The written reflections of the Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius, known collectively as his Meditations, have for more than a millennium offered guidance for living a life guided by virtue, reason, and self-control. Reading his work in a relatively recent translation—The Emperor’s Handbook, edited by C. Scot and David V. Hicks (Scribner, 2002)—I was struck by how many of his observations on the conduct of one’s life and career in general offer pretty sound advice for contemporary architects and designers, especially at a time when we all might be feeling as though things are slipping out of control.

Marcus was born in 121 C.E. and died 59 years later amid conflicts with Germanic tribes on the northern border of his empire. He ruled the Roman Empire at its height, when it stretched from Britannia to the Red Sea, down through southern Europe and into Africa. Passages and clues from his Meditations suggest that Marcus wrote his thoughts later in his life, while camped with his army.

The emperor was a practitioner of Stoicism, a branch of Greek and Roman philosophy which posits that happiness and a good life can be achieved through reflection and self-criticism on how one should live, especially as a member of a community. The Stoics couched human action as that which guides the individual, but always within the context of a citizen of a community, or the city—what one can personally control. In other words: Don’t sweat the stuff you can’t control. 

The editors of The Emperor’s Handbook point out that in many cases, Marcus’ writings take the form of thought exercises, a discipline encouraged by Stoic philosophers such as Seneca. Marcus often enters into a dialogue with himself as he considers a question. The bedrock query is: How should one live a virtuous life? The editors note: “Marcus sought to furnish his mind with true, good, and beautiful things.” With a mind so appointed, he believed, then true, good, and beautiful actions would follow.

A manuscript of Meditations surfaced in 907 and cycled through various translations through the 15th century. The first English translation and its structure as 12 “books” appeared in the 17th century. In the 20th century, it was described by historian Michael Grant as “one of the most acute and sophisticated pieces of ancient writing that exists.” 

What follows is a selection of passages from Meditations that might resonate with those who practice the art and craft of architecture, doing so among the slings and arrows of life:

IV.2: Never act without purpose and resolve, or without the means to finish the job.

IV.20: Whatever is beautiful owes its beauty to itself, and when it dies its beauty dies with it. Praise adds nothing to beauty—makes it neither better or worse. This is also true for commonly praised objects, natural wonders, for example, or works of art. What does anything that is truly beautiful lack? Nothing! No more than does moral or natural law, truth, kindness, or self-respect. Which of these is improved by praise or marred by criticism? Does an emerald’s beauty fade because it is not praised? What about gold, ivory, porphyry, a lyre, a sword, a flower, or a tree?

IV.22: Stop dithering around. In every confrontation, render what is just: from every impression, extract what is true.

V.22: What does not hurt the community cannot hurt the individual. Every time you think you have been wronged, apply this rule: if the community isn’t hurt by it, then neither am I. But what if the community is hurt? Then don’t be angry with the person who caused the injury. Just help him to see his mistake. 

VI.9: Every part of the whole conforms to the nature of the whole and serves the purpose of the whole. This cannot be accomplished if some other nature—either external or internal or existing independently—governs the parts. 

VI.19: Just because you find the work hard to do, don’t leap to the conclusion that it is humanly impossible; but if the work can and should be done by a man, then consider yourself capable of doing it.

VI.22: I do what is expected of me and let nothing get in my way—neither the inanimate, nor the irrational, nor the hopelessly lost. 

VI.26: … Just so, on this earth each task is accomplished by following certain steps. You must know and reverence these steps without becoming agitated or striking out at those who oppose you, and in this way proceed methodically toward your goal. 

VI.35: Look at the experts. Each practices a science or an art with its own standards and principles which he refuses to relinquish, even if he must compromise them on occasion to explain himself or adapt his practice to the non-expert. What a shame that the architect and physician show more allegiance to the principles and standards of their crafts than men do to those principles and standards of right thought and action which they share with the gods!

VI.48: When your spirits need a lift, think of the virtues and talents of those around you—one’s energy, one’s modesty, the generosity of a third, something else in a fourth. Nothing is so inspiring or uplifting as the sight of these splendid qualities in our friends. Keep them always in mind.

VII.3: Empty pomp; stage plays; flocks of sheep and herds of cows; mock battles; a bone flung to lap dogs; the breadcrumb tossed into a fishpond; the ceaseless toil of ants bearing their burdens; the flight of frightened mice; puppets dancing on their strings—such is life. Your job is to take your place amidst it all with a mild manner and without condescension. Bear in mind that the measure of a man is the worth of the things he cares about.

VII.21: Soon you will have forgotten everything, and everyone will have forgotten you.

VII.28: Seek refuge in yourself. The knowledge of having acted justly is all your reasoning inner self needs to be full content and at peace with itself.

VII.61: Living is more like wrestling than dancing: you have to stay on your feet, ready and unruffled, while blows are being rained down on you, sometimes from unexpected quarters. 

VII.73: When you have done something well and someone else has benefitted from it, why do you crave yet a third reward, as fools do, who want to be thanked or to be repaid. 

IX.6: It is enough when you are thinking objectively, behaving courteously, and feeling easy about circumstances outside your control. 

IX.12: Work hard, not like a slave who looks for pity or praise, but as one who strives single-mindedly to discharge his social obligations.

IX.23: Just as you are part of the whole community, each of your actions should contribute to the whole life of the community. Any action of yours that fails, directly or remotely, to make this contribution fragments the life of the community and jeopardizes its unity. It’s a rebellious act, like the man in the town meeting who holds himself aloof and refuses to come to any agreement with his neighbors. 

XI.4: Have I acted unselfishly? Then I have benefited. Hold fast to this thought, and keep up the good work. 

XI.5: What is your job? To be good. How can you do your job without making a careful study, first of nature, then of the peculiar make-up of mankind. 

XII.6: Practice also the things you don’t expect to master. The left hand, clumsy at most things because of inexperience, grasps the reins more confidently than the right because it’s use to them. 

XII.10: See things for what they are, dividing them into matter, form, and intention.  

XII.20: First, do nothing unintentionally or without some end in mind. Second, make the common good the only end of all your actions.