Marcus Aurelius Quotes
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How many together with whom I came into the world are already gone out of it.
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In the morning, when thou art sluggish at rousing thee, let this thought be present; 'I am rising to a man’s work.'
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To her who gives and takes back all, to nature, the man who is instructed and modest says, Give what thou wilt; take back what thou wilt. And he says this not proudly, but obediently and well pleased with her.
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No form of Nature is inferior to Art; for the arts merely imitate natural forms.
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Remember that what pulls the strings is the force hidden within; there lies the power to persuade, there the life,-there, if one must speak out, the real man.
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Short-lived are both the praiser and the praised, and rememberer and the remembered: and all this in a nook of this part of the world; and not even here do all agree, no, not any one with himself: and the whole earth too is a point.
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Love that only which happens to thee and is spun with the thread of thy destiny. For what is more suitable?
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Remember that man lives only in the present, in this fleeting instant; all the rest of his life is either past and gone, or not yet revealed. Short, therefore, is man's life, and narrow is the corner of the earth wherein he dwells.
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All that is harmony for you, my Universe, is in harmony with me as well. Nothing that comes at the right time for you is too early or too late for me. Everything is fruit to me that your seasons bring, Nature. All things come of you, have their being in you, and return to you.
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Think on this doctrine,-that reasoning beings were created for one another's sake; that to be patient is a branch of justice, and that men sin without intending it.
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Consider that everything is opinion, and opinion is in thy power.
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Why dost thou not pray... to give thee the faculty of not fearing any of the things which thou fearest, or of not desiring any of the things which thou desirest, or not being pained at anything, rather than pray that any of these things should not happen or happen?
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Very little is needed to make a happy life.
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A little time, and thou shalt close thy eyes; and him who has attended thee to thy grave, another soon will lament.
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Live as on a mountain. ...Let men see, let them know a real man who lives according to nature. If they cannot endure him, let them kill him. For that is better than to live thus.
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Every being ought to do that which is according to its constitution; and all other things have been constituted for the sake of the superior, but the rational for the sake of one another.
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Retire into thyself. The rational principle which rules has this nature, that it is content with itself when it does what is just, and so secures tranquility.
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You may break your heart, but men will still go on as before.
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There is a limit to the time assigned you, and if you don't use it to free yourself it will be gone and never return. (Hays translation)
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Death hangs over thee: whilst yet thou livest, whilst thou mayest, be good.
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All that happens is as usual and familiar as the rose in spring and the crop in summer.
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Give thyself time to learn something new and good, and cease to be whirled around.
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This is a fine saying of Plato: That he who is discoursing about men should look also at earthly things as if he viewed them from some higher place; should look at them... a mixture of all things and an orderly combination of contraries.
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Blot out vain pomp; check impulse; quench appetite; keep reason under its own control.