Marcus Aurelius Quotes
-
The lot assigned to every man is suited to him, and suits him to itself.
-
How easy it is to repel and to wipe away every impression which is troublesome or unsuitable, and immediately to be in all tranquility.
-
As for life, it is a battle and a sojourning in a strange land; but the fame that comes after is oblivion.
-
Remember this- that there is a proper dignity and proportion to be observed in the performance of every act of life.
-
It is a base thing for the countenance to be obedient and to regulate and compose itself as the mind commands, and for the mind not to be regulated and composed by itself.
-
Whatever may happen to thee, it was prepared for thee from all eternity; and the implication of causes was from eternity spinning the thread of thy being, and of that which is incident to it.
-
That which comes after ever conforms to that which has gone before.
-
And virtue they will curse, speaking harsh words.
-
To live each day as though one's last, never flustered, never apathetic, never attitudinizing – here is perfection of character.
-
How many, once lauded in song, are given over to the forgotten; and how many who sung their praises are clean gone long ago!
-
Another may be more expert in casting throwing his opponent; but he is not more social, nor more modest, nor better disciplined to meet all that happens, nor more considerate with respect to the faults of his neighbors.
-
And finally remember that nothing harms him who is really a citizen, which does not harm the state; nor yet does anything harm the state which does not harm law order; and of these things which are called misfortunes not one harms law. What then does not harm law does not harm either state or citizen.
-
If the gods care not for me and for my children, There is a reason for it.
-
Doth perfect beauty stand in need of praise at all? Nay; no more than law, no more than truth, no more than loving kindness, nor than modesty.
-
He was a man who looked at what ought to be done, not to the reputation which is got by a man's acts
-
If thou canst see sharp, look and judge wisely, says the philosopher.
-
Be not unwilling in what thou doest, neither selfish nor unadvised nor obstinate; let not over-refinement deck out thy thought; be not wordy nor a busybody.
-
You see how few things you have to do to live a satisfying and reverent life? If you can manage this, that's all even the gods can ask of you. (Hays translation)
-
Mark how fleeting and paltry is the estate of man - yesterday in embryo, tomorrow a mummy or ashes. So for the hairsbreadth of time assigned to thee, live rationally, and part with life cheerfully, as drops the ripe olive, extolling the season that bore it and the tree that matured it.
-
Consider thyself to be dead, and to have completed thy life up to the present time; and live according to nature the remainder which is allowed thee.
-
The universe is change; our life is what our thoughts make it.
-
Nothing has such power to broaden the mind as the ability to investigate systematically and truly all that comes under thy observation in life.
-
It is not fit that I should give myself pain, for I have never intentionally given pain even to another.
-
Depart then satisfied, for he also who releases thee is satisfied.