SPACEDK · DAILY CLASSICS · 07:00 CST
The Daily Classics Library
At 7:00 every morning in Beijing, 500 complete sayings, verses, reflections, or stories are selected from edition- and rights-verified books, then read again in historical and contemporary context.
Verification rule: Unsourced internet quotations are excluded. Every item records its work, authorship or traditional attribution, translator, locator, source revision, and rights status. “Complete” means a self-contained saying, verse, reflection, or story—not copying an entire protected modern book.
Meditations
Meditations · Book 4, passage 29
Simple guide for children under seven
What it means: Today’s item 1, “Meditations · Meditations · …… 4, passage 29 · book-4-p-29,” can mean this: People, animals, plants, and the environment affect one another.
Try this: Give gentle care to a person, animal, or plant today.
Important reminder: Do not judge a person from one sentence. Check what happened and think with a trusted adult.
For adults: historical and edition context
Marcus Aurelius governed in the second century CE amid frontier wars, imperial administration, and the Antonine plague. The Meditations are private Greek exercises; the exact date and place of individual notes are often uncertain. This edition uses George Long’s 1862 translation.
- Period
- Roman Empire, 2nd century CE; 1862 English translation
- Region
- Roman Empire / United Kingdom edition
- Work date
- Original notes c. 170s CE; translation first published 1862
- Edition
- Standard Ebooks edition of George Long’s translation
Check the complete text with an adult
Open the edition-verified text
Either it is a well-arranged universe or a chaos huddled together, but still a universe. But can a certain order subsist in thee, and disorder in the All? And this too when all things are so separated and diffused and sympathetic.
Epistulae morales ad Lucilium
Seneca · VIII. SENECA LUCILIO SUO SALUTEM §4
Simple guide for children under seven
What it means: Today’s item 2, “Epistulae morales ad Luciliu……ENECA LUCILIO SUO SALUTEM §4,” can mean this: Life and time are precious. Care for yourself and the people around you.
Try this: Before choosing, count to three and ask, “Is there another way?”
Important reminder: Do not judge a person from one sentence. Check what happened and think with a trusted adult.
For adults: historical and edition context
Seneca’s letters to Lucilius are usually dated to about 62–65 CE, late in Nero’s reign. They combine counsel with deliberate literary composition. Claims about freedom, wealth, and death must be read alongside Roman political danger, hierarchy, and slavery. This item preserves the original Latin at a fixed Wikisource revision.
- Period
- Roman Empire, 1st century CE
- Region
- Roman Empire
- Work date
- Commonly dated to Seneca’s final years, c. 62–65 CE
- Edition
- Latin Wikisource, Liber I
Check the complete text with an adult
Open the edition-verified text
[4] In praecipitia cursus iste deducit; huius eminentis vitae exitus cadere est. Deinde ne resistere quidem licet, cum coepit transversos agere felicitas, aut saltim rectis aut semel ruere: non vertit fortuna sed cernulat et allidit.
Pensées
Pensées · Section VII · 458
Simple guide for children under seven
What it means: Today’s item 3, “Pensées · Pensées · Section ……· Section VII · fragment 458,” can mean this: The first thought in your mind may be wrong. Look for clues and think again.
Try this: If you disagree, use calm words to explain why.
Important reminder: Old books can reflect old limits. A child does not need to follow every old rule; ask a trusted adult.
For adults: historical and edition context
Pascal left these unfinished fragments amid seventeenth-century French scientific development, religious controversy, and illness, probably for a projected Christian apology. Modern grouping and numbering reflect Brunschvicg’s editorial decisions rather than a finished authorial order. Analysis distinguishes religious argument, mathematics, historical evidence, and personal experience.
