Complete Works of Marcus Aurelius Quotes

“The character of thy mind will be such as is the character of thy frequent thoughts, for the soul takes its dye from the thoughts.”
― Marcus Aurelius, Complete Works of Marcus Aurelius

“to grumble at anything that happens is a rebellion against Nature, in some part of which are bound up the natures of all other things.”
― Marcus Aurelius, Complete Works of Marcus Aurelius

“In reading and writing thou must learn first to follow instruction before thou canst give it. Much more is this true of life.”
― Marcus Aurelius, Complete Works of Marcus Aurelius

“Thou mayest live out thy life with none to constrain thee in the utmost peace of mind even though the whole world cry out against thee what they will,”
― Marcus Aurelius, Complete Works of Marcus Aurelius

“Forget not in future, when anything would lead you to feel hurt, to take your stand upon this axiom: This is no misfortune, but to bear it nobly is good fortune.”
― Marcus Aurelius, Complete Works of Marcus Aurelius

“Be like a headland of rock on which the waves break incessantly; but it stands fast and around it the seething of the waters sinks to rest. Ah, unlucky am I, that this has befallen me! No, but rather, lucky am I, that though this has befallen me, yet am I still unhurt, neither crushed by the present nor dreading the future.”
― Marcus Aurelius, Complete Works of Marcus Aurelius

“Hast thou looked on that side of the picture? Look now on this! Fret not thyself; study to be simple. Does a man do wrong? The wrong rests with him. Has something befallen thee? It is well. Everything that befalls was from the beginning destined and spun for thee as thy share out of the Whole. In a word, life is short. Make profit of the present by right reasoning and justice. In thy relaxation be sober.”
― Marcus Aurelius, Complete Works of Marcus Aurelius

“Of the life of man the duration is but a point, its substance streaming away, its perception dim, the fabric of the entire body prone to decay, and the soul a vortex, and fortune incalculable, and fame uncertain. In a word all the things of the body are as a river, and the things of the soul as a dream and a vapour; and life is a warfare and a pilgrim’s sojourn, and fame after death is only forgetfulness.”
― Marcus Aurelius, Complete Works of Marcus Aurelius

“A professional problem, O King, occupied me, and the mind, when so engaged, must not be detached from the prosecution of its enquiry.”
― Marcus Aurelius, Complete Works of Marcus Aurelius

“nothing is but what thinking makes it.”
― Marcus Aurelius, Complete Works of Marcus Aurelius

“It is in thy power to rid thyself of many unnecessary troubles, for they exist wholly in thy imagination. Thou wilt at once set thy feet in a large room by embracing the whole Universe in thy mind and including in thy purview time ever lasting, and by observing the rapid change in every part of everything, and the shortness of the span between birth and dissolution, and that the yawning immensity before birth is only matched by the infinity after our dissolution.”
― Marcus Aurelius, Complete Works of Marcus Aurelius

“When men blame or hate you or give utterance to some such feelings against you, turn to their souls, enter into them, and see what sort of men they are. You will perceive that you need not be concerned as to what they think of you.”
― Marcus Aurelius, Complete Works of Marcus Aurelius

“Do thy work not as a drudge, nor as desirous of pity or praise. Desire one thing only, to act or not to act as civic reason directs.”
― Marcus Aurelius, Complete Works of Marcus Aurelius

“Dread of death is a dread of non-sensation or new sensation. But either thou wilt feel no sensation, and so no sensation of any evil; or a different kind of sensation will be thine, and so the life of a different creature, but still a life.”
― Marcus Aurelius, Complete Works of Marcus Aurelius

“They kill us, they cut us limb from limb, they hunt us with execrations! How does that prevent thy mind being still pure, sane, sober, just? Imagine a man to stand by a crystal-clear spring of sweet water, and to rail at it; yet it fails not to bubble up with wholesome water. Throw in mud or even filth and it will quickly winnow them away and purge itself of them and take never a stain. How then possess thyself of a living fountain and no mere well? By guiding thyself carefully every hour into freedom with kindliness, simplicity, and modesty.”
― Marcus Aurelius, Complete Works of Marcus Aurelius

