Marcus Aurelius Quotes
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Live with the gods.
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Depart then satisfied, for he also who releases thee is satisfied.
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A man should be upright, not kept upright.
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Remember this- that there is a proper dignity and proportion to be observed in the performance of every act of life.
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An arrow has one motion and the mind another. Even when pausing, even when weighing conclusions, the mind is moving forward, toward its goal. (Hays translation)
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Death,-a stopping of impressions through the senses, and of the pulling of the cords of motion, and of the ways of thought, and of service to the flesh.
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Never let the future disturb you. You will meet it, if you have to, with the same weapons of reason which today arm you against the present.
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It is not right to vex ourselves at things, For they care not about it.
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Whatever is in any way beautiful hath its source of beauty in itself, and is complete in itself; praise forms no part of it. So it is none the worse nor the better for being praised.
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If mind is common to us, then also the reason, whereby we are reasoning beings, is common. If this be so, then also the reason which enjoins what is to be done or left undone is common. If this be so, law also is common; if this be so, we are citizens; if this be so, we are partakers in one constitution; if this be so, the Universe is a kind of Commonwealth.
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As for life, it is a battle and a sojourning in a strange land; but the fame that comes after is oblivion.
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Let no act be done at haphazard, nor otherwise than according to the finished rules that govern its kind.
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As surgeons keep their instruments and knives always at hand for cases requiring immediate treatment, so shouldst thou have thy thoughts ready to understand things divine and human, remembering in thy every act, even the smallest, how close is the bond that unites the two.
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The universe is change; our life is what our thoughts make it.
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Ἐγγὺς μὲν ἡ σὴ περὶ πάντων λήθη, ἐγγὺς δὲ ἡ πάντων περὶ σοῦ λήθη.
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The mind which is free from passions is a citadel, for man has nothing more secure to which he can fly for refuge and for the future be inexpugnable. He then who has not seen this is an ignorant man: but he who has seen it and does not fly to this refuge is unhappy.
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Continuously thou wilt look at human things as smoke and nothing at all; especially if thou reflectest at the same time, that what has once changed will never exist again in the infinite duration of time. But thou, in what a brief space of time is thy existence? And why art thou not content to pass through this short time in an orderly way?
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By a tranquil mind I mean nothing else than a mind well ordered.
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Thou sufferest justly: for thou choosest rather to become good to-morrow than to be good to-day.
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Whatever happens at all happens as it should; you will find this true, if you watch narrowly.
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This thou must always bear in mind, what is the nature of the whole...
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Many the lumps of frankincense on the same altar; one falls there early and another late, but it makes no difference.
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It is satisfaction to a man to do the proper works of a man.
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If it is not right, do not do it, if it is not true, do not say it. For let thy efforts be -