- Period
- 17th-century France; early modern science and religious controversy
- Region
- France
- Work date
- Fragments written mainly c. 1657–1662; Brunschvicg edition published 1897–1925
- Edition
- Léon Brunschvicg edition, Section VII
Check the complete text with an adult
Open the edition-verified text
« Tout ce qui est au monde est concupiscence de la chair, ou concupiscence des yeux, ou orgueil de la vie : libido sentiendi, libido sciendi, libido dominandi. » Malheureuse la terre de malédiction que ces trois fleuves de feu embrasent plutôt qu’ils n’arrosent ! Heureux ceux qui, étant sur ces fleuves, non pas plongés, non pas entraînés, mais immobiles, mais affermis ; non pas debout, mais assis dans une assiette basse et sûre, d’où ils ne se relèvent pas avant la lumière, mais, après s’y être reposés en paix, tendent la main à celui qui les doit élever, pour les faire tenir debout et fermes dans les porches de la sainte Hiérusalem, où l’orgueil ne pourra plus les combattre et les abattre ; et qui cependant pleurent, non pas de voir écouler toutes les choses périssables que les torrents entraînent, mais dans le souvenir de leur chère patrie, de la Hiérusalem céleste, dont ils se souviennent sans cesse dans la longueur de leur exil !
Meditations
Meditations · Book 11, passage 2
Simple guide for children under seven
What it means: Today’s item 4, “Meditations · Meditations · …… 11, passage 2 · book-11-p-2,” can mean this: Life and time are precious. Care for yourself and the people around you.
Try this: Before choosing, count to three and ask, “Is there another way?”
Important reminder: Old books can reflect old limits. A child does not need to follow every old rule; ask a trusted adult.
For adults: historical and edition context
Marcus Aurelius governed in the second century CE amid frontier wars, imperial administration, and the Antonine plague. The Meditations are private Greek exercises; the exact date and place of individual notes are often uncertain. This edition uses George Long’s 1862 translation.
- Period
- Roman Empire, 2nd century CE; 1862 English translation
- Region
- Roman Empire / United Kingdom edition
- Work date
- Original notes c. 170s CE; translation first published 1862
- Edition
- Standard Ebooks edition of George Long’s translation
Check the complete text with an adult
Open the edition-verified text
Thou wilt set little value on pleasing song and dancing and the pancratium, if thou wilt distribute the melody of the voice into its several sounds, and ask thyself as to each, if thou art mastered by this; for thou wilt be prevented by shame from confessing it: and in the matter of dancing, if at each movement and attitude thou wilt do the same; and the like also in the matter of the pancratium. In all things, then, except virtue and the acts of virtue, remember to apply thyself to their several parts, and by this division to come to value them little: and apply this rule also to thy whole life.
Meditations
Meditations · Book 12, passage 7
Simple guide for children under seven
What it means: Today’s item 5, “Meditations · Meditations · …… 12, passage 7 · book-12-p-7,” can mean this: Nature is not a toy. Observe it, care for it, and do not harm living things.
Try this: Before choosing, count to three and ask, “Is there another way?”
Important reminder: Do not judge a person from one sentence. Check what happened and think with a trusted adult.
For adults: historical and edition context
Marcus Aurelius governed in the second century CE amid frontier wars, imperial administration, and the Antonine plague. The Meditations are private Greek exercises; the exact date and place of individual notes are often uncertain. This edition uses George Long’s 1862 translation.
- Period
- Roman Empire, 2nd century CE; 1862 English translation
- Region
- Roman Empire / United Kingdom edition
- Work date
- Original notes c. 170s CE; translation first published 1862
- Edition
- Standard Ebooks edition of George Long’s translation
Check the complete text with an adult
Open the edition-verified text
But if this is so, be assured that if it ought to have been otherwise, the gods would have done it. For if it were just, it would also be possible; and if it were according to nature, nature would have had it so. But because it is not so, if in fact it is not so, be thou convinced that it ought not to have been so:—for thou seest even of thyself that in this inquiry thou art disputing with the diety; and we should not thus dispute with the gods, unless they were most excellent and most just;—but if this is so, they would not have allowed anything in the ordering of the universe to be neglected unjustly and irrationally.
Epistulae morales ad Lucilium
Seneca · LXXXIX. SENECA LUCILIO SUO SALUTEM §8
Simple guide for children under seven
What it means: Today’s item 6, “Epistulae morales ad Luciliu……ENECA LUCILIO SUO SALUTEM §8,” can mean this: When someone is hurt, listen and help repair the harm.
