2nd century

Explore 68 quotes from the 2nd century

As for life, it is a battle and a sojourning in a strange land; but the fame that comes after is oblivion.

Marcus Aurelius

Meditations

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Topic

The human condition

Author

Marcus Aurelius

Source

Meditations

Medium

Personal journal

Genre

Philosophical literature

Language

Greek

Time

180 180s 2nd century

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Aurelius, Marcus. Meditations. c. 180, bk. 2.

Current Citation

Aurelius, Marcus. Meditations, edited and translated by Martin Hammond. Penguin Classics, 2015, bk. 2.

The longest-lived and the shortest-lived man, when they come to die, lose one and the same things.

Marcus Aurelius

Meditations

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Topic

Death as equalizer Length of life

Author

Marcus Aurelius

Source

Meditations

Medium

Personal journal

Genre

Philosophical literature

Language

Greek

Time

180 180s 2nd century

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Aurelius, Marcus. Meditations. c. 180, bk. 2.

Current Citation

Aurelius, Marcus. Meditations, edited and translated by Martin Hammond. Penguin Classics, 2015, bk. 2.

It is circumstance and proper timing that give an action its character and make it either good or bad.

Plutarch

Plutarch's Lives

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Topic

Moral theory Timing

Author

Plutarch

Source

Plutarch's Lives

Genre

Historical literature

Language

Greek

Time

119 110s 2nd century

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Plutarch. "Agesilaus." Βίοι Παράλληλοι [Parallel Lives]. c. 2nd century.

Current Citation

Plutarch. "Agesilaus." Roman Lives: A Selection of Eight Roman Lives, translated by Robin Waterfield. Oxford University Press, 2009.

How much time he gains who does not look to see what his neighbor says or does or thinks, but only at what he does himself, to make it just and holy.

Marcus Aurelius

Meditations

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Topic

Comparing oneself to others

Author

Marcus Aurelius

Source

Meditations

Medium

Personal journal

Genre

Philosophical literature

Language

Greek

Time

180 180s 2nd century

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Aurelius, Marcus. Meditations. c. 180, bk. 4.

Current Citation

Aurelius, Marcus. Meditations, edited and translated by Martin Hammond. Penguin Classics, 2015, bk. 4.

Time is a violent torrent; no sooner is a thing brought to sight than it is swept by and another takes its place, and this too will be swept away.

Marcus Aurelius

Meditations

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Topic

Relentlessness of time Time Circle of life

Author

Marcus Aurelius

Source

Meditations

Medium

Personal journal

Genre

Philosophical literature

Language

Greek

Time

180 180s 2nd century

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 1

Original Citation

Aurelius, Marcus. Meditations. c. 180, bk. 4.

Current Citation

Aurelius, Marcus. Meditations, edited and translated by Martin Hammond. Penguin Classics, 2015, bk. 4.

Think of the life you have lived until now as over and, as a dead man, see what’s left as a bonus and live it according to Nature. Love the hand that fate deals you and play it as your own, for what could be more fitting?

Marcus Aurelius

Meditations

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Topic

Letting go of the past Making the most

Author

Marcus Aurelius

Source

Meditations

Medium

Personal journal

Genre

Philosophical literature

Language

Greek

Time

180 180s 2nd century

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Aurelius, Marcus. Meditations. c. 180, bk. 7.

Current Citation

Aurelius, Marcus. Meditations, edited and translated by Martin Hammond. Penguin Classics, 2015, bk. 7.

Whatever befalls you was prepared for you beforehand from eternity, and the thread of causes was spinning from everlasting both your existence and this which befalls you.

Marcus Aurelius

Meditations

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Topic

Fate Free will

Author

Marcus Aurelius

Source

Meditations

Medium

Personal journal

Genre

Philosophical literature

Language

Greek

Time

180 180s 2nd century

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 1

Original Citation

Aurelius, Marcus. Meditations. c. 180, bk. 10.

Current Citation

Aurelius, Marcus. Meditations, edited and translated by Martin Hammond. Penguin Classics, 2015, bk. 10.

