Meditations (Penguin Classics Hardcover)

Penguin Classics has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world for more than seventy years. With over 1,700 titles, the series offers a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the Penguin Classics to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes from distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as award-winning translations.

One such timeless work is the Meditations of Marcus Aurelius, a leading translation of Stoic philosophy in practical aphorisms. This beautiful hardcover gift edition, with a cover designed by Coralie Bickford-Smith, has inspired luminaries like The Daily Stoic author Ryan Holiday and influenced countless others to use philosophy as a tool for self-improvement and resilience to live a better life.

Written in Greek by the intellectual Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius without any intention of publication, the Meditations offer a wide range of fascinating spiritual reflections and exercises. As the leader struggled to understand himself and make sense of the universe, the text spans from doubt and despair to conviction and exaltation, covering diverse topics such as the question of virtue, human rationality, the nature of the gods, and the values of leadership.

While the Meditations were composed to provide personal consolation, in developing his beliefs, Marcus Aurelius created one of the greatest works of philosophy: a series of wise and practical aphorisms that have been consulted and admired by statesmen, thinkers, and ordinary readers for almost two thousand years.

To provide a full understanding of this seminal work, this edition includes explanatory notes, a general index, an index of quotations, an index of names, and an introduction by Diskin Clay, which puts the work in its biographical, historical, and literary context, along with a chronology of Marcus Aurelius's life and career.

World-changing ideas meet eye-catching design in this Penguin Classics edition. The best titles of the extraordinarily successful Great Ideas series are now packaged in Coralie Bickford-Smith's distinctive, award-winning covers. Whether displayed on a well-curated shelf or carried in your back pocket, these timeless works of philosophical, political, and psychological thought are absolute must-haves for book collectors and design enthusiasts alike.

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