451 Marcus Aurelius Quotes on Life and Success

Marcus Aurelius, a revered Roman emperor and philosopher, was renowned for his Stoic wisdom, as encapsulated in his book “Meditations.”

Born in Rome on April 26, 121 CE, he was named Marcus Annius Verus, a title some say he acquired after his father’s demise.

Emperor Hadrian supervised his early education and he was later adopted by Emperor Antoninus Pius in 138 CE.

In 161 CE, Marcus Aurelius ascended to the emperor’s throne, succeeding Antoninus Pius.

Marcus-Aurelius-Quotes

His reign was characterized by significant military conflicts, including Germanic invasions and rebellions in northern Italy and Egypt.

Despite the challenges, his philosophical insights on life and success remained profound.

Marcus Aurelius’s life journey ended on March 17, 180 CE, in either Vindobona, now Vienna, Austria, or Sirmium, now Sremska Mitrovica, Serbia.

Related: Buddha Quotes and Socrates Quotes.

His words of wisdom continue to inspire millions around the globe.

I’ve put up a selection of the finest Marcus Aurelius Quotes to help you live your best life.


Marcus Aurelius Quotes

Marcus Aurelius Quotes on Life, Death, Love, Leadership, and Success

1. “Our life is what our thoughts make it.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

2. “Death smiles at us all, all a man can do is smile back.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

3. “The impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

4. “Waste no more time arguing about what a good man should be. Be one.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

5. “It is not death that a man should fear, but he should fear never beginning to live.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

6. “You have power over your mind, not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

7. “Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

8. “What we do now echoes in eternity.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

9. “The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

10. “When you arise in the morning think of what a privilege it is to be alive, to think, to enjoy, to love.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

Best Marcus Aurelius Quotes

11. “If I and my two children cannot move the gods, the gods must have their reasons.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

12. “Not to waste time on nonsense. Not to be taken in by conjurors and hoodoo artists with their talk about incantations and exorcism and all the rest of it. Not to be obsessed with quail-fighting or other crazes like that.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

13. “Put it out of the power of truth to give you an ill character. If anybody reports you not to be an honest man let your practice give him the lie.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

14. “I, who have never willfully pained another, have no business to pain myself.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

15. “Let your one delight and refreshment be to pass from one service to the community to another, with God ever in mind.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

16. “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).

17. “The best revenge is to be unlike him who performed the injury.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

18. “Reject your sense of injury and the injury itself disappears.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

19. “The soul becomes dyed with the color of its thoughts.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

20. “Receive without conceit, release without struggle.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

21. “Be tolerant with others and strict with yourself.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

22. “Confine yourself to the present.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

Powerful Marcus Aurelius Quotes

23. “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).

24. “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).

25. “Most of what we say and do is not essential. If you can eliminate it, you’ll have more time, and more tranquillity. Ask yourself at every moment, ‘Is this necessary?’” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

26. “It is the responsibility of leadership to work intelligently with what is given, and not waste time fantasizing about a world of flawless people and perfect choices.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

27. “It never ceases to amaze me: we all love ourselves more than other people, but care more about their opinions than our own.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

28. “Objective judgement, now, at this very moment. Unselfish action, now, at this very moment. Willing acceptance – now, at this very moment – of all external events. That’s all you need.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

29. “Life is neither good or evil, but only a place for good and evil.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

30. “You always own the option of having no opinion. There is never any need to get worked up or to trouble your soul about things you can’t control. These things are not asking to be judged by you. Leave them alone.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

31. “Whenever you are about to find fault with someone, ask yourself the following question: What fault of mine most nearly resembles the one I am about to criticize?” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

32. “If someone can prove me wrong and show me my mistake in any thought or action, I shall gladly change. I seek the truth, which never harmed anyone: the harm is to persist in one’s own self-deception and ignorance.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

33. “Choose not to be harmed and you won’t feel harmed. Don’t feel harmed and you haven’t been.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

34. “He who lives in harmony with himself lives in harmony with the universe.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

35. “Do not act as if you had a thousand years to live.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

Wise Marcus Aurelius Quotes

36. “The memory of everything is very soon overwhelmed in time.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

37. “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).