Try this: Observe first and guess second. Change your mind when clues change.
Important reminder: Do not judge a person from one sentence. Check what happened and think with a trusted adult.
For adults: historical and edition context
Seneca’s letters to Lucilius are usually dated to about 62–65 CE, late in Nero’s reign. They combine counsel with deliberate literary composition. Claims about freedom, wealth, and death must be read alongside Roman political danger, hierarchy, and slavery. This item preserves the original Latin at a fixed Wikisource revision.
- Period
- Roman Empire, 1st century CE
- Region
- Roman Empire
- Work date
- Commonly dated to Seneca’s final years, c. 62–65 CE
- Edition
- Latin Wikisource, Liber XIV – XV
Check the complete text with an adult
Open the edition-verified text
[8] Quidam ex nostris, quamvis philosophia studium virtutis esset et haec peteretur, illa peteret, tamen non putaverunt illas distrahi posse; nam nec philosophia sine virtute est nec sine philosophia virtus. Philosophia studium virtutis est, sed per ipsam virtutem; nec virtus autem esse sine studio sui potest nec virtutis studium sine ipsa. Non enim quemadmodum in iis qui aliquid ex distanti loco ferire conantur alibi est qui petit, alibi quod petitur; nec quemadmodum itinera quae ad urbes perducunt <extra urbes sunt, sic viae ad virtutem> extra ipsam: ad virtutem venitur per ipsam, cohaerent inter se philosophia virtusque.
Epistulae morales ad Lucilium
Seneca · LXXXIV. SENECA LUCILIO SUO SALUTEM §12
Simple guide for children under seven
What it means: Today’s item 7, “Epistulae morales ad Luciliu……NECA LUCILIO SUO SALUTEM §12,” can mean this: New learning becomes stronger when we practise it again.
Try this: Before choosing, count to three and ask, “Is there another way?”
Important reminder: Do not judge a person from one sentence. Check what happened and think with a trusted adult.
For adults: historical and edition context
Seneca’s letters to Lucilius are usually dated to about 62–65 CE, late in Nero’s reign. They combine counsel with deliberate literary composition. Claims about freedom, wealth, and death must be read alongside Roman political danger, hierarchy, and slavery. This item preserves the original Latin at a fixed Wikisource revision.
- Period
- Roman Empire, 1st century CE
- Region
- Roman Empire
- Work date
- Commonly dated to Seneca’s final years, c. 62–65 CE
- Edition
- Latin Wikisource, Liber XI – XIII
Check the complete text with an adult
Open the edition-verified text
[12] Intueris illas potentium domos, illa tumultuosa rixa salutantium limina? multum habent contumeliarum ut intres, plus cum intraveris. Praeteri istos gradus divitum et magno adgestu suspensa vestibula: non in praerupto tantum istic stabis sed in lubrico. Huc potius te ad sapientiam derige, tranquillissimasque res eius et simul amplissimas pete.
Epistulae morales ad Lucilium
Seneca · CVI. SENECA LUCILIO SUO SALUTEM §11
Simple guide for children under seven
What it means: Today’s item 8, “Epistulae morales ad Luciliu……NECA LUCILIO SUO SALUTEM §11,” can mean this: Everyone meets hard choices. We can pause before acting.
Try this: Before choosing, count to three and ask, “Is there another way?”
Important reminder: This is one reading, not a rule that is always right. Tell a trusted adult about danger, bullying, or pain.
For adults: historical and edition context
Seneca’s letters to Lucilius are usually dated to about 62–65 CE, late in Nero’s reign. They combine counsel with deliberate literary composition. Claims about freedom, wealth, and death must be read alongside Roman political danger, hierarchy, and slavery. This item preserves the original Latin at a fixed Wikisource revision.
