Marcus Aurelius Quotes
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Direct thy attention to what is said. Let thy understanding enter into the things that are doing and the things which do them.
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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.
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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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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.
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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 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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It is not right to vex ourselves at things, For they care not about it.
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A man should be upright, not kept upright.
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Live with the gods.
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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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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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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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The universe is change; our life is what our thoughts make it.
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By a tranquil mind I mean nothing else than a mind well ordered.
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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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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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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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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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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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It is satisfaction to a man to do the proper works of a man.
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This thou must always bear in mind, what is the nature of the whole...
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Some people, when they do someone a favor, are always looking for a chance to call it in. And some aren't, but they're still aware of it-still regard it as a debt. But others don't even do that. They're like a vine that produces grapes without looking for anything in return. (Hays translation)