Marcus Aurelius - Mind Quotes

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The things you think about determine the quality of your mind. Your soul takes on the color of your thoughts.

Marcus Aurelius
Purge your mind of all aimless and idle thoughts, especially those that pry into the affairs of others or wish them ill.

Marcus Aurelius
The mind in itself wants nothing, unless it creates a want for itself; therefore it is both free from perturbation and unimpeded, if it does not perturb and impede itself.

Marcus Aurelius
Suppose that men kill thee, cut thee in pieces, curse thee, what can these things do to prevent thy mind from remaining pure, wise, sober, just?

Marcus Aurelius
Keep in mind how fast things pass by and are gone - those that are now, and those to come. Existence flows past us like a river; the "what" is in constant flux, the "why" has a thousand variations. Nothing is stable, not even what's right here. The infinity of past and future gapes before us - a chasm whose depths we cannot see.

Marcus Aurelius
Practice really hearing what people say. Do your best to get inside their mind.

Marcus Aurelius
The mind is the ruler of the soul. It should remain unstirred by agitations of the flesh—gentle and violent ones alike. Not mingling with them, but fencing itself off and keeping those feelings in their place. When they make their way into our thoughts, through the sympathetic link between mind and body, don't try to resist the sensation. The sensation is natural. But don't let the mind start in with judgments, calling it 'good' or 'bad.'

Marcus Aurelius
This thou must always bear in mind, what is the nature of the whole...

Marcus Aurelius
Bear in mind that the measure of a man is the worth of the things he cares about.

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

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
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
Accustom yourself not to be disregarding of what someone else has to say: as far as possible enter into the mind of the speaker.

Marcus Aurelius
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.

Marcus Aurelius
Keep constantly in mind in how many things you yourself have witnessed changes already. The universe is change, life is understanding.

Marcus Aurelius
Every soul, the philosopher says, is involuntarily deprived of truth; consequently in the same way it is deprived of justice and temperance and benevolence and everything of the kind. It is most necessary to keep this in mind, for thus thou wilt be more gentle towards all.

Marcus Aurelius
If mind is common to us, then also the reason, whereby we are reasoning beings, is common.' If this be so, then also the reason which enjoins what is to be done or left undone is common. If this be so, law also is common; if this be so, we are citizens; if this be so, we are partakers in one constitution; if this be so, the Universe is a kind of Commonwealth.

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

Marcus Aurelius
By a tranquil mind I mean nothing else than a mind well ordered.

Marcus Aurelius
To understand the true quality of people, you must look into their minds, and examine their pursuits and aversions.

Marcus Aurelius
In the case of most pains let this remark of Epicurus aid thee, that the pain is neither intolerable nor everlasting, if thou bear in mind that it has its limits, and if thou addest nothing to it in imagination...

Marcus Aurelius
From Plato: the man who has an elevated mind and takes a view of all time and of all substance, dost thou suppose it possible for him to think that human life is anything great? It is not possible, he said. Such a man then will think that death also is no evil.

Marcus Aurelius
To change your mind and to follow him who sets you right is to be nonetheless the free agent that you were before.

Marcus Aurelius
Body. Soul. Mind. Sensations: the body. Desires: the soul. Reasoning: the mind.

Marcus Aurelius
An arrow has one motion and the mind another. Even when pausing, even when weighing conclusions, the mind is moving forward, toward its goal.

Marcus Aurelius
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 unable to hold out against even this.

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

Marcus Aurelius
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.

Marcus Aurelius
It is a base thing for the countenance to be obedient and to regulate and compose itself as the mind commands, and for the mind not to be regulated and composed by itself.

Marcus Aurelius
Tranquility is nothing else than the good ordering of the mind.

Marcus Aurelius