- Period
- Roman Empire, 1st century CE
- Region
- Roman Empire
- Work date
- Commonly dated to Seneca’s final years, c. 62–65 CE
- Edition
- Latin Wikisource, Liber XVII – XVIII
Check the complete text with an adult
Open the edition-verified text
[11] Quoniam, ut voluisti, morem gessi tibi, nunc ipse dicam mihi quoddicturum esse te video: latrunculis ludimus. In supervacuis subtilitasteritur: non faciunt bonos ista sed doctos.
Pensées
Pensées · Section II-2 · 106
Simple guide for children under seven
What it means: Today’s item 9, “Pensées · Pensées · Section …… Section II-2 · fragment 106,” can mean this: The first thought in your mind may be wrong. Look for clues and think again.
Try this: If you disagree, use calm words to explain why.
Important reminder: Old books can reflect old limits. A child does not need to follow every old rule; ask a trusted adult.
For adults: historical and edition context
Pascal left these unfinished fragments amid seventeenth-century French scientific development, religious controversy, and illness, probably for a projected Christian apology. Modern grouping and numbering reflect Brunschvicg’s editorial decisions rather than a finished authorial order. Analysis distinguishes religious argument, mathematics, historical evidence, and personal experience.
- Period
- 17th-century France; early modern science and religious controversy
- Region
- France
- Work date
- Fragments written mainly c. 1657–1662; Brunschvicg edition published 1897–1925
- Edition
- Léon Brunschvicg edition, Section II-2
Check the complete text with an adult
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En sachant la passion dominante de chacun, on est sûr de lui plaire ; et néanmoins chacun a ses fantaisies, contraires à son propre bien, dans l’idée même qu’il a du bien ; et c’est une bizarrerie qui met hors de gamme.
Epistulae morales ad Lucilium
Seneca · LII. SENECA LUCILIO SUO SALUTEM §13
Simple guide for children under seven
What it means: Today’s item 10, “Epistulae morales ad Luciliu……NECA LUCILIO SUO SALUTEM §13,” can mean this: Everyone meets hard choices. We can pause before acting.
Try this: Today, listen until another person finishes, then answer.
Important reminder: Do not judge a person from one sentence. Check what happened and think with a trusted adult.
For adults: historical and edition context
Seneca’s letters to Lucilius are usually dated to about 62–65 CE, late in Nero’s reign. They combine counsel with deliberate literary composition. Claims about freedom, wealth, and death must be read alongside Roman political danger, hierarchy, and slavery. This item preserves the original Latin at a fixed Wikisource revision.
- Period
- Roman Empire, 1st century CE
- Region
- Roman Empire
- Work date
- Commonly dated to Seneca’s final years, c. 62–65 CE
- Edition
- Latin Wikisource, Liber V
Check the complete text with an adult
Open the edition-verified text
[13] Hinc atque illinc philosopho manus auditor intentat et super ipsum caput mirantium turba consistit: non laudatur ille nunc, si intellegis, sed conclamatur. Relinquantur istae voces illis artibus quae propositum habent populo placere: philosophia adoretur.
Pensées
Pensées · Section VI · 356
Simple guide for children under seven
What it means: Today’s item 11, “Pensées · Pensées · Section …… · Section VI · fragment 356,” can mean this: The first thought in your mind may be wrong. Look for clues and think again.
Try this: Give gentle care to a person, animal, or plant today.
Important reminder: Old books can reflect old limits. A child does not need to follow every old rule; ask a trusted adult.
For adults: historical and edition context
Pascal left these unfinished fragments amid seventeenth-century French scientific development, religious controversy, and illness, probably for a projected Christian apology. Modern grouping and numbering reflect Brunschvicg’s editorial decisions rather than a finished authorial order. Analysis distinguishes religious argument, mathematics, historical evidence, and personal experience.
- Period
- 17th-century France; early modern science and religious controversy
- Region
- France
- Work date
- Fragments written mainly c. 1657–1662; Brunschvicg edition published 1897–1925
- Edition
- Léon Brunschvicg edition, Section VI
Check the complete text with an adult
Open the edition-verified text
La nourriture du corps est peu à peu. Plénitude de nourriture et peu de substance.
