Be like the promontory against which the waves continually break, but it stands firm and tames the fury of the water around it.

Marcus Aurelius (121–180 CE), Roman emperor and Stoic philosopher, wrote his private notes in Greek during military campaigns on the empire’s frontiers. These reflections—later titled *Meditations*—were not composed for publication but as exercises in self-discipline: reminders to meet pain, insult, loss, and political strain with steadiness and moral purpose. The image of a rocky headland enduring repeated waves fits the Stoic program of training the ruling mind to remain stable amid external shocks. The line belongs to a cluster of passages urging resilience, emotional self-command, and the refusal to be “swept away” by events beyond one’s control.

The promontory is a figure for the Stoic ideal of inner firmness. Waves represent recurring external pressures—misfortune, provocation, public turmoil, bodily pain—that strike again and again. The point is not that hardship stops, but that a well-governed mind can remain grounded, absorbing impact without surrendering its integrity. “Tames the fury” suggests that calm is not merely passive endurance: steadfastness changes the situation’s moral meaning by preventing anger, fear, or despair from taking command. The quote encapsulates the Stoic distinction between what happens to us and how we choose to respond, urging character to be the stable “rock” amid change.

1) “Be like the cliff against which the waves continually break; but it stands firm and tames the fury of the water around it.”
2) “Be like the rock that the waves keep crashing over. It stands unmoved and the raging of the sea falls still around it.”
3) “Be like the headland: the waves break, yet it stands fast, and around it the waters are calmed.”