Nothing happens to any man which he is not formed by nature to bear.

Throughout his life, the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius kept notes for self improvement, and Meditations is a collaboration of these notes ranging from a single sentence to long paragraphs. Segmented into twelve chapters, or "meditations," Marcus Aurelius' famous philosophical work chronicles 12 important times in his life and provides a modern understanding of stoic philosophy that was prevalent during the Roman Empire.