William O. Stephens > Quotes

“He urges himself to strengthen his virtues now, without any further delay. This is what he means when he commands himself to limit himself to the present. Worrying about the future and regretting the past badly interfere with focussing on being virtuous in the present. He writes that if he can cut free of distracting imprassions that cling to his mind and can free his mind from the future and the past, then he can make himself, as Empedocles says, "a sphere rejoicing in its perfect stillness.”
― William O. Stephens, Marcus Aurelius: A Guide for the Perplexed