Marcus Aurelius Quotes

Natural ability without education has more often raised a man to glory and virtue than education without natural ability.

No one loses any other life than the one he now lives, nor does one live any other life than that which he will lose.

Only to the rational animal is it given to follow voluntarily what happens; but simply to follow is a necessity imposed on all.

Live your life as if you are ready to say goodbye to it at any moment, as if the time left for you were some pleasant surprise.

When you are annoyed at someone's mistake, immediately look at yourself and reflect how you also fail; for example, in thinking that good equals money, or pleasure, or a bit of fame. By being mindful of this you'll quickly forget your anger, especially if you realize that the person was under stress, and could do little else. And, if you can, find a way to alleviate that stress.

You need to be prepared for firm decisions and action, without losing gentleness towards those who obstruct or abuse you. It's as great a weakness to be angry with them as it is to abandon your plan of action and give up through fear.

Dress not thy thoughts in too fine a raiment. And be not a man of superfluous words or superfluous deeds.

Severally on the occasion of everything that thou doest, pause and ask thyself, if death is a dreadful thing because it deprives thee of this.

It is a shameful thing for the soul to faint while the body still perseveres.

Everything is in a state of metamorphosis. Thou thyself art in everlasting change and in corruption to correspond; so is the whole universe.

To my great-grandfather I owed the advice to dispense with the education of the schools and have good masters at home instead - and to realize that no expense should be grudged for this purpose.

The healthy eye ought to see all visible things and not to say, I wish for green things; for this is the condition of a diseased eye.

And thou wilt give thyself relief, if thou doest every act of thy life as if it were the last.

That which makes the man no worse than he was makes his life no worse: it has no power to harm, without or within.

If you do everything as if it were the last thing you were doing in your life, and stop being aimless, stop letting your emotions override what your mind tells you, stop being hypocritical, self-centered, irritable.

Cultivate these, then, for they are wholly within your power: sincerity and dignity; industriousness; and sobriety. Avoid grumbling, be frugal, considerate, and frank; be temperate in manner and speech; carry yourself with authority.

Persuade me or prove to me that I am mistaken in thought or deed, and I will gladly change - for it is the truth I seek, and the truth never harmed anyone. Harm comes from persisting in error and clinging to ignorance.

The inner master, when confronted with an obstacle, uses it as fuel, like a fire which consumes things that are thrown into it. A small lamp would be snuffed out, but a big fire will engulf what is thrown at it and burn hotter; it consumes the obstacle and uses it to reach a higher level.

Whenever you are about to find fault with someone, ask yourself the following question: What fault of mine most nearly resembles the one I am about to criticize?

Do not act as if you had a thousand years to live.

Love the little trade which thou hast learned, and be content therewith.

The stream of tendency in which all things seek to fulfill the law of their being.

And yet, after all, what is posthumous fame? Altogether vanity.

The soul is dyed by the thoughts. Dye it then, with a continuous series of such thoughts as these - that where a man can live, there - if he will - he can also live well.

It is not the weight of the future or the past that is pressing upon you, but ever that of the present alone. Even this burden, too, can be lessened if you confine it strictly to its own limits.

Vex not thy spirit at the course of things, they heed not thy vexations

Get rid of the judgement ... get rid of the 'I am hurt,' you are rid of the hurt itself.

Do what you will. Even if you tear yourself apart, most people will continue doing the same things.

Perhaps there are none more lazy, or more truly ignorant, than your everlasting readers.

Things can never touch the soul, but stand inert outside it, so that disquiet can arise only from fancies within.

Dig within. There lies the wellspring of good.

If it's time for you to go, leave willingly - as you would to accomplish anything that can be done with grace and honor.

Do not be wise in words - be wise in deeds.

Give your heart to the trade you have learnt, and draw refreshment from it. Let the rest of your days be spent as one who has whole-heartedly committed his all to the gods and is thenceforth no man's master or slave.

Remember that very little is needed to make a happy life.

Enter others' minds and let them enter yours.

Observe always that everything is the result of a change, and get used to thinking that there is nothing Nature loves so well as to change existing forms and to make new ones like them.

What we do now echoes in eternity.

All things are in the act of change; thou thyself in ceaseless transformation and partial decay, and the whole universe with thee.

This is the chief thing: be not perturbed, for all things are according to the nature of the universal.

The cucumber is bitter? Then throw it out. There are brambles in the path? Then go around them. That's all you need to know. Nothing more. Don't demand to know "why such things exist." Anyone who understands the world will laugh at you, just as a carpenter would if you seemed shocked at finding sawdust in his workshop, or a shoemaker at scraps of leather left over from work.

Tranquility is nothing else than the good ordering of the mind.

Leave the wrong done by another where the wrong arose.

When you have trouble getting out of bed in the morning, remember that your defining characteristic-what defines a human being-is to work with others.

Just consider, my friend, whether a pure spirit and virtue are anything other than saving your life and being saved. Perhaps we need to discard the idea of longevity and cease loving this life, instead committing these things to God and, believing that no one ever escapes destiny, to consider, with that in mind, how we may live the best possible life in the time that remains.

I have often wondered how it is that every man loves himself more than all the rest of men, but yet sets less value on his own opinions of himself than on the opinions of others.

External things are not the problem. It's your assessment of them. Which you can erase right now.

He who pays no attention to what his neighbor does, says or thinks, preferring to concentrate on making his own actions appropriate and justifiable, better uses his time.