“Be not dilatory in doing, nor confused in conversation, nor vague in thought; let not thy soul be wholly concentred in itself nor uncontrollably agitated; leave thyself leisure in thy life.”
― Marcus Aurelius, Complete Works of Marcus Aurelius

“Never forget that the ruling Reason shews itself unconquerable when, concentrated in itself, it is content with itself so it do nothing that it doth not will, even if it refuse from mere opposition and not from reason much more, then, if it judge of a thing on reasonable grounds and advisedly. Therefore the Mind, unmastered by passions, is a very citadel, for a man has no fortress more impregnable wherein to find refuge and be untaken for ever. He indeed who hath not seen this is ignorant, but he that hath seen it and takes not refuge therein is luckless.”
― Marcus Aurelius, Complete Works of Marcus Aurelius

“Repentance is a sort of self-reproach at some useful thing passed by; but the good must needs be a useful thing, and ever to be cultivated by the true good man; but the true good man would never regret having passed a pleasure by. Pleasure therefore is neither a useful thing nor a good.”
― Marcus Aurelius, Complete Works of Marcus Aurelius

“Firstly, fret not thyself, for all things are as the Nature of the Universe would have them, and within a little thou shalt be non-existent, and nowhere, like Hadrianus and Augustus. Secondly, look stead fastly at the thing, and see it as it is and, remembering withal that thou must be a good man, and what the Nature of man calls for, do this without swerving, and speak as seemeth to thee most just, only be it graciously, modestly, and without feigning.”
― Marcus Aurelius, Complete Works of Marcus Aurelius

“Thou mayst burst thyself with rage, but they will go on doing the same things none the less.”
― Marcus Aurelius, Complete Works of Marcus Aurelius

“If then your eyes have really seen where the truth lies, do not care any more what men shall think of you, but be content if the rest of you life, whether long or short, be lived as your nature wills.”
― Marcus Aurelius, Complete Works of Marcus Aurelius

“The business of life is more akin to wrestling than dancing, for it requires of us to stand ready and unshakable against every assault however unforeseen.”
― Marcus Aurelius, Complete Works of Marcus Aurelius

“Efface imagination! Cease to be pulled as a puppet by thy passions. Isolate the present. Recognize what befalls either, thee or another. Dissect and analyze all that comes under thy ken into the Causal and the Material. Meditate on thy last hour. Let the wrong thy neighbour does thee rest with him that did the wrong;”
― Marcus Aurelius, Complete Works of Marcus Aurelius

“Through the universal Substance as through a rushing torrent all bodies pass on their way, united with the Whole in nature and activity, as our members are with one another.”
― Marcus Aurelius, Complete Works of Marcus Aurelius

“In conversation keep abreast of what is being said, and, in every effort, of what is being done. In the latter see from the first to what end it has reference, and in the former be careful to catch the meaning.”
― Marcus Aurelius, Complete Works of Marcus Aurelius

“Thou canst begin a new life! See but things afresh as thou usedst to see them; for in this consists the new life.”
― Marcus Aurelius, Complete Works of Marcus Aurelius

“Train thyself to pay careful attention to what is being said by another and as far as possible enter into his soul.”
― Marcus Aurelius, Complete Works of Marcus Aurelius

“It is a disgrace for the soul to be the first to succumb in that life in which the body does not succumb.”
― Marcus Aurelius, Complete Works of Marcus Aurelius

“How intolerant it is not to permit men to cherish an impulse towards what is in their eyes congenial and advantageous! Yet in a sense thou withholdest from them the right to do this, when thou resentest their wrong-doing. For they are undoubtedly drawn to what they deem congenial and advantageous. But they are mistaken. Well, then, teach and enlighten them without any resentment.”
― Marcus Aurelius, Complete Works of Marcus Aurelius

“Make no difference in doing thy duty whether thou art shivering or warm, drowsy or sleep-satisfied, defamed or extolled, dying or anything else. For the act of dying too is one of the acts of life. So it is enough in this also to get the work in hand done well.”
― Marcus Aurelius, Complete Works of Marcus Aurelius