Marcus Aurelius Quotes

“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.”

“It is in your power to withdraw yourself whenever you desire. Perfect tranquility within consists in the good ordering of the mind, the realm of your own.”

“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.”

“It will suffice thee to remember as concerning pain ... that the mind may, by stopping all manner of commerce and sympathy with the body, still retain its own tranquility.”

“Happiness is no other than soundness and perfection of mind.”

“Since you are an integral part of a social system, let every act of yours contribute to the harmonization of social life. Any action that is not related directly or remotely to this social aim disturbs your life, and destroys your unity.”

“Death hangs over thee, While thou still live, while thou may, do good.”

“Loss is nothing else but change, and change is Nature's delight.”

“Your life is an expression of all your thoughts.”

“For any particular thing, ask: What is it in itself? What is its nature?”

“Remember that neither the future nor the past pains thee, but only the present. But this is reduced to a very little, if thou only circumscribest it, and chidest thy mind, if it is unableto hold out against even this.”

“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.”

“If it's time for you to go, leave willingly - as you would to accomplish anything that can be done with grace and honor.”

“Death, like birth, is one of nature's mysteries, the combining of primal elements and dissolving of the same into the same.”

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

“When you are offended at anyone's fault, turn to yourself and study your own failings. By attending to them, you will forget your anger and learn to live wisely.”

“Natural ability without education has more often raised a man to glory and virtue than education without natural ability.”

“Let goodness go with the doing.”

“There is a limit circumscribed to your time – if you do not use it to clear away your clouds, it will be gone, and you will be gone, and the opportunity will not return”

“A man must stand erect, not be kept erect by others.”

“Severally on the occasion of everything that thou doest, pause and ask thyself, if death is a dreadful thing because it deprives thee of this.”

“All is as thinking makes it so”

“Death is a release from the impressions of the senses, and from desires that make us their puppets, and from the vagaries of the mind, and from the hard service of the flesh.”

“Receive without conceit, release without struggle.”

“How many after being celebrated by fame have been given up to oblivion; and how many who have celebrated the fame of others have long been dead.”