Marcus Aurelius
Roman emperor and Stoic philosopher, 121-180
74 quotes.
Quotes by Marcus Aurelius
- Our life is what our thoughts make it.
- Practice really hearing what people say. Do your best to get inside their minds.
- 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.
- Receive without conceit, release without struggle.
- Reject your sense of injury and the injury itself disappears.
- Remember this, — that very little is needed to make a happy life.
- Remind yourself that your task is to be a good human being; remind yourself what nature demands of people. Then do it, without hesitation, and speak the truth as you see it. But with kindness. With humility. Without hypocrisy.
- So remember this principle when something threatens to cause you pain: the thing itself was no misfortune at all; to endure it and prevail is great good fortune.
- Such as are thy habitual thoughts, such also will be the character of thy mind; for the soul is dyed by the thoughts.
- The art of living is more wrestling than dancing — teaching a man to stay on his feet, on guard and unruffled, so that whatsoever falls upon him he may be ready for it.
- The best revenge is not to be like your enemy.
- The best sort of revenge is not to be like him who did the injury.
- The best way to avenge yourself is to not be like that.
- 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.
- The mind converts and changes every hindrance to its activity into an aid; and so that which is a hindrance is made a furtherance to an act; and that which is an obstacle on the road helps us on this road.
- The nearer a man comes to a calm mind, the closer he is to strength.
- The perfection of moral character consists in this, in passing every day as the last, and in being neither violently excited nor torpid nor playing the hypocrite.
- The soul becomes dyed with the color of its thoughts.
- The things you think about determine the quality of your mind. Your soul takes on the color of your thoughts.
- The universe is transformation; our life is what our thoughts make it.
- There is a limit to the time assigned you, and if you don't use it to free yourself it will be gone and never return. (Hays translation)
- There is no present advantage in anything that may someday force you to break your word, or to lose respect for yourself, or to hate, suspect, or curse another, or to pretend to be other than what you are, or to lust after what you'd be ashamed to seek openly.
- Think of yourself as dead. You have lived your life. Now take what’s left and live it properly.
- To be like the rock that the waves keep crashing over. It stands unmoved and the raging of the sea falls still around it.
- Today I escaped anxiety. Or no, I discarded it, because it was within me, in my own perceptions – not outside.
- Very little is needed to make a happy life; it is all within yourself, in your way of thinking.
- Waste no more time arguing what a good man should be. Be one.
- We are made for co-operation, like feet, like hands, like eyelids, like the rows of the upper and lower teeth. To act against one another, then, is contrary to nature; and it is acting against one another to be vexed and to turn away.
- What is thy art? To be good.
- When thou wishest to give thyself delight, think of the excellencies of those who live with thee; the energy of one, the modesty of another, the liberal kindness of a third.
- When you arise in the morning, think of what a precious privilege it is to be alive – to breathe, to think, to enjoy, to love.
- You have power over your mind – not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.
- 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.
- You're better off not giving the small things more time than they deserve.