Marcus Aurelis' Quote

"Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not a truth."

The quote above was said, to be said, by Marcus Aurelius. Why I say it that way is because, how could we be one hundred percent sure he said it? What proof is there? How can we not say this could be a misattributed quote with all the years that have passed? There has been a lot of historical inaccuracies, and with quotes, it happens all the time. Wrong people were said to have said some things.

Just like what the quote states, everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact.

Everyone is different, which makes the way they speak different. I remember I used to play this game, called Chinese Whispers(also known as Telephone), where we would be in a line and a sentence would be passed down from one person to the next. But when that sentence reaches the last person, it wasn't the original sentence passed down. This links back to the part of the quote that practically states we should not believe everything we hear. Because along the way, words might have been mixed up. And not to mention that everyone have their own bias. Which makes anything they say, how they want others to hear. And that doesn't make it a fact.

Then the other part of the quote was, everything we see is a perspective, not a truth.

That part of the quote reminded me of the saying, of whether the glass is half full or half empty. Depending on the person, the cup could be either. Which is why, depending on the person, their perspective is also different from others. Which is why how we see things can't be the truth, but it's an interpretation from our perspective. We could see it as a lie, while another person sees it as the truth. It all depends on the person, and his or her perspective.

Hence, I really like the quote said (to have been said) by Marcus Aurelius. It made me think, and it made me agree with what he said.

Which is why I added the picture above from one of my travels, it's just the Arch of Constantine, and it's in Rome. Which is the birth place of Marcus Aurelius, so I thought I'd add it in this blog post.

by Beverly K.C. 8:00 PM 0 comments