Marcus Aurelius Quotes
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.
Objective judgement, now, at this very moment. Unselfish action, now, at this very moment. Willing acceptance - now, at this very moment - of all external events. That's all you need.
Do you see what little is required of a man to live a well-tempered and god-fearing life? Obey these precepts, and the gods will ask nothing more.
Keep yourself simple, good, pure, serious, and unassuming; the friend of justice and godliness; kindly, affectionate, and resolute in your devotion to duty.
Aptitude found in the understanding and is often inherited. Genius coming from reason and imagination, rarely.
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.'
Anything in any way beautiful derives its beauty from itself and asks nothing beyond itself. Praise is no part of it, for nothing is made worse or better by praise.
There is no man so blessed that some who stand by his deathbed won't hail the occasion with delight.
There is change in all things. You yourself are subject to continual change and some decay, and this is common to the entire universe.
The sinner sins against himself; the wrongdoer wrongs himself, becoming the worse by his own action.
Everything harmonizes with me, which is harmonious to thee, o Universe. Nothing for me is too early or too late, which is in due time for thee.
To live each day as though one's last, never flustered, never apathetic, never attitudinizing - here is the perfection of character.
The healthy eye ought to see all visible things and not to say, I wish for green things; for this is the condition of a diseased eye.
There is nothing happens to any person but what was in his power to go through with.
If unwilling to rise in the morning, say to thyself, 'I awake to do the work of a man.'
Take it that you have died today, and your life's story is ended; and henceforward regard what future time may be given you as uncovenanted surplus, and live it out in harmony with nature.
"Begin the morning by saying to thyself, I shall meet with the busy-body, the ungrateful, arrogant, deceitful, envious, unsocial
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.
How very near us stand the two vast gulfs of time, the past and the future, in which all things disappear.
Put from you the belief that 'I have been wronged', and with it will go the feeling. Reject your sense of injury, and the injury itself disappears.
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.
From my grandfather's father, I learned to dispense with attendance at public schools, and to enjoy good teachers at home, and to recognize that on such things money should be eagerly spent.
The earth loveth the shower," and "the holy æther knoweth what love is." The Universe, too, loves to create whatsoever is destined to be made.
Once you have done a man a service, what more reward would you have? Is it not enough to have obeyed the laws of your own nature, without expecting to be paid for it?
Blot out vain pomp; check impulse; quench appetite; keep reason under its own control.
The greatest part of what we say and do is really unnecessary. If a man takes this to heart, he will have more leisure and less uneasiness.
Can we wonder that men perish and are forgotten, when their noblest and most enduring works decay? Death comes even to monumental structures, and oblivion rests on the most illustrious names.
A good man does not spy around for the black spots in others, but presses unswervingly on towards his mark.
People generally despise where they flatter, and cringe to those they would gladly overtop; so that truth and ceremony are two things.
Even the stoics agree that certainty is very hard to come at; that our assent is worth little, for where is infallibility to be found?
Because your own strength is unequal to a task, do not assume it is beyond the powers of man.
Pray look upon the plants and birds, the ants, spiders, and bees, and you will see them all exerting their nature, and busy in their station. Pray, shall not a man act like a man?
Begin - to begin is half the work, let half still remain; again begin this, and thou wilt have finished.
