Memento Mori
Remembering death to sharpen life
Remember You Will Die
'Memento mori' means remember that you will die. It sounds grim, but the Stoics used it to sharpen life, not darken it. Marcus Aurelius, an emperor, reminded himself daily that death could come at any hour. Far from morbid, the thought cuts through trivial worries and vanity. If time is finite, it becomes precious, and each ordinary day is worth doing well.
“You could leave life right now. Let that determine what you do and say and think.”
Where this sits in the course
“Memento Mori” is lesson 2 of 5 in The Stoic Toolkit, a course about ancient practice after Socrates: control, death, time, and fate.. The lessons are sequenced rather than a menu, so this one assumes what came before it.
The Stoic Toolkit is itself one of 18 courses in thinkr. The set opens with what philosophy is, moves through the Stoics and the Eastern traditions, then into what can be known, what exists, how to act and how power works — closing on practical reasoning you can use in an argument this week.
More from Marcus Aurelius
“You have power over your mind — not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.”
“The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts.”
“Waste no more time arguing what a good man should be. Be one.”
In the app this lesson is followed by 4 exercises that check whether the idea actually landed — and every answer, right or wrong, is explained rather than scored. That is the part a written page cannot reproduce.