Marcus Aurelius was the last of the so-called Five Good Emperors, ruling the Roman Empire from 161 to 180 AD. As a practitioner of Stoicism, much is learned from his writings and historical recordings in modern times. Here is a look at some of the most memorable Marcus Aurelius quotes to know.
“A man’s worth is no greater than the worth of his ambitions.”
“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.”
“Because a thing seems difficult for you, do not think it impossible for anyone to accomplish.”
“Do every act of your life as though it were the very last act of your life.”
“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.”
“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.”
“Do what you will. Even if you tear yourself apart, most people will continue doing the same things.”
“Don’t go on discussing what a good person should be. Just be one.”
“Dwell on the beauty of life. Watch the stars, and see yourself running with them.”
“Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth.”
“For it is in your power to retire into yourself whenever you choose.”
“How much more grievous are the consequences of anger than the causes of it.”
“How much time he gains who does not look to see what his neighbour says or does or thinks, but only at what he does himself, to make it just and holy.”
“How ridiculous and how strange to be surprised at anything which happens in life”
“I have often wondered how it is that every man loves himself more than all the rest of men, but yet sets less value on his own opinion of himself than on the opinion of others.”
“If it is not right do not do it; if it is not true do not say it.”
“If you are distressed by anything external, the pain is not due to the thing itself, but to your estimate of it; and this you have the power to revoke at any moment.”
“It is not death that a man should fear, but he should fear never beginning to live.”
“Life is neither good or evil, but only a place for good and evil.”
“Look back over the past, with its changing empires that rose and fell, and you can foresee the future too.”
“Look well into thyself; there is a source of strength which will always spring up if thou wilt always look.”
“Never esteem anything as of advantage to you that will make you break your word or lose your self-respect.”
“Never let the future disturb you. You will meet it, if you have to, with the same weapons of reason which today arm you against the present.”
“Nothing happens to anybody which he is not fitted by nature to bear.”
Our life is what our thoughts make it – Marcus Aurelius #inspiration #outlook pic.twitter.com/JTU7HnAj4k
— Steve Shor (@ShorFilms) August 11, 2016
“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.”
“Our life is what our thoughts make it.”
“Perfection of character is this: to live each day as if it were your last, without frenzy, without apathy, without pretense.”
“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.”
“Reject your sense of injury and the injury itself disappears.”
“Remember that very little is needed to make a happy life.”
“The best revenge is not to be like your enemy.”
“The best revenge is to be unlike him who performed the injury.”
“The first rule is to keep an untroubled spirit. The second is to look things in the face and know them for what they are.”
“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 memory of everything is very soon overwhelmed in time.”
“The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane.”
“The soul becomes dyed with the colour of its thoughts.”
“The universe is change; our life is what our thoughts make it.”
“Think of yourself as dead. You have lived your life. Now, take what’s left and live it properly. What doesn’t transmit light creates its own darkness.”
“Very little is needed to make a happy life; it is all within yourself in your way of thinking.”
“Waste no more time arguing about what a good man should be. Be one.”
“What we do now echoes in eternity.”
“When you arise in the morning think of what a privilege it is to be alive, to think, to enjoy, to love …”
“Whenever you are about to find fault with someone, ask yourself the following question: What fault of mine most nearly resembles the one I am about to criticize?”
“Whoever does wrong, wrongs himself; whoever does injustice, does it to himself, making himself evil.”
“You always own the option of having no opinion. There is never any need to get worked up or to trouble your soul about things you can’t control. These things are not asking to be judged by you. Leave them alone.”
“You are a little soul carrying about a corpse, as Epictetus used to say.”
In this short segment, Christopher Gill goes on about the philosophical project and aims of Marcus Aurelius. Many questions are answered related to his key passages.
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