QUOTES by Marcus Aurelius
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The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts: therefore, guard accordingly, and take care that you entertain no notions unsuitable to virtue and reasonable nature.
Quote by -Marcus Aurelius
Set yourself in motion, if it is in your power, and do not look about you to see if anyone will observe it; nor yet expect Plato’s Republic: but be content if the smallest thing goes on well, and consider such an event to be no small matter.
Quote by -Marcus Aurelius
Failure to observe what is in the mind of another has seldom made a man unhappy; but those who do not observe the movements of their own minds must of necessity be unhappy.
Quote by -Marcus Aurelius
You can pass your life in an equable flow of happiness if you can follow the right way and think and act in the right way.
Quote by -Marcus Aurelius
Don’t waste the rest of your time here worrying about other people – unless it affects the common good. It will keep you from doing anything useful. You’ll be too preoccupied with what so-and-so is doing, and why, and what the’re saying, and what they’re thinking, and what they’re up to, and all the other things that throw you off and keep you from focusing on your own mind.
Quote by -Marcus Aurelius
Today I have got out of all trouble, or rather I have cast out all trouble, for it was not outside, but within and in my opinions.
Quote by -Marcus Aurelius
Remind yourself that it is not the future or what has passed that afflicts you, but always the present.
Quote by -Marcus Aurelius
Think not so much of what you lack as of what you have: but of the things that you have, select the best, and then reflect how eagerly you would have sought them if you did not have them.
Quote by -Marcus Aurelius
If you seek tranquility, do less. Or do what’s essential – what the logos of a social being requires, and in the requisite way. Which brings a double satisfaction: to do less, better. Because most of what we say and do is not essential. If you can eliminate it, you’ll have more time, and more tranquility. Ask yourself at every moment, ‘Is this necessary?’
Quote by -Marcus Aurelius
Her reverence for the divine, her generosity, her inability not only to do wrong but even to conceive of doing it. And the simple way she lived – not in the least like the rich. (What Marcus learned from his mother)
Quote by -Marcus Aurelius
You can discard most of the junk that clutters your mind – things that exist only there – and clear out space for yourself: by comprehending the scale of the world, by contemplating infinite time, by thinking of the speed with which things change – each part of every thing; the narrow space between our birth and death; the infinite time before; the equality unbounded time that follows.
Quote by -Marcus Aurelius
Nothing is burdensome if taken lightly, and how nothing need arouse one’s irritation so long as one doesn’t make it bigger than it is by getting irritated.
Quote by -Marcus Aurelius
All you need are these: certainty of judgment in the present moment; action for the common good in the present moment; and an attitude of gratitude in the present moment for anything that comes your way.
Quote by -Marcus Aurelius
To the gods I am indebted for having good grandfathers, good parents, a good sister, good teachers, good associates, good kinsmen and friends, nearly everything good. For all these [blessings in my life] require the help of the gods and fortune.
Quote by -Marcus Aurelius
When you wish to delight yourself, think of the virtues of those who live with you; for instance, the activity of one, the modesty of another, the liberality of a third, and some other good quality of a fourth.
Quote by -Marcus Aurelius
The things that are essential are acquired with little bother; it is the luxuries that call for toil and effort.
Quote by -Marcus Aurelius
People look for retreats for themselves, in the country, by the coast, or in the hills… There is nowhere that a person can find a more peaceful and trouble-free retreat than in his own mind… So constantly give yourself this retreat, and renew yourself.
Quote by -Marcus Aurelius
When they’re really possessed by what they do, they’d rather stop eating and sleeping than give up practicing their arts.
Quote by -Marcus Aurelius
Do not indulge in dreams of having what you have not, but reckon up the chief of the blessings you do possess, and then thankfully remember how you would crave for them if they were not yours.
Quote by -Marcus Aurelius
Nothing is as encouraging as when virtues are visibly embodied in the people around us, when we’re practically showered with them.
Quote by -Marcus Aurelius
The tranquillity that comes when you stop caring what they say. Or think, or do. Only what you do.
Quote by -Marcus Aurelius
Don’t hope that events will turn out the way you want, welcome events in whichever way they happen: this is the path to peace.
Quote by -Marcus Aurelius
Every day as it comes should be welcomed and reduced forthwith into our own possession as if it were the finest day imaginable. What flies past has to be seized at.
Quote by -Marcus Aurelius
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.
Quote by -Marcus Aurelius
The history of your life is now complete and your service is ended: and how many beautiful things you have seen; and how many pleasures and pains you have despised; and how many things called honorable you have spurned; and to how many ill-minded folks you have shown a kind disposition.
Quote by -Marcus Aurelius
The object in life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane.
Quote by -Marcus Aurelius
The art of life is more like the wrestler’s art than the dancer’s, in respect of this, that it should stand ready and firm to meet onsets that are sudden and unexpected.
Quote by -Marcus Aurelius
Be cheerful also, and do not seek external help or the tranquillity that others give. A man then must stand erect, not be kept erect by others.
Quote by -Marcus Aurelius
Do not act as if you were going to live ten thousand years. Death hangs over you. While you live, while it is in your power, be good.
Quote by -Marcus Aurelius
You will give yourself relief, if you do every act of your life as if it were the last.
Quote by -Marcus Aurelius
For where else is friendship found if not with fairness, reliability and respect for virtue only?
Quote by -Marcus Aurelius
What is the goal of virtue, after all, except a life that flows smoothly?
Quote by -Marcus Aurelius
Just ask whether they put their self-interest in externals or in moral choice. If it’s in externals, you cannot call them friends, any more than you can call them trustworthy, consistent, courageous or free.
Quote by -Marcus Aurelius
Treat what you don’t have as nonexistent. Look at what you have, the things you value most, and think of how much you’d crave them if you didn’t have them. But be careful. Don’t feel such satisfaction that you start to overvalue them – that it would upset you to lose them.
Quote by -Marcus Aurelius
If, at some point in your life, you should come across anything better than justice, honesty, self-control, courage – than a mind satisfied that is has succeeded in enabling you to act rationally, and satisfied to accept what’s beyond its control – if you find anything better than that, embrace it without reservations – it must be an extraordinary thing indeed – and enjoy it to the full.
Quote by -Marcus Aurelius
Consider that as the heaps of sand piled on one another hide the former sands, so in life the events that go before are soon covered by those that come after.
Quote by -Marcus Aurelius
When someone is properly grounded in life, they shouldn’t have to look outside themselves for approval.
Quote by -Marcus Aurelius
Life is short. That’s all there is to say. Get what you can from the present – thoughtfully, justly.
Quote by -Marcus Aurelius
Enough of this miserable, whining life. Stop monkeying around! Why are you troubled? What’s new here? What’s so confounding? The one responsible? Take a good look. Or just the matter itself? Then look at that. There’s nothing else to look at. And as far as the gods go, by now you could try being more straightforward and kind. It’s the same, whether you’ve examined these things for a hundred years, or only three.
Quote by -Marcus Aurelius
Stop wishing for something else to happen, for a different fate. That is to live a false life.
Quote by -Marcus Aurelius
To live the good life: We have the potential for it. If we can learn to be indifferent to what makes no difference.
Quote by -Marcus Aurelius