Pensées
Pensées · Section X · 691
Simple guide for children under seven
What it means: Today’s item 12, “Pensées · Pensées · Section ……1 · Section X · fragment 691,” can mean this: After learning something, practise it and ask for help when needed.
Try this: Give gentle care to a person, animal, or plant today.
Important reminder: This is one reading, not a rule that is always right. Tell a trusted adult about danger, bullying, or pain.
For adults: historical and edition context
Pascal left these unfinished fragments amid seventeenth-century French scientific development, religious controversy, and illness, probably for a projected Christian apology. Modern grouping and numbering reflect Brunschvicg’s editorial decisions rather than a finished authorial order. Analysis distinguishes religious argument, mathematics, historical evidence, and personal experience.
- Period
- 17th-century France; early modern science and religious controversy
- Region
- France
- Work date
- Fragments written mainly c. 1657–1662; Brunschvicg edition published 1897–1925
- Edition
- Léon Brunschvicg edition, Section X
Check the complete text with an adult
Open the edition-verified text
De deux personnes qui disent de sots contes, l’un qui a double sens entendu dans la cabale, l’autre qui n’a qu’un sens, si quelqu’un, n’étant pas du secret, entend discourir les deux en cette sorte, il en fera même jugement. Mais si ensuite, dans le reste du discours, l’un dit des choses angéliques, et l’autre toujours des choses plates et communes, il jugera que l’un parlait avec mystère, et non pas l’autre : l’un ayant assez montré qu’il est incapable de telle sottise, et capable d’être mystérieux ; l’autre, qu’il est incapable de mystère, et capable de sottise. Le Vieux Testament est un chiffre.
論語
雍也第六 · 六之十一
Simple guide for children under seven
What it means: Today’s item 13, “論語 · 雍也第六 · 六之十一 · 六之十一,” can mean this: After learning something, practise it and ask for help when needed.
Try this: Tell a trusted adult one thing you learned today.
Important reminder: Old books can reflect old limits. A child does not need to follow every old rule; ask a trusted adult.
For adults: historical and edition context
Confucius lived amid political fragmentation and changing ritual order in the late Spring and Autumn period. The Analects was compiled over time by disciples and later circles, not recorded as a verbatim transcript. This item is fixed to a specific Wikisource revision.
- Period
- 春秋末至战国编集 / late Spring and Autumn to Warring States compilation
- Region
- 中国 / China
- Work date
- 约公元前5—3世纪逐步编集
- Edition
- 中文维基文库《論語》雍也第六
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子謂子夏曰：「女爲君子儒，無爲小人儒。」 註解：「女」有「汝、你」的意思。本句文意是「孔子給學生子夏的期許，希望子夏能做大事，不做計算小事的儒者。」
Pensées
Pensées · Section I · 31
Simple guide for children under seven
What it means: Today’s item 14, “Pensées · Pensées · Section ……31 · Section I · fragment 31,” can mean this: The first thought in your mind may be wrong. Look for clues and think again.
Try this: Tell a trusted adult one thing you learned today.
Important reminder: Do not judge a person from one sentence. Check what happened and think with a trusted adult.
For adults: historical and edition context
Pascal left these unfinished fragments amid seventeenth-century French scientific development, religious controversy, and illness, probably for a projected Christian apology. Modern grouping and numbering reflect Brunschvicg’s editorial decisions rather than a finished authorial order. Analysis distinguishes religious argument, mathematics, historical evidence, and personal experience.
- Period
- 17th-century France; early modern science and religious controversy
- Region
- France
- Work date
- Fragments written mainly c. 1657–1662; Brunschvicg edition published 1897–1925
- Edition
- Léon Brunschvicg edition, Section I
Check the complete text with an adult
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Toutes les fausses beautés que nous blâmons en Cicéron ont des admirateurs, et en grand nombre.
Epistulae morales ad Lucilium
Seneca · XII. SENECA LUCILIO SUO SALUTEM §7
Simple guide for children under seven
What it means: Today’s item 15, “Epistulae morales ad Luciliu……ENECA LUCILIO SUO SALUTEM §7,” can mean this: Time matters, and small things today deserve care.
