People search: marcus aurelius meditations which translation is best, marcus aurelius meditations translation by gregory hays, marcus aurelius meditations modern translation, is meditations hard to read, stoicism where to start
Our pick: Hays for a first read, then Hammond (or Waterfield's annotated edition) for closer reading. r/Stoicism regulars like Hays's English but warn it sometimes shifts the meaning; Hammond and Hard are praised for accuracy, and Long is called archaic.
Same passage, two public-domain translations (Book 2.1):
George Long (1862): Begin the morning by saying to thyself, I shall meet with the busybody, the ungrateful, arrogant, deceitful, envious, unsocial. All these things happen to them by reason of their ignorance of what is good and evil.
Meric Casaubon (1634, revised): Betimes in the morning say to thyself, This day I shalt have to do with an idle curious man, with an unthankful man, a railer, a crafty, false, or an envious man; an unsociable uncharitable man. All these ill qualities have happened unto them, through ignorance of that which is truly good and truly bad.
Sources: Project Gutenberg #15877 (Long) and #2680 (Casaubon). Hays and Hammond are in copyright, so we don't quote them; compare previews.
Accurate but Victorian. Fine if you like 'thee/thou'; otherwise pay for a modern one.
For many it's the entry point, but r/Stoicism and others often suggest Epictetus or Seneca for the actual system. Either works.