Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Quotes (80 Quotes)

Let goodness go with the doing.

Think often of how swiftly all things pass away and are no more the works of Nature and the works of man. The substance of the Universe, matter, is like unto a river that flows on forever. All things are not only in a constant state of change, but they are the cause of constant and infinite change in other things. Upon a narrow ledge thou standouts Behind thee, the bottomless abyss of the Past In front of thee, the Future that will swallow up all things that are now. Over what things, then, in this present life wilt thou, O foolish man, be disquieted or exalted making thyself wretched seeing that they can vex thee only for a time a brief, brief time.

Think of this doctrine That reasoning beings were created for one another's sake That to be patient is a branch of justice and that we often sin without intending it.

In mans life, time is but a moment being, a flux sense is dim the material frame corruptible soul, an eddy of breath fortune a thing inscrutable, and fame precarious.

Consider how much more you often suffer from your anger and grief, than from those very things for which you are angry and grieved.

As for life, it is a battle and a sojourning in a strange land but the fame that comes after is oblivion.

Death hangs over thee, While thou still live, while thou may, do good.

Flinch not, neither give up nor despair, if the achieving of every act in accordance with right principle is not always continuous with thee.

Men seek out retreats for themselves in the country, by the seaside, on the moutains ... But all this is unphilosophical to the last degree ... when thou canst at a moment's notice retire into thyself.

Things that have a common quality ever quickly seek their kind.

Dress not thy thoughts in too fine a raiment. And be not a man of superfluous words or superfluous deeds.

The constant recollection of death is the test of human conduct.

Ask thyself, daily, to how many ill-minded persons thou hast shown a kind disposition.

Forget not on every occasion to ask thyself, is this no tone of the unnecessary things.

It is a shameful thing for the soul to faint while the body still perseveres.

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.

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.

Mark how fleeting and paltry is the estate of manyesterday 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.

All is ephemeral fame and the famous as well.

Look well into thyself there is a source of strength which will always spring up if thou wilt always look there.

Be not as one that hath ten thousand years to live death is nigh at hand while thou livest, while thou hast time, be good.

I used to think it was awful that life was so unfair. Then I thought, wouldn't it be much worse if life were fair, and all the terrible things thathappen to us come because we actually deserve them So, now I take great comfort in the general hostility and unfairness of the universe.

Love the little trade which thou hast learned, and be content therewith.

Life is a warfare and a stranger's sojourn, and after fame is oblivion.

Live not as though there were a thousand years ahead of you. Fate is at your elbow make yourself good while life and power are still yours.

A person's life is dyed with the color of his imagination.

Men are created one for another, either then teach them or bear with.

As a horse when he has run, a dog when he has caught the game, a bee when it has made the honey, so a man when he has done a good act does not call out for others to come and see, but he goes on to another act, as a vine goes on to produce again the grapes in season. Must a man then be one of these, who in a manner acts thus without observing it Yes. What more dost thou want when thou hast done a man a service Art thou not content that thou hast done something conformable to thy nature, and dost thou seek to be paid for it, just as if the eye demanded a recompense for seeing, or the feet should demand a recompense for walking.

That which comes after ever conforms to that which has gone before.

Remember that what pulls the strings is the force hidden within there lies the power to persuade, there the life, there, if one must speak out, the real man.

Look beneath the surface let not the several quality of a thing nor its worth escape thee.

Deem not life a thing of consequence. For look at the yawning void of the future, and at that other limitless space, the past.

A man's life is what his thoughts make of it. Our life is what our thoughts make it.

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 unforeseen attack.

Let thine occupations be few, saith the sage, if thou wouldst lead a tranquil life.

Our wills are ours, to make them Thine.

To them that ask Where hast thou seen the Gods, or how knowest thou certainly that there be Gods, that thou art so devout in their worship I answer Neither have I seen my own soul, and yet I respect and honor it.

Remember how often you have postponed minding your interest, and let slip those opportunities the gods have given you. It is now high time to consider what sort of world you are part of, and from what kind of governor of it you are descended that you have a set period assigned you to act in, and unless you improve it to brighten and compose your thoughts, it will quickly run off with you, and be lost beyond recovery.

Just as the sand-dunes, heaped one upon another, hide each the first, so in life the former deeds are quickly hidden by those that follow after.

You will find rest from vain fancies if you perform every act in life as though it were your last.

The happiness and unhappiness of the rational, social animal depends not on what he feels but on what he does just as his virtue and vice consist not in feeling but in doing.

How powerful is man He is able to do all that God wishes him to do. He is able to accept all that God sends upon him.

Nothing happens to any man which he is not formed by nature to bear.

In the morning, when you are sluggish about getting up, let this thought be present 'I am rising to a man's work.'

Never esteem anything as of advantage to thee that shall make thee break thy word or lose thy self-respect.

Nothing can come out of nothing, any more than a thing can go back to nothing.

Think not disdainfully of death, but look on it with favor for even death is one of the things that Nature wills.

As surgeons keep their instruments and knives always at hand for cases requiring immediate treatment, so shouldst thou have thy thoughts ready to understand things divine and human, remembering in thy every act, even the smallest, how close is the bond that unites the two.

No form of Nature is inferior to Art for the arts merely imitate natural forms.

Man must be arched and buttressed from within, else the temple wavers to the dust.