Meditations Quotes

“And why should we feel anger at the world?

As if the world would notice.”
― Marcus Aurelius, Meditations: A New Translation

“It is quite possible to be a good man without anyone realizing it.”
― Marcus Aurelius, Meditations: A New Translation

“Or is it your reputation that’s bothering you? But look at how soon we’re all forgotten. The abyss of endless time that swallows it all. The emptiness of all those applauding hands. The people who praise us- how capricious they all are, how arbitrary. And the tiny region in which it all takes place. The whole earth a point in space- and most of it uninhabited. How many people there will be to admire you, and who they are.”
― Marcus Aurelius, Meditations: A New Translation

“Choose not to be harmed—and you won’t feel harmed.
Don’t feel harmed—and you haven’t been.”
― Marcus Aurelius, Meditations: A New Translation

“Like an attachment to a sparrow: we glimpse it and it’s gone.”
― Marcus Aurelius, Meditations: A New Translation

“Though you should be going to live three thousand years, and as many times ten thousand years, still remember that no man loses any other life than this which he now lives, nor lives any other than this which he now loses. The longest and shortest are thus brought to the same.

For the present is the same to all, though that which perishes is not the same; and so that which is lost appears to be a mere moment. For a man cannot lose either the past or the future, for what a man has not, how can any one take this from him?”
― Marcus Aurelius, Meditations: A New Translation

“States will never be happy until rulers become philosophers or philosophers become rulers.”
― Marcus Aurelius, Meditations: A New Translation

“# 4.7 Choose not to be harmed—and you won’t feel harmed.”
― Marcus Aurelius, Meditations: A New Translation

“...whatever happens has always happened, and always will, and is happening at this very moment, everywhere. Just like this.”
― Marcus Aurelius, Meditations: A New Translation

“Remester 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.”
― Marcus Aurelius, Meditations: A New Translation

“Suppose that a god announced that you were going to die tomorrow or the day after. Unless you were a complete coward, you wouldn't kick up a fuss about which day it was—what difference could it make? Now recognize that the difference between years from now and tomorrow is just as small.”
― Marcus Aurelius, Meditations: A New Translation

“Nothing that goes on in anyone else's mind can harm you. Nor can the shifts and changes in the world around you. Then where is harm to be found? In your capacity to see it.”
― Marcus Aurelius, Meditations: A New Translation

“The value of attentiveness varies in proportion to its object. You're better off not giving the small things more time than they deserve.”
― Marcus Aurelius, Meditations: A New Translation

“Poor: (adj.) requiring others; not having the necessities of life in one's own possession.”
― Marcus Aurelius, Meditations: A New Translation

“If you seek tranquility, do less. Or (more accurately) do what's essential—what the logos of a social being requires, and in the requisite way. […] 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?”
― Marcus Aurelius, Meditations: A New Translation

“# 8.9 Don’t be overheard complaining about life at court. Not even to yourself.”
― Marcus Aurelius, Meditations: A New Translation

“Not just that every day more of our life is used up and less and less of it is left, but this too: if we live longer, can we be sure our mind will still be up to understanding the world—to the contemplation that aims at divine and human knowledge? If our mind starts to wander, we'll still go on breathing, go on eating, imagining things, feeling urges and so on. But getting the most of ourselves, calculating where our duty lies, analyzing what we hear and see, deciding whether it's time to call it quits—all the things you need a healthy mind for... all those are gone.”
― Marcus Aurelius, Meditations: A New Translation

“Nothing earthly succeeds by ignoring heaven, nothing heavenly by ignoring the earth.”
― Marcus Aurelius, Meditations: A New Translation

“Under the supervision”
― Marcus Aurelius, Meditations: A New Translation

“It is not easy to see why one should pray to a power whose decisions one can hardly hope to influence, and”
― Marcus Aurelius, Meditations: A New Translation

“You boarded, you set sail, you’ve made the passage. Time to disembark. If it’s for another life, well, there’s nowhere without gods on that side either. If to nothingness, then you no longer have to put up with pain and pleasure, or go on dancing attendance on this battered crate, your body—so much inferior to that which serves it. One is mind and spirit, the other earth and garbage. #”
― Marcus Aurelius, Meditations: A New Translation