"A man should be upright, not be kept upright."
--Marcus Aurelius
"A man's worth is no greater than his ambitions."
--Marcus Aurelius
"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."
--Marcus Aurelius
"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."
--Marcus Aurelius
"Adapt yourself to the things among which your lot has been cast and love sincerely the fellow creatures with whom destiny has ordained that you shall live."
--Marcus Aurelius
"And thou wilt give thyself relief, if thou doest every act of thy life as if it were the last."
--Marcus Aurelius
"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."
--Marcus Aurelius
"Aptitude found in the understanding and is often inherited. Genius coming from reason and imagination, rarely."
--Marcus Aurelius
"As the same fire assumes different shapes When it consumes objects differing in shape, So does the one Self take the shape Of every creature in whom he is present."
--Marcus Aurelius
"Because a thing seems difficult for you, do not think it impossible for anyone to accomplish."
--Marcus Aurelius
"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."
--Marcus Aurelius
"Begin - to begin is half the work, let half still remain; again begin this, and thou wilt have finished."
--Marcus Aurelius
"By a tranquil mind I mean nothing else than a mind well ordered."
--Marcus Aurelius
"Consider how much more you often suffer from your anger and grief, than from those very things for which you are angry and grieved."
--Marcus Aurelius
"Death is a release from the impressions of the senses, and from desires that make us their puppets, and from the vagaries of the mind, and from the hard service of the flesh."
--Marcus Aurelius
"Death, like birth, is a secret of Nature."
--Marcus Aurelius
"Despise not death, but welcome it, for nature wills it like all else."
--Marcus Aurelius
"Dig within. Within is the wellspring of Good; and it is always ready to bubble up, if you just dig."
--Marcus Aurelius
"Do every act of your life as if it were your last."
--Marcus Aurelius
"Each thing is of like form from everlasting and comes round again in its cycle."
--Marcus Aurelius
"Everything that exists is in a manner the seed of that which will be."
--Marcus Aurelius
"Everything that happens happens as it should, and if you observe carefully, you will find this to be so."
--Marcus Aurelius
"Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth."
--Marcus Aurelius
"Execute every act of thy life as though it were thy last."
--Marcus Aurelius
"Forward, as occasion offers. Never look round to see whether any shall note it... Be satisfied with success in even the smallest matter, and think that even such a result is no trifle."
--Marcus Aurelius
"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.''"
--Marcus Aurelius
Topic: Anger
"How much more grievous are the consequences of anger than the causes of it."
--Marcus Aurelius
"How much time he gains who does not look to see what his neighbor says or does or thinks, but only at what he does himself, to make it just and holy."
--Marcus Aurelius
"How much time he saves who does not look to see what his neighbor says or does or thinks."
--Marcus Aurelius
"If it is not right do not do it; if it is not true do not say it."
--Marcus Aurelius
"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."
--Marcus Aurelius
"If you are pained by external things, it is not they that disturb you, but your own judgment of them. And it is in your power to wipe out that judgment now."
--Marcus Aurelius
"In the morning, when you are sluggish about getting up, let this thought be present: 'I am rising to a man's work.'"
--Marcus Aurelius
"It is not death that a man should fear, but he should fear never beginning to live."
--Marcus Aurelius
"It is the act of a madman to pursue impossibilities."
--Marcus Aurelius
"Let it be your constant method to look into the design of people's actions, and see what they would be at, as often as it is practicable; and to make this custom the more significant, practice it first upon yourself."
--Marcus Aurelius
"Let men see, let them know, a real man, who lives as he was meant to live."
--Marcus Aurelius
"Let not your mind run on what you lack as much as on what you have already."
--Marcus Aurelius
Topic: Life
"Life is a stranger's sojourn, a night at an inn."
--Marcus Aurelius
"Look well into thyself; there is a source of strength which will always spring up if thou wilt always look there."
--Marcus Aurelius
"Look within. Within is the fountain of good, and it will ever bubble up, if thou wilt ever dig."
--Marcus Aurelius
"Loss is nothing else but change, and change is Nature's delight."
--Marcus Aurelius
Topic: Life
"Mark how fleeting and paltry is the estate of man--yesterday in embryo, tomorrow a mummy or ashes. So for the hairsbreadth of time assigned to thee, live rationally, and part with life cheerfully, as drops the ripe olive, extolling the season that bore it and the tree that matured it."
