Pannoniana: Journal of Humanities, vol. III, no. I-II (2019) Faculty of Education, J.J. Strossmayer University of Osijek 101 Preliminary communication UDK: 171 DOI: 10.2478/pannonia-2019-0007 Ivana Ivančić Medved (Croatia) High School Dormitory Osijek, Osijek anavicicnavi@yahoo.com VIRTUES – MORAL MIRRORS OF CONTEMPORARY SOCIETY Abstract The aspiration for the ideal of a harmonious life assumes the systematic work on one’s own education of the soul and authenticity. Contemporary thoughts face us with a crisis of moral values. We ask the question if that crisis is reflected only on a social level, or must we observe and investigate the problem in the personal influence and responsibility towards society. This train of thought also forces the famous expression – quality of life – on us, which is considered a subjective indicator of satisfaction, i.e. dissatisfaction with the life of an individual in the evaluation of success when achieving personal needs and desires. Therefore, we will attempt to show what makes the ideal of a good life in this paper through the interpretation of the values in the work of Marcus Aurelius or, as the Stoics called it – the science of a virtuous life, and also the achievement of a positive subjective evaluation of the quality of life and satisfaction. Keywords: virtues, authenticity, quality of life, Marcus Aurelius