[benrhughes]

I completely agree. It's not surprising though: Discourses and The Enchiridion were delivered as lectures; Meditations is a personal diary.

Marcus was obviously heavily influenced by Epictetus, and at times manages to state some of his ideas more poetically (esp in the Hays translation). Overall though, The Enchiridion is a much better base for Stoic philosophy. It's short, acerbic and almost every section can send you off into deep thought.

Meditations is mostly interesting as an example of someone trying to life a Stoic life - it shows Marcus' failures, his attempts to conquer his fears. It's well worth reading, but you'll learn more from Epictetus.

Edit: for Epictetus, I prefer the George Long over the Elizabeth Carter: http://www.ptypes.com/enchiridion.html

[rokhayakebe]

Every section can send you off into deep thought

I read Discourses, and frankly I was not aware of Enchiridion until today. I can that every sentence or paragraph of Discourses got me to pause, and think hard.