• "Do every deed, speak every word, think every thought in the knowledge that you may end your days any moment."
• "We have body, soul, and intelligence. To the body belong the senses, to the soul the passions, to the intelligence principles."
• "Think not as your insulter judges or wishes you to judge: but see things as they truly are."
• "To pursue impossibilities is madness; and it is impossible that the wicked should not act in some such way as this."
• "Order not your life as though you had ten thousand years to live. Fate hangs over you. While you live, while yet you may, be good."

He compiled these journals during his time as emperor, and while they were not intended for public consumption, there are valuable lessons to be gleaned from his wisdom. The entries include his views of stoicism--the Hellenistic philosophy devoid of "destructive emotions" that could tamper with logic--and its practical use in ruling and military tactics.