Marcus Aurelius Quotes

In an expression of true gratitude, sadness is conspicuous only by its absence

If it is not right do not do it; if it is not true do not say it.

Accept the things to which fate binds you, and love the people with whom fate brings you together, but do so with all your heart.

The universal nature out of the universal substance, as if it were wax, now molds a horse, and when it has broken this up, it uses the material for a tree, then for a man, then for something else.

Dig inside. Inside is the fountain of good, and it will forever flow, if you will forever dig.

Look within, for within is the wellspring of virtue, which will not cease flowing, if you cease not from digging.

Be not careless in deeds, nor confused in words, nor rambling in thought.

The art of living is more like wrestling than dancing.

Thou sufferest justly: for thou choosest rather to become good to-morrow than to be good to-day.

Be content with what you are, and wish not change; nor dread your last day, nor long for it.

In reading and writing, you cannot lay down rules until you have learnt to obey them. Much more so in life.

A man's happiness,-to do the things proper to man.

Observe and contemplate on the hidden things of life: how a man's seed is but the beginning, it takes others to bring it to fruition. Think how food undergoes such changes to produce health and strength. See the power of these hidden things which, like the wind cannot been seen, but its effects can be.

Take full account of what Excellencies you possess, and in gratitude remember how you would hanker after them, if you had them not.

Submit to the fate of your own free will.

Tomorrow is nothing, today is too late; the good lived yesterday.

A person's life is what their thoughts make it.

Be not disgusted, nor discouraged, nor dissatisfied, if thou dost not succeed in doing everything according to right principles; but when thou bast failed, return back again, and be content if the greater part of what thou doest is consistent with man's nature, and love this to which thou returnest

Take away your opinion, and then there is taken away the complaint, 'I have been harmed.' Take away the complaint, 'I have been harmed,' and the harm is taken away.

Be tolerant with others and strict with yourself.

We are born for synergy, just like the feet, just like the hands, just like the eyes, just like the rows of upper and lower teeth. Working against each other is unnatural, and being annoyed and turning one's back is counterproductive.

The impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way.

The most complete revenge is not to imitate the aggressor.

The things you think about determine the quality of your mind. Your soul takes on the color of your thoughts.

Choose not to be harmed and you won't feel harmed. Don't feel harmed and you haven't been.

Hast thou reason? I have. Why then dost not thou use it? For if this does its own work, what else dost thou wish?

Am I doing anything? I do it with reference to the good of mankind. Does anything happen to me? I receive it and refer it to the gods, and the source of all things, from which all that happens is derived.

... Allow yourself a space of quiet, wherein you can add to your knowledge of the Good and learn to curb your restlessness. Guard also against another kind of error: the folly of those who weary their days in much business, but lack any aim on which their whole effort, nay, their whole thought, is focused.

Both happiness and unhappiness depend on perception

If you are pained by any external thing, it is not this that disturbs you, but your own judgment about it.

Embellish the soul with simplicity, with prudence, and everything which is neither virtuous nor vicious. Love all men. Walk according to God; for, as a poet hath said, his laws govern all.

Why should anyone be afraid of change? What can take place without it? What can be more pleasing or more suitable to universal nature? Can you take your bath without the firewood undergoing a change? Can you eat without the food undergoing a change? And can anything useful be done without change? Don't you see that for you to change is just the same, and is equally necessary for universal nature?

That which is not good for the bee-hive cannot be good for the bees.

Because your own strength is unequal to a task, do not assume it is beyond the powers of man.

Humans have come into being for the sake of each other, so either teach them, or learn to bear them.

The passing minute is every man's equal possession but what has once gone by is not ours.

After all, what does fame everlasting mean? Mere vanity.

Whatever may happen to thee, it was prepared for thee from all eternity.

Live not as though there were a thousand years ahead of you. Fate is at your elbow; make yourself good while life and power are still yours.

You must become an old man in good time if you wish to be an old man long.

Is your cucumber bitter? Throw it away. Are there briars in your path? Turn aside. That is enough. Do not go on and ay, 'Why were things of this sort ever brought into the world?'

Your days are numbered. Use them to throw open the windows of your soul to the sun. If you do not, the sun will soon set, and you with it.

Receive the gifts of fortune without pride, and part with them without reluctance.

Life is a campaign, a brief staying in a strange region.

Remember that the sole life which a man can lose is that which he is living at the moment.

The opinion of 10,000 men is of no value if none of them know anything about the subject.

Live out your life in truth and justice, tolerant of those who are neither true nor just.

Run down the list of those who felt intense anger at something: the most famous, the most unfortunate, the most hated, the most whatever: Where is all that now? Smoke, dust, legend...or not even a legend. Think of all the examples. And how trivial the things we want so passionately are.