Top 783 Quotes & Sayings by Marcus Aurelius - Page 3

Imagine you were now dead, or had not lived before his moment. Now view the rest of your life as a bonus.

Both happiness and unhappiness depend on perception

Your task is to stand straight; not to be held straight.

If any man despises me, that is his problem. My only concern is not doing or saying anything deserving of contempt.

The world is a living being - one nature, one soul. Keep that in mind.

You should banish any thoughts of how you may appear to others.

A man's true delight is to do the things he was made for.

A person's worth is measured by the worth of what he values.

When you are annoyed at someone's mistake, immediately look at yourself and reflect how you also fail; for example, in thinking that good equals money, or pleasure, or a bit of fame. By being mindful of this you'll quickly forget your anger, especially if you realize that the person was under stress, and could do little else. And, if you can, find a way to alleviate that stress.

It doesn't hurt me unless I interpret its happening as harmful to me. I can choose not to.

So much worse are the consequences of anger than its causes.

What does not benefit the hive is no benefit to the bee.

You have to assemble your life yourself - action by action.

Your days are numbered. Use them to throw open the windows of your soul to the sun. If you do not, the sun will soon set, and you with it.

The most complete revenge is not to imitate the aggressor.

Don't be ashamed to need help. Like a soldier storming a wall, you have a mission to accomplish. And if you've been wounded and you need a comrade to pull you up? So what?

Always bear this in mind, that very little indeed is necessary for living a happy life.

Past and future have no power over you. Just the present - and even that can be minimized.

When another blames you or hates you, or people voice similar criticisms, go to their souls, penetrate inside and see what sort of people they are. You will realize that there is no need to be racked with anxiety that they should hold any particular opinion about you.

Never esteem anything as of advantage to you that will make you break your word or lose your self-respect.

Remember that man lives only in the present, in this fleeting instant; all the rest of his life is either past and gone, or not yet revealed.

If you are pained by any external thing, it is not this that disturbs you, but your own judgment about it.

Be like the cliff against which the waves continually break; but it stands firm and tames the fury of the water around it.

Withdraw to the untroubled quietude deep within the soul, and refresh yourself.

It's silly to try to escape other people's faults. They are inescapable. Just try to escape your own.

Whatever may happen to you was prepared for you from all eternity; and the implication of causes was from eternity spinning the thread of your being.

Everything is interwoven, and the web is holy.

Does what's happened keep you from acting with justice, generosity, self-control, sanity, prudence, honesty, humility, straightforward ness, and all other qualities that allow a person's nature to fulfill itself? So remember 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.

Discard everything except these few truths: we can live only in the present moment, in this brief now; all the rest of our life is dead and buried or shrouded in uncertainty. Short is the life we lead, and small our patch of earth.

The time is at hand when you will have forgotten everything; and the time is at hand when all will have forgotten you. Always reflect that soon you will be no one, and nowhere.

Whosoever does wrong, wrongs himself; whosoever does injustice, does it to himself, making himself evil.

Welcome every experience the looms of fate may weave for you.

I cannot comprehend how any man can want anything but the truth.

The cucumber is bitter? Then throw it out. There are brambles in the path? Then go around. That's all you need to know.

Live each day as if it be your last.

Failing to understand the workings of one's own mind is bound to lead to unhappiness.

Treat with utmost respect your power of forming opinions, for this power alone guards you against making assumptions that are contrary to nature and judgments that overthrow the rule of reason.

Practice really hearing what people say. Do your best to get inside their mind.

Remember: Matter: how tiny your share of it. Time: how brief and fleeting your allotment of it. Fate: how small a role you play in it.

In the end, what would you gain from everlasting remembrance? Absolutely nothing. So what is left worth living for? This alone: justice in thought, goodness in action, speech that cannot deceive, and a disposition glad of whatever comes, welcoming it as necessary, as familiar, as flowing from the same source and fountain as yourself.

If you are pained by any external thing, it is not this thing that disturbs you, but your own judgment about it. It is in your power to erase this judgment about it. If anything in your own nature gives you pain, you are who hinders you from correcting your opinion.

What we do now echoes in eternity.

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 those applauding hands. The people who praise us; how capricious they are, how arbitrary. And the tiny region it takes place. The whole earth a point in space - and most of it uninhabited.

Everything that happens, happens as it should.

The wise man sees in the misfortune of others what he should avoid.

Frequently consider the connection of all things in the universe. .. We should not say 'I am an Athenian' or 'I am a Roman' but 'I am a citizen of the Universe.

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

God sees the inner spirit stripped of flesh, skin, and all debris. For his own mind only touches the spirit that he has allowed to flow from himself into our bodies. And if you can act the same way, you will rid yourself of all suffering. For surely if you are not preoccupied with the body that encloses you, you will not trouble yourself about clothes, houses, fame, and other showy trappings.

Every man's life lies within the present; for the past is spent and done with, and the future is uncertain.

Nothing befalls any man which he is not fitted to endure.

One of the recurring themes in Marcus' handbook is leadership's responsibility to work intelligently with what it is given and not waste time fantasizing about a world of flawless people and perfect choices.

When you are offended at anyone's fault, turn to yourself and study your own failings. By attending to them, you will forget your anger and learn to live wisely.

Do not waste what remains of your life in speculating about your neighbors, unless with a view to some mutual benefit. To wonder what so-and-so is doing and why, or what he is saying, or thinking, or scheming -- in a word, anything that distracts you from fidelity to the ruler within you -- means a loss of opportunity for some other task.

Why should anyone be afraid of change? What can take place without it? What can be more pleasing or more suitable to universal nature? Can you take your bath without the firewood undergoing a change? Can you eat without the food undergoing a change? And can anything useful be done without change? Don't you see that for you to change is just the same, and is equally necessary for universal nature?

Remember that all is opinion.

How can a man find a sensible way to live? One way and one only- Philosophy. And my philosophy means keeping that vital spark within you free from damage and degradation, using it to transcend pain and pleasure, doing everything with a purpose, avoiding lies and hypocrisy, not relying on another person's actions or failings. To accept everything that comes, and everything that is given, as coming from that same spiritual source.

Reject your sense of injury, and the injury itself disappears.

All things are linked with one another, and this oneness is sacred; there is nothing that is not interconnected with everything else. For things are interdependent, and they combine to form this universal order. There is only one universe made up of all things, and one creator who pervades them; there is one substance and one law, namely, common reason in all thinking creatures, and all truth is one-if, as we believe, there is only one path of perfection for all beings who share the same mind.

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

If you separate from . . . everything you have done in the past, everything that disturbs you about the future . . . and apply yourself to living the life that you are living-that is to say, the present-you can live all the time that remains to you until your death in calm, benevolence, and serenity.