But he who values a rational soul, a soul universal and fitted for political life, regards nothing else except this; and above all things he keeps his soul in a condition and in an activity conformable to reason and social life, and he co-operates to this end with those who are of the same kind as himself.
From his personal reflections, Marcus Aurelius describes the highest human value as a rational soul dedicated to social and civic life.
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And how small a part of the whole substance; and how small a part of the universal soul; and on what a small clod of the whole earth thou creepest!
But everything else, whether it is in the power of thy will or not, is only lifeless ashes and smoke.
The safety of life is this, to examine everything all through, what it is itself, that is its material, what the formal part; with all thy soul to do justice and to say the truth.
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