Meditations

A New Translation

By: Marcus Aurelius, Gregory Hays - translator, Ryan Holiday - foreword

Narrated by: Roger Davis, Ryan Holiday

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • Timeless insights into what it takes to lead a meaningful life—still profoundly relevant nearly two thousand years later.

Now featuring a brand-new foreword from Ryan Holiday, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Obstacle Is the Way!

“Meditations offers a glimpse into [Marcus Aurelius’s] mind, his habits, and his approach to life. . . . I think any reader would find something useful to take away from it.”—James Clear, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Atomic Habits

“It is unbelievable to see how the emperor’s words have stood the test of time. . . . Read a page or two anytime you feel like the world is too much.”—Arnold Schwarzenegger, The Wall Street Journal

Your ability to control your thoughts—treat it with respect. It’s all that protects your mind from false perceptions—false to your nature, and that of all rational beings.

A series of spiritual exercises filled with wisdom, practical guidance, and profound understanding of human behavior, Marcus Aurelius’s Meditations remains one of the greatest works of spiritual and ethical reflection ever written. With bite-size insights and advice on everything from living in the world to coping with adversity and interacting with others, Meditations has become required listening/reading not only for statesmen and philosophers alike, but also for generations of readers who responded to the straightforward intimacy of his style.

In Gregory Hays’s translation—the first in nearly four decades—Marcus’s thoughts speak with a new immediacy. In fresh and unencumbered English, Hays vividly conveys the spareness and compression of the original Greek text. Never before have Marcus’s insights been so directly and powerfully presented.

With an Introduction that outlines Marcus’s life and career, the essentials of Stoic doctrine, the style and construction of the Meditations, and the work’s ongoing influence, this edition makes it possible to fully rediscover the thoughts of one of the most enlightened and intelligent leaders of any era.

Public Domain (P)2023 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

“Here, for our age, is [Marcus’s] great work presented in its entirety, strongly introduced and freshly, elegantly translated.”—Robert Fagles

Did not like the narrator

I could not finish this book. The voce of the narrator in unbearable. It made the whole experience worse.

Very good translation

I like the narrator, however I would have also enjoyed a narrator with more gravitas.

Great material; narration is painful

Great material. Surprising that Ryan Holiday gave a modern preface to an unfortunately abrasive narration voice with hyper enunciation. Find another version.

narrator

the narrator is pretty bad. they should probably change the narrator and resell this.

life lessons

I will re listen to these over and over again. provides the perspective on life management and the value of time.

great insights

If you want to grow in every way...read this BOOK ASAP! it's worth it!

Great book

Great book. I will listen to it again. Practical wisdom that can be incorporated into one’s behavior/thoughts/life.

Life Changing

Cannot thank you enough, Marcus! Truly a blessing to have your wise words bestowed upon us!

A great translation of Meditations

Much easier to follow than older translations of Meditations. I got a lot more out of it than an older version I’ve read many times.

amazing material, deserved better delivery

there is a lot of adaptation. I would have liked to hear the original texts and then the adaption. the tone is fragmented, hard to follow. the constant enumeration serves no purpose and is debilitating. great source, but poorly wrapped together by the publisher.