Marcus Aurelius

“In one way an arrow moves, in another way the mind. The mind indeed, both when it exercises caution and when it is employed about inquiry, moves straight onward not the less, and to its object.”

“Time is like a river made up of the events which happen, and a violent stream; for as soon as a thing has been seen, it is carried away, and another comes in its place, and this will be carried away too.”

“Think of yourself as dead. You have lived your life. Now, take what's left and live it properly. What doesn't transmit light creates its own darkness.”

“Because your own strength is unequal to the task, do not assume that it is beyond the powers of man; but if anything is within the powers and province of man, believe that it is within your own compass also.”

“Blot out vain pomp; check impulse; quench appetite; keep reason under its own control.”

“Men seek retreats for themselves, houses in the country, sea-shores, and mountains; and thou too art wont to desire such things very much. But this is altogether a mark of the most common sort of men, for it is in thy power whenever thou shalt choose to retire into thyself. For nowhere either with more quiet or more freedom from trouble does a man retire than into his own soul.”

“Stop whatever you're doing for a moment and ask yourself: Am I afraid of death because I won't be able to do this anymore?”

“The whole universe is change and life itself is but what you deem it - either gratefully better than or bitterly worse than something else that you alone choose.”

“You don't have to turn this into something. It doesn't have to upset you. Things can't shape our decisions by themselves.”

“Poverty is the mother of crime.”

“Ambition means tying your well-being to what other people say or do. Self-indulgence means tying it to the things that happen to you. Sanity means tying it to your own actions.”

“Art thou angry with him whose armpits stink? Art thou angry with him whose mouth smells foul?”

“Most of what we say and do is not essential. If you can eliminate it, you'll have more time, and more tranquillity. Ask yourself at every moment, 'Is this necessary?'”

“The substance of the universe is obedient and compliant; and the reason which governs it has in itself no cause for doing evil, for it has no malice, nor does it do evil to anything, nor is anything harmed by it. But all things are made and perfected according to this reason.”

“He who flies from his master is a runaway; but the law is master, and he who breaks the law is a runaway. And he also who is grieved or angry or afraid, is dissatisfied because something has been or is or shall be of the things which are appointed by Him who rules all things, and He is Law, and assigns to every man what is fit. He then who fears or is grieved or is angry is a runaway.”

“If someone can prove me wrong and show me my mistake in any thought or action, I shall gladly change. I seek the truth, which never harmed anyone: the harm is to persist in one's own self-deception and ignorance.”

“Be not disgusted, nor discouraged, nor dissatisfied, if thou dost not succeed in doing everything according to right principles; but when thou bast failed, return back again, and be content if the greater part of what thou doest is consistent with man's nature, and love this to which thou returnest”

“Let not your mind run on what you lack as much as on what you have already.”

“He does not write at all whose poems no man reads”

“Live not as though there were a thousand years ahead of you. Fate is at your elbow; make yourself good while life and power are still yours.”

“Even while a thing is in the act of coming into existence, some part of it has already ceased to be.”

“A man's worth is no greater than his ambitions.”

“When you find an unwillingness to rise early in the morning, endeavor to rouse your faculties, and act up to your kind, and consider that you have to do the business of a man; and that action is both beneficial and the end of your being.”

“Leave other people's mistakes where they lie.”

“What we cannot bear removes us from life; what remains can be borne.”

“Why should we feel anger at the world? As if the world would notice?”

“Never esteem anything as of advantage to you that will make you break your word or lose your self-respect.”

“There is no man so fortunate that there shall not be by him when he is dying some who are pleased with what is going to happen.”

“Does what's happened keep you from acting with justice, generosity, self-control, sanity, prudence, honesty, humility, straightforward ness, and all other qualities that allow a person's nature to fulfill itself? So remember this principle when something threatens to cause you pain: the thing itself was no misfortune at all; to endure it and prevail is great good fortune.”

“Tranquility is nothing else than the good ordering of the mind.”

“If any man should conceive certain things as being really good, such as prudence, temperance, justice, fortitude, he would not after having first conceived these endure to listen to anything which should not be in harmony with what is really good.”

“One whose chief regard is for his own mind, and for the divinity within him and the service of its goodness, will strike no poses, utter no complaints, and crave neither for solitude nor yet for a crowd. Best of all, his life will be free from continual pursuing and avoiding.”

“Let your one delight and refreshment be to pass from one service to the community to another, with God ever in mind.”

“Nature insists on whatever benefits the whole.”

“Get rid of the judgement ... get rid of the 'I am hurt,' you are rid of the hurt itself.”

“Consider that everything is opinion, and opinion is in thy power.”

“As for others whose lives are not so ordered, he reminds himself constantly of the characters they exhibit daily and nightly at home and abroad, and of the sort of society they frequent; and the approval of such men, who do not even stand well in their own eyes, has no value for him.”

“The constant recollection of death is the test of human conduct.”

“But that which is useful is the better.”

“Do not be wise in words - be wise in deeds.”

“The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts.”

“Because other people are fools, must you be so too?”

“Failing to understand the workings of one's own mind is bound to lead to unhappiness.”

“Does a man shrink from change? Why, what can come into being save by change?”

“All men are made one for another: either then teach them better or bear with them.”

“No man is happy who does not think himself so.”

“Most of what we say and do is unnecessary: remove the superfluity, and you will have more time and less bother. So in every case one should prompt oneself: 'Is this, or is it not, something necessary?' And the removal of the unnecessary should apply not only to actions but to thoughts also: then no redundant actions either will follow.”

“The memory of everything is very soon overwhelmed in time.”

“Everything that exists is in a manner the seed of that which will be.”

“Look well into thyself; there is a source of strength which will always spring up if thou wilt always look.”