Marcus Aurelius Quotes

“...the sole thing of which any man can be deprived is the present; since this is all he owns, and nobody can lose what is not his.”

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

“If this is neither my own badness, nor an effect of my own badness, and the common weal is not injured, why am I troubled about it? And what is the harm to the common weal?”

“Vex not thy spirit at the course of things; they heed not thy vexation. How ludicrous and outlandish is astonishment at anything that may happen in life.”

“Tomorrow is nothing, today is too late; the good lived yesterday.”

“Here is the rule to remember in the future, When anything tempts you to be bitter: not, 'This is a misfortune' but 'To bear this worthily is good fortune.'”

“The art of living is more like wrestling than dancing, in so far as it stands ready against the accidental and the unforeseen, and is not apt to fall.”

“Dwell on the beauty of life. Watch the stars, and see yourself running with them.”

“And yet, after all, what is posthumous fame? Altogether vanity.”

“A man makes no noise over a good deed, but passes on to another as a vine to bear grapes again in season.”

“No longer let thy breathing only act in concert with the air which surrounds thee, but let thy intelligence also now be in harmony with the intelligence which embraces all things. For the intelligent power is no less diffused in all parts and pervades all things for him who is willing to draw it to him than the aërial power for him who is able to respire it.”

“As far as you can, get into the habit of asking yourself in relation to any action taken by another: "What is his point of reference here?" But begin with yourself: examine yourself first.”

“Enter others' minds and let them enter yours.”

“Anger cannot be dishonest.”

“Let thy chief fort and place of defense be a mind free from passions. A stronger place and better fortified than this, hath no man.”

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

“"Sweep me up and send me where you please." For there I will retain my spirit, tranquil and content, as long as it can feel and act in harmony with its own nature. Is a change of place enough reason for my soul to become unhappy and worn, for me to become depressed, humbled, cowering, and afraid? Can you discover any reasons for this?”

“How very near us stand the two vast gulfs of time, the past and the future, in which all things disappear.”

“Do not act as if you had a thousand years to live.”

“The cucumber is bitter? Then throw it out. There are brambles in the path? Then go around. That's all you need to know.”

“Have I done something for the general interest? Well then I have had my reward. Let this always be present to thy mind, and never stop doing such good.”

“From Alexander the Platonic, not frequently nor without necessity to say to any one, or to write in a letter, that I have no leisure; nor continually to excuse the neglect of duties required by our relation to those with whom we live, by alleging urgent occupations.”

“Nothing happens to any man which he is not formed by nature to bear. The same things happen to another, and either because he does not see that they have happened or because he would show a great spirit he is firm and remains unharmed. It is a shame then that ignorance and conceit should be stronger than wisdom.”

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

“Men seek out retreats for themselves in the country, by the seaside, on the moutains . . . But all this is unphilosophical to the last degree . . . when thou canst at a moment's notice retire into thyself.”