Marcus Aurelius Quotes - Page 3

All things fade and quickly turn to myth.

The sole life which a man can lose is that which he is living at the moment.

Why do we shrink from change? What can come into being save by change?

And in the case of superior things like stars, we discover a kind of unity in separation. The higher we rise on the scale of being, the easier it is to discern a connection even among things separated by vast distances.

Salvation: to see each thing for what it is— its nature and its purpose.To do only what is right, say only what is true, without holding back.What else could it be but to live life fully— to pay out goodnesslike the rings of a chain, without the slightest gap.

Time is a sort of river of passing events and strong is its current no sooner is a thing brought to sight than it is swept by and another takes its place and this too will be swept away.

That which is really beautiful has no need of anything; not more than law, not more than truth, not more than benevolence or modesty.

Observe always that everything is the result of change, and get used to thinking that there is nothing Nature loves so well as to change existing forms and make new ones like them.

Man must be arched and buttressed from within else the temple wavers to dust.

The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts ... take care that you entertain no notions unsuitable to virtue and reasonable nature.

To them that ask where have you seen the Gods or how do you know for certain there are Gods that you are so devout in their worship? I answer: Neither have I ever seen my own soul and yet I respect and honor it.

It is not fit that I should give myself pain, for I have never intentionally given pain even to another.

The things you think about determine the quality of your mind.

Will any man despise me? Let him see to it. But I will see to it that I may not be found doing or saying anything that deserves to be despised.

Life is a stranger's sojourn a night at an inn.

What am I but a little flesh, a little breath, and the thinking part that rules the whole?

There’s nothing more insufferable than people who boast about their own humility

You are a little soul carrying about a corpse, as Epictetus used to say.

The art of living is more like that of wrestling than of dancing. The main thing is to stand firm and be ready for an unforeseen attack.

Never let the future disturb you - you will meet it with the same weapons of reason and mind that, today, guard you against the present...

Observe the movements of the stars as if you were running their courses with them, and let your mind constantly dwell on the changes of the elements into each other. Such imaginings wash away the filth of life on the ground.

If you are distressed by anything external the pain is not due to the thing itself but to your own estimate of it and this you have the power to revoke at any moment.

How much more grievous are the consequences of anger than the causes of it.

Time is like a river of fleeting events and its current is strong as soon as something comes into sight it is swept past us and something else takes its place and that too will be swept away.

As for thy thirst after books, away with it with all speed.

A key point to bear in mind: The value of attentiveness varies in proportion to its object. You’re better off not giving the small things more time than they deserve.

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.

No man is happy who does not think himself so.

Dwell on the beauty of life. Watch the stars, and see yourself running with them.

For outward show is a wonderful perverter of the reason.

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?

Regain your senses, call yourself back, and once again wake up. Now that you realize that only dreams were troubling you, view this 'reality' as you view your dreams.

Without a purpose nothing should be done.

It is a ridiculous thing for a man not to fly from his own badness, which is indeed possible, but to fly from other men's badness, which is impossible.

striid andWthdraw into yourself. Our master-reason asks no more than to act justly, and thereby to achieve calm.

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.

The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts.

Things of themselves cannot touch the soul at all. They have no entry to the soul, and cannot turn or move it. The soul alone turns and moves itself, making all externals presented to it cohere with the judgements it thinks worthy of itself.

Humans have come into being for the sake of each other, so either teach them, or learn to bear them.

The best revenge is to be unlike him who performed the injury.

All of us are creatures of a day; the rememberer and the remembered alike. All is ephemeral—both memory and the object of memory. The time is at hand when you will have forgotten everything; and the time is at hand when all will have forgotten you. Always reflect that soon you will be no one, and nowhere.

Accept the things to which fate binds you, and love the people with whom fate brings you together,but do so with all your heart.

The blazing fire makes flames and brightness out of everything thrown into it.

Be like a rocky promontory against which the restless surf continually pounds; it stands fast while the churning sea is lulled to sleep at its feet. I hear you say, "How unlucky that this should happen to me!" Not at all! Say instead, "How lucky that I am not broken by what has happened and am not afraid of what is about to happen. The same blow might have struck anyone, but not many would have absorbed it without capitulation or complaint.

What pulls the strings is the force hidden within there lies ... the real man.

Do not act as if you had ten thousand years to throw away. Death stands at your elbow. Be good for something while you live and it is in your power.

Look well into thyself there is a source which will always spring up if thou wilt always search there.

That which has died falls not out of the universe. If it stays here, it also changes here, and is dissolved into its proper parts, which are elements of the universe and of thyself. And these too change, and they murmur not".

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

Every man is worth just so much as the things about which he busies himself.

Reject your sense of injury and the injury itself disappears.

What need of prompt or hint when it is open to yourself to discern what needs to be done - and, if you can see your way, to follow it with kind but undeviating intent. If you cannot see the way, hold back and consult your best advisors. if some other factors obstruct this advice, proceed on your present resources, but with cautious deliberations, keeping always to what seems just. Justice is the best aim, as any failure is in fact a failure of justice.A man following reason in all things combines relaxation with initiative, spark with composure.

A man’s worth is no greater than the worth of his ambitions.

Our thoughts is what our life make it

When you are disturbed by events and lose your serenity, quickly return to yourself and don't stay upset longer than the experience lasts; for you'll have more mastery over your inner harmony by continually returning to it.

Look back over the past, with its changing empires that rose and fell, and you can foresee the future too.

The one thing worth living for is to keep one's soul pure.

If something is difficult for you to accomplish, do not then think it impossible for any human being; rather, if it is humanly possible and corresponds to human nature, know that it is attainable by you as well.