--Marcus Aurelius
"Men exist for the sake of one another."
--Marcus Aurelius
"Natural ability without education has more often raised a man to glory and virtue than education without natural ability."
--Marcus Aurelius
"Never esteem anything as of advantage to you that will make you break your word or lose your self-respect."
--Marcus Aurelius
"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."
--Marcus Aurelius
"Nothing happens to any man that he is not formed by nature to bear."
--Marcus Aurelius
"Nothing happens to any thing which that thing is not made by nature to bear."
--Marcus Aurelius
"Nothing happens to anybody which he is not fitted by nature to bear."
--Marcus Aurelius
"Nothing has such power to broaden the mind as the ability to investigate systematically and truly all that comes under thy observation in life."
--Marcus Aurelius
"Nowhere can man find a quieter or more untroubled retreat than in his own soul."
--Marcus Aurelius
"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."
--Marcus Aurelius
"Perhaps there are none more lazy, or more truly ignorant, than your everlasting readers."
--Marcus Aurelius
"Poverty is the mother of crime."
--Marcus Aurelius
Topic: Insults
"Reject your sense of injury and the injury itself disappears."
--Marcus Aurelius
"Remember this-that there is a proper dignity and proportion to be observed in the performance of every act of life."
--Marcus Aurelius
"Such as are your habitual thoughts, such also will be the character of your mind; for the soul is dyed by the thoughts."
--Marcus Aurelius
"That which is not good for the bee-hive cannot be good for the bees."
--Marcus Aurelius
"The act of dying is one of the acts of life."
--Marcus Aurelius
Topic: Life
"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 unseen attack."
--Marcus Aurelius
"The art of living is more like wrestling than dancing."
--Marcus Aurelius
Topic: Happiness
"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."
--Marcus Aurelius
"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."
--Marcus Aurelius
"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."
--Marcus Aurelius
"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."
--Marcus Aurelius
"The secret of all victory lies in the organization of the non-obvious."
--Marcus Aurelius
"The soul becomes dyed with the color of its thoughts."
--Marcus Aurelius
"The universal order and the personal order are nothing but different expressions and manifestations of a common underlying principle."
--Marcus Aurelius
"The universe is change; our life is what our thoughts make it."
--Marcus Aurelius
"The universe is transformation; our life is what our thoughts make it."
--Marcus Aurelius
"There are three classes into which all the women past seventy that ever I knew were to be divided: 1. That dear old soul; 2. That old woman; 3. That old witch."
--Marcus Aurelius
"Think not disdainfully of death, but look on it with favor; for even death is one of the things that Nature wills."
--Marcus Aurelius
"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."
--Marcus Aurelius
Topic: Time
"Time is a sort of river of passing events, and strong is its current; no sooner is a thing brought to site thn it is swept by and another takes its place, and this too will be swept away."
--Marcus Aurelius
Topic: Happiness
"To live happily is an inward power of the soul."
--Marcus Aurelius
"To refrain from imitation is the best revenge."
--Marcus Aurelius
"Very little is needed to make a happy life."
--Marcus Aurelius
"Waste no more time talking about great souls and how they should be. Become one yourself!"
--Marcus Aurelius
"We are too much accustomed to attribute to a single cause that which is the product of several, and the majority of our controversies come from that."
--Marcus Aurelius
"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."
--Marcus Aurelius
"What springs from earth dissolves to earth again, and heaven-born things fly to their native seat."
--Marcus Aurelius
"Whatever is in any way beautiful hath its source of beauty in itself, and is complete in itself; praise forms no part of it. So it is none the worse nor the better for being praised."
--Marcus Aurelius
"Whatever the universal nature assigns to any man at any time is for the good of that man at that time."
--Marcus Aurelius
"When thou art above measure angry, bethink thee how momentary is man's life."
--Marcus Aurelius
"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."
--Marcus Aurelius
"Where a man can live, he can also live well."
--Marcus Aurelius
"You have power over your mind - not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength."
--Marcus Aurelius
"You must become an old man in good time if you wish to be an old man long."
--Marcus Aurelius
"You will find rest from vain fancies if you perform every act in life as though it were your last."
--Marcus Aurelius
"Your life is what your thoughts make it."
--Marcus Aurelius
