Marcus Aurelius Quotes

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The whole universe is change and life itself is but what you deem it

Marcus Aurelius
As the nature of the universal has given to every rational being all the powers that it has, so we have received from it this power also. For as the universal nature converts and fixes in its predestined place everything which stands in the way and opposes it, and makes such things a part of itself, so also the rational animal is able to make every hindrance its own material, and to use it for such purpose as it may have designed.

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

Marcus Aurelius
In the morning when thou risest unwillingly, let this thought be present - I am rising to the work of a human being. Why then am I dissatisfied if I am going to do the things for which I exist and for which I was brought into the world?

Marcus Aurelius
I have often wondered how it is that every man loves himself more than all the rest of men, but yet sets less value on his own opinions of himself than on the opinions of others.

Marcus Aurelius
At day's first light have in readiness, against disinclination to leave your bed, the thought that "I am rising for the work of man."

Marcus Aurelius
You want praise from people who kick themselves every fifteen minutes, the approval of people who despise themselves. (Is it a sign of self-respect to regret nearly everything you do?)

Marcus Aurelius
If thou canst see sharp, look and judge wisely, says the philosopher.

Marcus Aurelius
The happiness of those who want to be popular depends on others; the happiness of those who seek pleasure fluctuates with moods outside their control; but the happiness of the wise grows out of their own free acts.

Marcus Aurelius
Your disposition will be suitable to that which you most frequently think on; for the soul is, as it were, tinged with the color and complexion of its own thoughts.

Marcus Aurelius
Is it not better to use what is in thy power like a free man than to desire in a slavish and abject way what is not in thy power?

Marcus Aurelius
In the morning, when you are sluggish about getting up, let this thought be present: "I am rising to a man's work."

Marcus Aurelius
The art of living is more like wrestling than dancing, for it requires that we should stand ready and firm to meet onsets which are sudden and unexpected.

Marcus Aurelius
How many, once lauded in song, are given over to the forgotten; and how many who sung their praises are clean gone long ago!

Marcus Aurelius
The universal intelligence puts itself in motion for every separate effect... or it puts itself in motion once, and everything else comes by way of a sequence in a manner; or individual elements are the origin of all things. In a word, if there is a god, all is well; and if chance rules, do not thou be governed by it.

Marcus Aurelius
Know the joy of life by piling good deed on good deed until no rift or cranny appears between them.

Marcus Aurelius
To live each day as though one's last, never flustered, never apathetic, never attitudinizing – here is perfection of character.

Marcus Aurelius
Are you distracted by outward cares? Then allow yourself a space of quiet wherein you can add to your knowledge of the Good and learn to curb your restlessness. Nowhere can a man find a quieter or more untroubled retreat than in his own soul. Avail yourself often, then, of this retirement, and so continually renew yourself.

Marcus Aurelius
Yes, you can—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.

Marcus Aurelius
Your mind will be like its habitual thoughts; for the soul becomes dyed with the color of its thoughts. Soak it then in such trains of thoughts as, for example: Where life is possible at all, a right life is possible.

Marcus Aurelius
In this flowing stream, then, on which there is no abiding, what is there of the things which hurry by on which a man would set a high price? It would be just as if a man should fall in love with one of the sparrows which fly by, but it has already passed out of sight.

Marcus Aurelius
In the same degree in which a man's mind is nearer to freedom from all passion, in the same degree also is it nearer to strength.

Marcus Aurelius
Socrates used to call the opinions of the many by the name of Lamiae, bugbears to frighten children.

Marcus Aurelius
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.

Marcus Aurelius
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.

Marcus Aurelius
Look within. Within is the fountain of the good, and it will ever bubble up, if thou wilt ever dig.

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

Marcus Aurelius
The passing minute is every man's equal possession but what has once gone by is not ours.

Marcus Aurelius
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.

Marcus Aurelius
A little time, and thou shalt close thy eyes; and him who has attended thee to thy grave, another soon will lament.

Marcus Aurelius