How we cite our quotes: (Book.Chapter)
Quote #7
Reflect on how many separate events, both bodily and mental, are taking place in each one of us in the same tiny fragment of time: and then you will not be surprised if many more events, indeed all that comes to pass, subsist together in the one and the whole, which we call the Universe. (6.25)
This is quite a different and interesting take on time (here, it's not about transience or death). Marcus reflects on the vast array of things happening in human time at any given moment and uses this to extrapolate out to the universe. In this way, he imagines how the Whole encompasses all things and all times at once, ready to parcel it out as it deems wise.
Quote #8
Look back over the past—all those many changes of dynasties. And you can foresee the future too: it will be completely alike, incapable of deviating from the rhythm of the present. So for the study of human life forty years are as good as ten thousand: what more will you see? (7.49)
Here's some more wisdom on the cyclical nature of human experience. All things change; all things stay the same. This is the paradox of time. Marcus repeats this idea frequently, with a kind of weariness that seems proper to an emperor looking back on the fates and behaviors of former imperial dynasties. Marcus's conclusion is the same every time: you don't have to live very long to see every combination of what can possibly happen.
Quote #9
Look, make yourself a gift of this present time. Those who are more incline to pursue fame hereafter fail to reckon that the next generation will have people just like those they dislike now: and they too will die. (8.44)
Marcus's dry humor surfaces here. Along with his usual observations about present time (it's the only thing we own, so live it), he tells us that investing in future fame is futile, since life is cyclical. In this case, all those horrible people that you hate now (and who hate you) have doppelgängers in the future. There's no hope for positive posterity.