Marcus Aurelius on why the present is the only thing you can lose. From Meditations by Marcus Aurelius, about 175 AD.
In 166, a plague reached Rome, carried, it was said, by soldiers coming home from a war in the East. It kept coming back for years.
The doctor Galen saw it up close. A Roman history of Marcus’s life says the dead were carried off in carts and wagons.
Thousands died, nobles among them. Long and short lives ended side by side.
Marcus Aurelius wrote in years of war, with a plague that kept returning across the empire. In his notebook he argued that whether you live three thousand years or a few, you only ever lose the present, because the past and future are not yours to lose. Even men who clung to life were buried in the end.
The past is gone and the future isn’t here, so today is all you can lose. Practical advice: when regret about lost years keeps you up, spend the next hour on something you value.
Well established · checked against 4 sourcesSpend the next hour on one thing you’d be glad you did.
“I keep thinking about the years I wasted. How do I stop mourning time I can’t get back?”
You Can Only Lose Today and the other 11 ideas of Meditations, a minute at a time.
Download on theApp StoreEvery idea is drawn from the public-domain text, and its names, dates and quotes are checked against the sources listed with it. The paintings are made for Counsel; they show the scene, not a historical record.
