Marcus Aurelius Quotes

As for others whose lives are not so ordered, he reminds himself constantly of the characters they exhibit daily and nightly at home and abroad, and of the sort of society they frequent; and the approval of such men, who do not even stand well in their own eyes, has no value for him.

Just as nature takes every obstacle, every impediment, and works around it--turns it to its purposes, incorporates it into itself, so, too, a rational being can turn each setback into raw material and use it to achieve its goal.

You are making an inopportune rejection of what Nature has given you today, if all your mind is set on what men will say of you tomorrow.

If any man should conceive certain things as being really good, such as prudence, temperance, justice, fortitude, he would not after having first conceived these endure to listen to anything which should not be in harmony with what is really good.

If you are pained by any external thing, it is not this thing that disturbs you, but your own judgment about it. It is in your power to erase this judgment about it. If anything in your own nature gives you pain, you are who hinders you from correcting your opinion.

Since it is possible that thou mayest depart from life this very moment, regulate every act and thought accordingly. But to go away from among men, if there are gods, is not a thing to be afraid of, for the gods will not involve thee in evil; but if indeed they do not exist, or if they have no concern about human affairs, what is it to me to live in a universe devoid of gods or devoid of Providence? But Gods there are, undoubtedly, and they regard human affairs; and have put it wholly in our power, that we should not fall into what is truly evil.

The soul becomes dyed with the color of its thoughts.

It is a ridiculous thing for a man not to fly from his own badness, which is indeed possible, but to fly from other men's badness, which is impossible.

Why should any of these things that happen externally distract thee? Give thyself leisure to learn some good thing: cease roving to and fro.

Death and life, success and failure, pain and pleasure, wealth and poverty, all these happen to good and bad alike, and they are neither noble nor shameful - and hence neither good nor bad.

Waste no more time arguing what a good man should be. Be one.

My true Self is free. I cannot be contained.

The secret of all victory lies in the organization of the non-obvious.

Everything is ephemeral, both that which remembers and that which is remembered.

No matter what anyone says or does, my task is to be emerald, my color undiminished.

If you are distressed by anything external, the pain is not due to the thing itself, but to your estimate of it; and this you have the power to revoke at any moment.

A man's worth is no greater than his ambitions.

Remember that there is a God who desires neither praise nor glory from men created in his image, but rather that they, guided by the understanding given them, should in their actions become like unto him.

The first rule is to keep an untroubled spirit. The second is to look things in the face and know them for what they are.

Try to live the life of the good man who is more than content with what is allocated to him.

Death hangs over thee, While thou still live, while thou may, do good.

We are born for cooperation, as are the feet, the hands, the eyelids, and the upper and lower jaws.

Nothing proceeds from nothingness, as also nothing passes away into non-existence.

It is possible to depart from life at this moment. Have this thought in mind whenever you act, speak, or think.

Think of the universal substance, of which thou has a very small portion; and of universal time, of which a short and indivisible interval has been assigned to thee; and of that which is fixed by destiny, and how small a part of it thou art

Begin each day by telling yourself: Today I shall be meeting with interference, ingratitude, insolence, disloyalty, ill-will, and selfishness – all of them due to the offenders’ ignorance of what is good or evil.

The intelligence of the universe is social.

Thou seest how few be the things, the which if a man has at his command his life flows gently on and is divine.

Know the joy of life by piling good deed on good deed until no rift or cranny appears between them.

Consider frequently the connection of all things in the universe and their relation to one another. For things are somehow implicated with one another, and all in a way friendly to one another.

By a tranquil mind I mean nothing else than a mind well ordered.

Everything that happens either happens in such a way as you are formed by nature to bear it, or as you are not formed by nature to bear it.

Nature has given to each conscious being every power she possesses, and one of these abilities is this: just as Nature converts and alters every obstacle and opposition, and fits them into their predestined place, making them a part of herself, so too the rational person is able to finesse every obstacle into an opportunity, and to use it for whatever purpose it may suit.

Whosoever does wrong, wrongs himself; whosoever does injustice, does it to himself, making himself evil.

A little flesh, a little breath, and a Reason to rule all - that is myself.

The true joy of humankind is in doing that which is most proper to our nature; and the first property of people is to be kindly affected towards them that are of one kind with ourselves.

I, who have never willfully pained another, have no business to pain myself.

Never value anything as profitable to thyself which shall compel thee to break thy promise, to lose thy self-respect, to hate any man, to suspect, to curse, to act the hypocrite, to desire anything which needs walls and curtains.

It is the duty of men to love even those who injure them.

Anything in any way beautiful derives its beauty from itself and asks nothing beyond itself. Praise is no part of it, for nothing is made worse or better by praise.

Time is a sort of river of passing events, and strong is its current; no sooner is a thing brought to sight than it is swept by and another takes its place, and this too will be swept away.

Every instant of time... is a pinprick of eternity.

To live happily is an inward power of the soul.

Bear in mind that the measure of a man is the worth of the things he cares about. If it is good to say or do something, then it is even better to be criticized for having said or done it.

What we cannot bear removes us from life; what remains can be borne.

As for literature, thefts cannot harm it, while the lapse of ages augments its value

The happiness and unhappiness of the rational, social animal depends not on what he feels but on what he does; just as his virtue and vice consist not in feeling but in doing.

Despise not death, but welcome it, for nature wills it like all else.