals of stoicism, and probably lack some context and understanding, there is some timeless wisdom here around attempting to live life ethically and focusing on what we can control. Absolutely a must read for probably everyone. Also, this edition is on KU, and I appreciated the approachable translation and some (but not too much) additional commentary.
Meditations by Marcus Aurelius isn’t a book you read once and move on from. It’s more like a book you revisit throughout different stages of your life, gaining new insights each time. It’s filled with wisdom, and almost every paragraph has something quotable—something that makes you pause and think. Even if you’re not into Stoicism, you can still take away a lot from this book because it’s not just about philosophy; it’s about life, discipline, and perspective.That said, the book does get repetitive. Marcus often circles back to the same ideas, just worded differently. At times, it even feels like he was going through an existential crisis. Some of his thoughts contradict each other, but that’s what makes it real—it’s a personal journal, not a polished philosophical treatise. The old style of writing can also be a bit difficult to grasp at times, but that’s more of a personal struggle than a flaw of the book itself.Overall, Meditations is worth reading, not because it’s some grand philosophical work, but because it offers practical, timeless advice. You don’t have to agree with everything in it, but there’s a good chance you’ll find something that resonates. And even if you don’t, the experience of reading it itself is valuable. It’s not a book to speed through—it’s a book to sit with, think about, and return to later.