Marcus Aurelius quotes
Roman emperor and Stoic philosopher. His Meditations — private notes in Greek, never meant for publication — are the most beloved Stoic text in the modern world.
63 passages across 23 themes. More on Marcus Aurelius.
On self-mastery
“You have power over your mind — not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.”
“Self-control and resistance to distractions. Optimism in adversity—especially illness. (Hays translation)”
“Whatever this is that I am, it is flesh and a little spirit and an intelligence. (Hays translation)”
“What is divine is full of Providence. Even chance is not divorced from nature, from the inweaving and enfolding of things governed by Providence. Everything proceeds from it. (Hays translation)”
“Though thou be destined to live three thousand years and as many myriads besides, yet remember that no man loseth other life than that which he liveth, nor liveth other than that which he loseth.”
“As for life, it is a battle and a sojourning in a strange land; but the fame that comes after is oblivion.”
“A man should be upright, not kept upright.”
“Choose what's best.—Best is what benefits me. (Hays translation)”
“Nothing earthly succeeds by ignoring heaven, nothing heavenly by ignoring the earth. (Hays translation)”
“Disturbance comes only from within—from our own perceptions. (Hays translation)”
“Nothing can come out of nothing, any more than a thing can go back to nothing.”
“That which makes the man no worse than he was makes his life no worse: it has no power to harm, without or within.”
On action
“Her reverence for the divine, her generosity, her inability not only to do wrong but even to conceive of doing it. And the simple way she lived—not in the least like the rich. (Hays translation)”
“He was a man who looked at what ought to be done, not to the reputation which is got by a man's acts.”
“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)”
“You could leave life right now. Let that determine what you do and say and think. (Hays translation)”
“The ruling power within, when it is in its natural state, is so related to outer circumstances that it easily changes to accord with what can be done and what is given it to do.”
“Choose not to be harmed—and you won't feel harmed. Don't feel harmed—and you haven't been. (Hays translation)”
“Remember this— that there is a proper dignity and proportion to be observed in the performance of every act of life.”
On mind
“The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts.”
“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.”
“Nothing has such power to broaden the mind as the ability to investigate systematically and truly all that comes under thy observation in life.”
“By a tranquil mind I mean nothing else than a mind well ordered.”
“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.”
“You have a mind? —Yes. Well, why not use it? (Hays translation)”
On presence
“Confine yourself to the present.”
“Do every act of your life as though it were the very last act of your life.”
“Waste not the remnant of thy life in those imaginations touching other folk, whereby thou contributest not to the common weal.”
“Each of us lives only now, this brief instant. (Hays translation)”
“Many the lumps of frankincense on the same altar; one falls there early and another late, but it makes no difference.”
On time
“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)”
“Give thyself time to learn something new and good, and cease to be whirled around.”
“How much time he gains who does not look to see what his neighbor says or does or thinks, but only at what he does himself, to make it just and holy.”
“You're better off not giving the small things more time than they deserve. (Hays translation)”
“All is ephemeral — fame and the famous as well.”
On death
“The longest-lived and the shortest-lived man, when they come to die, lose one and the same thing.”
“Be straightforward. Look at things like a man, like a human being, like a citizen, like a mortal. (Hays translation)”
“Death, like generation, is a secret of Nature.”
“Not to live as if you had endless years ahead of you. Death overshadows you. While you're alive and able—be good. (Hays translation)”
On wisdom
“Let no act be done at haphazard, nor otherwise than according to the finished rules that govern its kind.”
“Let your occupations be few, says the sage, if you would lead a tranquil life.”
“Search men's governing principles, and consider the wise, what they shun and what they cleave to.”
On character
“Waste no more time arguing what a good man should be. Be one.”
“The best revenge is to be unlike him who performed the injury.”
On acceptance
“Accept the things to which fate binds you, and love the people with whom fate brings you together.”
“For we carry our fate with us — and it carries us. (Hays translation)”
On authenticity
“The lot assigned to every man is suited to him, and suits him to itself.”
“Never esteem anything as of advantage to you that will make you break your word or lose your self-respect.”
On truth
“Whatever happens at all happens as it should; you will find this true, if you watch narrowly.”
“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.”
On love
“Love the little trade which thou hast learned, and be content therewith.”
“Observe always that everything is the result of a change, and get used to thinking that there is nothing Nature loves so well as to change existing forms and to make new ones like them.”
On gratitude
“When you arise in the morning, think of what a precious privilege it is to be alive.”
On joy
“Very little is needed to make a happy life; it is all within yourself, in your way of thinking.”
On wonder
“Dwell on the beauty of life. Watch the stars, and see yourself running with them.”
On reflection
“Look well into thyself; there is a source of strength which will always spring up if thou wilt always look.”
On peace
“How much trouble he avoids who does not look to see what his neighbor says or does.”
On harmony
“He who lives in harmony with himself lives in harmony with the universe.”
On anger
“Not to display anger or other emotions. To be free of passion and yet full of love. (Hays translation)”
On listening
“No state sorrier than that of the man who keeps up a continual round, and pries into the secrets of the nether world, as saith the poet, and is curious in conjecture of what is in his neighbour's heart.”
On change
“The world is nothing but change. Our life is only perception. (Hays translation)”
On beauty
“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.”
On contentment
“It needs to realize that what happens to everyone—bad and good alike—is neither good nor bad. (Hays translation)”