It was last night 1,862 years ago that Marcus Aurelius had a dream.

A few years earlier, when Marcus received the news of Hadrian’s plans to have Antoninus Pius adopt him and place him next in line for the throne, he broke down in tears. There was no one he revered more than Antoninus. How could he possibly live up to the task of following in his footsteps?

Today, you would say that Marcus was struggling with what we call “imposter syndrome.” As the story goes, the night before he was to become emperor on March 7, 161 AD — Marcus had a dream.

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To commemorate this dream and the man himself, Ryan presents 45 of his favorite life-changing quotes from Marcus Aurelius.

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