Try this: Observe first and guess second. Change your mind when clues change.
Important reminder: Do not judge a person from one sentence. Check what happened and think with a trusted adult.
For adults: historical and edition context
Seneca’s letters to Lucilius are usually dated to about 62–65 CE, late in Nero’s reign. They combine counsel with deliberate literary composition. Claims about freedom, wealth, and death must be read alongside Roman political danger, hierarchy, and slavery. This item preserves the original Latin at a fixed Wikisource revision.
- Period
- Roman Empire, 1st century CE
- Region
- Roman Empire
- Work date
- Commonly dated to Seneca’s final years, c. 62–65 CE
- Edition
- Latin Wikisource, Liber I
Check the complete text with an adult
Open the edition-verified text
[7] Ideo Heraclitus, cui cognomen fecit orationis obscuritas, 'unus' inquit 'dies par omni est'. Hoc alius aliter excepit. Dixit enim *** parem esse horis, nec mentitur; nam si dies est tempus viginti et quattuor horarum, necesse est omnes inter se dies pares esse, quia nox habet quod dies perdidit. Alius ait parem esse unum diem omnibus similitudine; nihil enim habet longissimi temporis spatium quod non ct in uno die invenias, lucem et noctem, et in alternas mundi vices plura facit ista, non <alia>: *** alias contractior, alias productior.
Aesop’s Fables
The Lion and the Bull
Simple guide for children under seven
What it means: Today’s item 16, “Aesop’s Fables · The Lion an……Bull · the-lion-and-the-bull,” can mean this: Words can help or hurt. Think before you speak.
Try this: Before choosing, count to three and ask, “Is there another way?”
Important reminder: Do not judge a person from one sentence. Check what happened and think with a trusted adult.
For adults: historical and edition context
The Aesopic corpus is a long, changing fable tradition, not a set of individually verifiable utterances by one sixth-century BCE author. Each complete item here is fixed to V. S. Vernon Jones’s 1912 English edition.
- Period
- Ancient Greek tradition; 1912 English edition
- Region
- Ancient Mediterranean / United Kingdom edition
- Work date
- Traditional material associated with the 6th century BCE; translation published 1912
- Edition
- Standard Ebooks edition of the 1912 V. S. Vernon Jones translation
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A Lion saw a fine fat Bull pasturing among a herd of cattle and cast about for some means of getting him into his clutches; so he sent him word that he was sacrificing a sheep, and asked if he would do him the honour of dining with him. The Bull accepted the invitation, but, on arriving at the Lion’s den, he saw a great array of saucepans and spits, but no sign of a sheep; so he turned on his heel and walked quietly away. The Lion called after him in an injured tone to ask the reason, and the Bull turned round and said, “I have reason enough. When I saw all your preparations it struck me at once that the victim was to be a Bull and not a sheep.” The net is spread in vain in sight of the bird.
Epistulae morales ad Lucilium
Seneca · CIV. SENECA LUCILIO SUO SALUTEM §15
Simple guide for children under seven
What it means: Today’s item 17, “Epistulae morales ad Luciliu……NECA LUCILIO SUO SALUTEM §15,” can mean this: Nature is not a toy. Observe it, care for it, and do not harm living things.
Try this: Before choosing, count to three and ask, “Is there another way?”
Important reminder: Do not judge a person from one sentence. Check what happened and think with a trusted adult.
For adults: historical and edition context
Seneca’s letters to Lucilius are usually dated to about 62–65 CE, late in Nero’s reign. They combine counsel with deliberate literary composition. Claims about freedom, wealth, and death must be read alongside Roman political danger, hierarchy, and slavery. This item preserves the original Latin at a fixed Wikisource revision.