For it is impossible for any one to begin to learn what he thinks that he already knows.

Epictetus

Discourses

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Topic

Lack of curiosity Learning Arrogance

Author

Epictetus

Source

Discourses

Medium

Lecture

Language

Greek

Time

108 100s 2nd century

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Epictetus. Ἐπικτήτου διατριβαί, Epiktētou diatribai [The Discourses of Epictetus]. c. 108, bk 2, ch 17.

Current Citation

Epictetus. "The Discourses." Discourses and Other Writings, edited and translated by Robert Dobbin. Penguin Classics, 2008, bk. 2, ch. 17.

The art of living is more like wrestling than dancing, for it requires that we should stand ready and firm to meet onsets which are sudden and unexpected.

Marcus Aurelius

Meditations

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Topic

Living well Adaptability Improvisation Life

Author

Marcus Aurelius

Source

Meditations

Medium

Personal journal

Genre

Philosophical literature

Language

Greek

Time

180 180s 2nd century

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 1

Original Citation

Aurelius, Marcus. Meditations. c. 180, bk. 7.

Current Citation

Aurelius, Marcus. Meditations, edited and translated by Martin Hammond. Penguin Classics, 2015, bk. 7.

All that is in harmony for you, my Universe, is in harmony with me as well. Nothing that comes at the right time for you is too early or too late for me. Everything is fruit to me that your seasons bring, Nature. All things come of you, have their being in you, and return to you.

Marcus Aurelius

Meditations

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Topic

Man and the universe Man and nature

Author

Marcus Aurelius

Source

Meditations

Medium

Personal journal

Genre

Philosophical literature

Language

Greek

Time

180 180s 2nd century

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Aurelius, Marcus. Meditations. c. 180, bk. 4.

Current Citation

Aurelius, Marcus. Meditations, edited and translated by Martin Hammond. Penguin Classics, 2015, bk. 4.

Count it the greatest sin to prefer mere existence to honor, and for the sake of life to lose the reasons for living.

Juvenal

Satires

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Topic

Honor

Author

Juvenal

Source

Satires

Medium

Poem

Language

Latin

Time

127 120s 2nd century

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 1

Original Citation

Juvenal. Satirae [Satires]. c. 127, satire 8.

Current Citation

Juvenal. The Satires, translated by Niall Rudd. Oxford University Press, 2008, satire 8.

We are now suffering the evils of a long peace. Luxury, more deadly than war, broods over the city, and avenges a conquered world.

Juvenal

Satires

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Topic

Decadence

Author

Juvenal

Source

Satires

Medium

Poem

Statement Type

Paradox

Language

Latin

Time

127 120s 2nd century

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Juvenal. Satirae [Satires]. c. 127, satire 6.

Current Citation

Juvenal. The Satires, translated by Niall Rudd. Oxford University Press, 2008, satire 6.

This gives a great field for the flatterer in friendship, who finds a wonderful base of operations in our self-love, which makes each person his own first and greatest flatterer.

Plutarch

Moralia

More information about this quote

Topic

Flattery

Author

Plutarch

Source

Moralia

Medium

Essay

Language

Greek

Time

100 100s 2nd century

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Plutarch. "Πῶς ἄν τις διακρίνοιε τὸν κόλακα τοῦ φίλου [How to Tell a Flatterer from a Friend]." Ἠθικά Ethika [Moralia]. c. 100 AD.

Current Citation

Plutarch. "How to Distinguish a Flatterer from a Friend." Essays. Penguin Classics, 1993.

A Roman divorced from his wife, being highly blamed by his friends, who demanded, "Was she not chaste? Was she not fair? Was she not fruitful? Holding out his shoe, asked them whether it was not new and well made. "Yet," added he, "none of you can tell where it pinches me."

Plutarch

Plutarch's Lives

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Topic

Challenges of marriage Marriage

Author

Plutarch

Source

Plutarch's Lives

Genre

Historical literature

Language

Greek

Time

119 110s 2nd century

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Plutarch. "Aemilius Paulus." Βίοι Παράλληλοι [Parallel Lives]. c. 2nd century.

