52 Famous Quotes by Marcus Aurelius

Marcus Aurelius was a Roman emperor who ruled from AD 161 until his death in AD 180. He is best known for his book "Meditations," which is a series of reflections on the nature of life, death, and the human condition. Aurelius's approach to philosophy emphasized the importance of self-discipline and rational thinking, and his work has had a significant impact on the development of Western philosophy. His legacy as a philosopher and emperor continues to inspire thinkers and leaders around the world. (Marcus Aurelius Biography).

Marcus Aurelius Famous Quotes

1. "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."

2. "You have power over your mind - not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength."

3. "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."

4. "The soul becomes dyed with the color of its thoughts."

5. "It is not death that a man should fear, but he should fear never beginning to live."

6. "A man's worth is no greater than his ambitions."

7. "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."

8. "If it is not right do not do it; if it is not true do not say it."

9. "Reject your sense of injury and the injury itself disappears."

10. "Nothing happens to any man that he is not formed by nature to bear."

11. "Very little is needed to make a happy life; it is all within yourself, in your way of thinking."

12. "Our life is what our thoughts make it."

13. "Waste no more time arguing about what a good man should be. Be one."

14. "Nothing has such power to broaden the mind as the ability to investigate systematically and truly all that comes under thy observation in life."

15. "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."

16. "That which is not good for the bee-hive cannot be good for the bees."

17. "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."

18. "The universe is change; our life is what our thoughts make it."

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

20. "Each day provides its own gifts."

21. "Poverty is the mother of crime."

22. "Do every act of your life as if it were your last."

23. "Loss is nothing else but change, and change is Nature's delight."

24. "The universe is transformation: life is opinion."

25. "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."

26. "The only wealth which you will keep forever is the wealth you have given away."

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

28. "Everything that happens happens as it should, and if you observe carefully, you will find this to be so."

29. "He who lives in harmony with himself lives in harmony with the universe."

30. "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 opinions of himself than on the opinions of others."

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

32. "Begin - to begin is half the work, let half still remain; again begin this, and thou wilt have finished."

33. "Nowhere can man find a quieter or more untroubled retreat than in his own soul."

34. "The art of living is more like wrestling than dancing."

35. "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.'"

36. "Look within. Within is the fountain of good, and it will ever bubble up, if thou wilt ever dig."

37. "Life is neither good or evil, but only a place for good and evil."

38. "Natural ability without education has more often raised a man to glory and virtue than education without natural ability."

39. "Observe constantly that all things take place by change, and accustom thyself to consider that the nature of the Universe loves nothing so much as to change the things which are, and to make new things like them."

40. "We ought to do good to others as simply as a horse runs, or a bee makes honey, or a vine bears grapes season after season without thinking of the grapes it has borne"

41. "Confine yourself to the present."

42. "Because your own strength is unequal to the task, do not assume that it is beyond the powers of man; but if anything is within the powers and province of man, believe that it is within your own compass also."

43. "Let men see, let them know, a real man, who lives as he was meant to live."

44. "Such as are your habitual thoughts, such also will be the character of your mind; for the soul is dyed by the thoughts."

45. "To the wise, life is a problem; to the fool, a solution."

46. "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."

47. "Because a thing seems difficult for you, do not think it impossible for anyone to accomplish."

48. "Tomorrow is nothing, today is too late; the good lived yesterday."

49. "A noble man compares and estimates himself by an idea which is higher than himself; and a mean man, by one lower than himself. The one produces aspiration; the other ambition, which is the way in which a vulgar man aspires."

50. "Anger cannot be dishonest."

51. "Be content to seem what you really are."

52. "Where a man can live, he can also live well."

― Marcus Aurelius Quotes

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Chief Editor

Tal Gur is an author, founder, and impact-driven entrepreneur at heart. After trading his daily grind for a life of his own daring design, he spent a decade pursuing 100 major life goals around the globe. His journey and most recent book, The Art of Fully Living, has led him to found Elevate Society.