- Period
- Roman Empire, 1st century CE
- Region
- Roman Empire
- Work date
- Commonly dated to Seneca’s final years, c. 62–65 CE
- Edition
- Latin Wikisource, Liber XVII – XVIII
Check the complete text with an adult
Open the edition-verified text
[15] Peregrinatio notitiam dabit gentium,novas tibi montium formas ostendet, invisitata spatia camporum et inriguasperennibus aquis valles; alicuius fluminis <singularem ponet> sub observationenaturam, sive ut Nilus aestivo incremento tumet, sive ut Tigris eripiturex oculis et acto per occulta cursu integrae magnitudinis redditur, siveut Maeander, poetarum omnium exercitatio et ludus, implicatur crebris anfractibuset saepe in vicinum alveo suo admotus, antequam sibi influat, flectitur:ceterum neque meliorem faciet neque saniorem.
Meditations
Meditations · Book 6, passage 44
Simple guide for children under seven
What it means: Today’s item 18, “Meditations · Meditations · …… 6, passage 44 · book-6-p-44,” can mean this: Life and time are precious. Care for yourself and the people around you.
Try this: If you disagree, use calm words to explain why.
Important reminder: Being brave does not mean taking unsafe risks. Leave danger and find a trusted adult.
For adults: historical and edition context
Marcus Aurelius governed in the second century CE amid frontier wars, imperial administration, and the Antonine plague. The Meditations are private Greek exercises; the exact date and place of individual notes are often uncertain. This edition uses George Long’s 1862 translation.
- Period
- Roman Empire, 2nd century CE; 1862 English translation
- Region
- Roman Empire / United Kingdom edition
- Work date
- Original notes c. 170s CE; translation first published 1862
- Edition
- Standard Ebooks edition of George Long’s translation
Check the complete text with an adult
Open the edition-verified text
As it happens to thee in the amphitheatre and such places, that the continual sight of the same things and the uniformity make the spectacle wearisome, so it is in the whole of life; for all things above, below, are the same and from the same. How long then?
Pensées
Pensées · Section IX · 633
Simple guide for children under seven
What it means: Today’s item 19, “Pensées · Pensées · Section …… · Section IX · fragment 633,” can mean this: The first thought in your mind may be wrong. Look for clues and think again.
Try this: Observe first and guess second. Change your mind when clues change.
Important reminder: Do not judge a person from one sentence. Check what happened and think with a trusted adult.
For adults: historical and edition context
Pascal left these unfinished fragments amid seventeenth-century French scientific development, religious controversy, and illness, probably for a projected Christian apology. Modern grouping and numbering reflect Brunschvicg’s editorial decisions rather than a finished authorial order. Analysis distinguishes religious argument, mathematics, historical evidence, and personal experience.
- Period
- 17th-century France; early modern science and religious controversy
- Region
- France
- Work date
- Fragments written mainly c. 1657–1662; Brunschvicg edition published 1897–1925
- Edition
- Léon Brunschvicg edition, Section IX
Check the complete text with an adult
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Contre la fable d’Esdras, II Mach., ii. — Josèphe, Ant., ii, 1 : Cyrus prit sujet de la prophétie d’Isaïe de relâcher le peuple, les Juifs avaient des possessions paisibles sous Cyrus en Babylone, donc ils pouvaient bien avoir la loi, IV Rois, xvii, 27. Josèphe, en toute l’histoire d’Esdras, ne dit pas un mot de ce rétablissement.
Meditations
Meditations · Book 6, passage 53
Simple guide for children under seven
What it means: Today’s item 20, “Meditations · Meditations · …… 6, passage 53 · book-6-p-53,” can mean this: Working together means sharing help and responsibility.
Try this: After a task, check whether it truly helped someone.
Important reminder: This is one reading, not a rule that is always right. Tell a trusted adult about danger, bullying, or pain.
For adults: historical and edition context
Marcus Aurelius governed in the second century CE amid frontier wars, imperial administration, and the Antonine plague. The Meditations are private Greek exercises; the exact date and place of individual notes are often uncertain. This edition uses George Long’s 1862 translation.
- Period
- Roman Empire, 2nd century CE; 1862 English translation
- Region
- Roman Empire / United Kingdom edition
- Work date
- Original notes c. 170s CE; translation first published 1862
- Edition
- Standard Ebooks edition of George Long’s translation
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How many together with whom I came into the world are already gone out of it.