Marcus Aurelius Quotes

“The art of living is more like wrestling than dancing.”

“Everything that happens either happens in such a way as you are formed by nature to bear it, or as you are not formed by nature to bear it.”

“When you arise in the morning, think of what a precious privilege it is to be alive - to breathe, to think, to enjoy, to love ... then make that day count!”

“...if a man comes to his fortieth year, and has any understanding at all, he has virtually seen - thanks to their similarity - all possible happenings, both past and to come.”

“Do not disturb yourself by picturing your life as a whole; do not assemble in your mind the many and varied troubles which have come to you in the past and will come again in the future, but ask yourself with regard to every present difficulty: 'What is there in this that is unbearable and beyond endurance?'”

“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.”

“When thou art above measure angry, bethink thee how momentary is man's life.”

“Don't be ashamed to need help. Like a soldier storming a wall, you have a mission to accomplish. And if you've been wounded and you need a comrade to pull you up? So what?”

“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?”

“Hast thou reason? I have. Why then dost not thou use it? For if this does its own work, what else dost thou wish?”

“Gluttony and drunkenness have two evils attendant on them; they make the carcass smart, as well as the pocket.”

“Without a purpose, nothing should be done.”

“Nature insists on whatever benefits the whole.”

“Light may earth's crumbling sand be laid on thee, that dogs may dig thy bones up easily”

“We are born for cooperation, as are the feet, the hands, the eyelids, and the upper and lower jaws.”

“Begin - to begin is half the work, let half still remain; again begin this, and thou wilt have finished.”

“Be mindful at all times of the following: the nature of the whole universe, the nature of the part that is me, the relation of the one to the other, the one so vast, the other so small.”

“It is possible to depart from life at this moment. Have this thought in mind whenever you act, speak, or think.”

“Give thyself time to learn something new and good, and cease to be whirled around.”

“This thou must always bear in mind, what is the nature of the whole,and what is my nature, and how this is related to that, and whatkind of a part it is of what kind of a whole; and that there is no onewho hinders thee from always doing and saying the things which areaccording to the nature of which thou art a part.”

“Give full attention and devotion to each act.”

“If you do everything as if it were the last thing you were doing in your life, and stop being aimless, stop letting your emotions override what your mind tells you, stop being hypocritical, self-centered, irritable.”

“Remember that all is opinion. For what was said by the Cynic Monimus is manifest: and manifest too is the use of what was said, if a man receives what may be got out of it as far as it is true.”

“A lucky chance is constant in nothing but inconstancy.”

“The best sort of revenue is not to be like him who did the injury.”