Plain
Marcus Aurelius — The Emperor

Look at the real nature of what causes something to happen. See it clearly, stripped of everything material. Then think about how long that cause can actually last.

Meditations, Book 9, Section 23 Book 9 · 30 of 60
Knowing Yourself What Matters Most
Marcus Aurelius — The Emperor Original

Go to the quality of the cause from which the effect doth proceed. Behold it by itself bare and naked, separated from all that is material. Then consider the utmost bounds of time that that cause, thus and thus qualified, can subsist and abide.

Meditations, Book 9, Section 23 Book 9 · 30 of 60
Marcus Aurelius — The Emperor

Children's anger is just noise and babble. We are wretched souls carrying around dead bodies, trying to keep them from falling apart. It's like that funeral song everyone knows.

Meditations, Book 9, Section 22 Book 9 · 29 of 60
Death & Mortality Human Nature
Marcus Aurelius — The Emperor Original

Children's anger, mere babels; wretched souls bearing up dead bodies, that they may not have their fall so soon: even as it is in that common dirge song.

Meditations, Book 9, Section 22 Book 9 · 29 of 60
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Ancient philosophy, in plain English.

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