Current Citation

Plutarch. "Aemilius." Roman Lives: A Selection of Eight Roman Lives, translated by Robin Waterfield. Oxford University Press, 2009.

Mark how fleeting and paltry is the estate of man-yesterday in embryo, tomorrow a mummy or ashes. So for the hairsbreadth of time assigned to thee, live rationally, and part with life cheerfully, as drops the ripe olive, extolling the season that bore it and the tree that matured it.

Marcus Aurelius

Meditations

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Topic

Ephemeral nature of life

Author

Marcus Aurelius

Source

Meditations

Medium

Personal journal

Genre

Philosophical literature

Language

Greek

Time

180 180s 2nd century

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Aurelius, Marcus. Meditations. c. 180, bk. 4.

Current Citation

Aurelius, Marcus. Meditations, edited and translated by Martin Hammond. Penguin Classics, 2015, bk. 4.

Happiness and freedom begin with a clear understanding of one principle: Some things are within our control, and some things are not.

Epictetus

The Enchiridion

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Topic

Happiness Letting go

Author

Epictetus

Source

The Enchiridion

Genre

Philosophical literature

Language

Greek

Time

135 130s 2nd century

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Epictetus. Ἐγχειρίδιον Ἐπικτήτου, Enkheirídion Epiktḗtou [Enchiridion of Epictetus]. c. 125 CE, ch. 1.

Current Citation

Epictetus. Enchiridion, translated by George Long. Dover Publications, 2004, ch. 1.

To break a treaty is contempt for the gods. But to outwit an enemy is not only just and glorious-but profitable and sweet.

Plutarch

Plutarch's Lives

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Topic

Treaties Enemies

Author

Plutarch

Source

Plutarch's Lives

Genre

Biography

Language

Greek

Time

100 100s 2nd century

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Plutarch. "Agesilaus." Βίοι Παράλληλοι [Parallel Lives]. c. 2nd century.

Current Citation

Plutarch. "Agesilaus." Roman Lives: A Selection of Eight Roman Lives, translated by Robin Waterfield. Oxford University Press, 2009.

Thus shall ye think of all this fleeting world:
A star at dawn, a bubble in a stream;
A flash of lightning in a summer cloud.
A flickering lamp, a phantom, and a dream.

Nagarjuna

More information about this quote

Topic

The ephemeral Impermanence

Author

Nagarjuna

Medium

Scripture

Genre

Religious literature

Language

Sanskrit

Time

180 180s 2nd century

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 1

Original Citation

Vajracchedikā Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra [The Diamond Sutra]. c. 868.

Current Citation

The Diamond Sutra, translated by Red Pine. Counterpoint, 2002.

Man is one name belonging to every nation upon earth. In them all is one soul though many tongues. Every country has its own language; yet the subjects of which the untutored soul speaks are the same everywhere.

Tertullian

On the Testimony of the Soul

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Topic

Interconnectedness of all people Language

Author

Tertullian

Source

On the Testimony of the Soul

Genre

Religious literature

Language

Latin

Time

198 190s 2nd century

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Tertullian. De Testimonio Animae [The Testimony of the Soul]. c. 198, ch. 6.

Tuning the lyre and handling the harp are no accomplishments of mine, but rather taking in hand a city that was small and inglorious and making it glorious and great.

Themistocles

Quoted in Plutarch's Lives, by Plutarch

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Topic

Political leadership Statecraft

Speaker

Themistocles

Author

Plutarch

Source

Plutarch's Lives

Genre

Historical literature

Language

Greek

Time

119 110s 2nd century

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Themistocles. Quoted in "Themistocles." Parallel Lives by Plutarch. c. 2nd century BC, ch. 2, sect. 3.

Current Citation

Themistocles. Quoted in "Themistocles." Parallel Lives by Plutarch. Oxford University Press, 2009, ch. 2, sect. 3.