38. “What doesn’t transmit light creates its own darkness.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

39. “Think of what you have rather than of what you lack. Of the things you have, select the best and then reflect how eagerly you would have sought them if you did not have them.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

40. “Whoever values peace of mind and the health of the soul will live the best of all possible lives.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

41. “Each day provides its own gifts.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

42. “For it is in your power to retire into yourself whenever you choose.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

43. “I’m going to be meeting with people today who talk too much – people who are selfish, egotistical, ungrateful. But I won’t be surprised or disturbed, for I can’t imagine a world without such people.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

44. “Do not think that what is hard for you to master is humanly impossible; but if a thing is humanly possible, consider it to be within your reach.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

45. “Nothing happens to anybody which he is not fitted by nature to bear.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

46. “Death and life, success and failure, pain and pleasure, wealth and poverty, all these happen to good and bad alike, and they are neither noble nor shameful – and hence neither good nor bad.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

47. “Loss is nothing else but change, and change is Nature’s delight.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

48. “It’s time you realized that you have something in you more powerful and miraculous than the things that affect you and make you dance like a puppet.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

49. “Do not act as if you were going to live ten thousand years. Death hangs over you. While you live, while it is in your power, be good.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

50. “To the wise, life is a problem; to the fool, a solution.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

51. “Nature in no case cometh short of art, for the arts are copiers of natural forms.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

52. “The secret of all victory lies in the organization of the non-obvious.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

53. “The things you think about determine the quality of your mind. Your soul takes on the color of your thoughts.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

Famous Marcus Aurelius Quotes

54. “The happiness of those who want to be popular depends on others; the happiness of those who seek pleasure fluctuates with moods outside their control; but the happiness of the wise grows out of their own free acts.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

55. “The body of an actor can be either his best friend or his worst enemy.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

56. “Live your life as if you are ready to say goodbye to it at any moment, as if the time left for you were some pleasant surprise.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

57. “Do every act of your life as if it were your last.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

58. “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).

59. “Do not be wise in words – be wise in deeds.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

60. “The opinion of 10,000 men is of no value if none of them know anything about the subject.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

61. “I have often wondered how it is that every man loves himself more than all the rest of men, but yet sets less value on his own opinions of himself than on the opinions of others.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

62. “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.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

63. “Begin – to begin is half the work, let half still remain; again begin this, and thou wilt have finished.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

64. “How much more grievous are the consequences of anger than the causes of it.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

65. “Soon you will have forgotten the world, and soon the world will have forgotten you.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

66. “Nowhere can man find a quieter or more untroubled retreat than in his own soul.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

67. “Remember that very little is needed to make a happy life.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

68. “If unwilling to rise in the morning, say to thyself, ‘I awake to do the work of a man.’” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

69. “A man’s true delight is to do the things he was made for.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

70. “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).

71. “It is not the body, nor the personality that is the true self. The true self is eternal. Even on the point of death we can say to ourselves, “my true self is free. I cannot be contained.”” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

72. “Your mind will be like its habitual thoughts; for the soul becomes dyed with the color of its thoughts. Soak it then in such trains of thoughts as, for example: where life is possible at all, a right life is possible.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

73. “Do not indulge in dreams of having what you have not, but reckon up the chief of the blessings you do possess, and then thankfully remember how you would crave for them if they were not yours.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

74. “It’s silly to try to escape other people’s faults. They are inescapable. Just try to escape your own.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

75. “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.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

76. “You don’t have to turn this into something. It doesn’t have to upset you. Things can’t shape our decisions by themselves.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

77. “Ambition means tying your well-being to what other people say or do. Self-indulgence means tying it to the things that happen to you. Sanity means tying it to your own actions.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

78. “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).

79. “Look back over the past, with its changing empires that rose and fell, and you can foresee the future, too.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

80. “Be like the cliff against which the waves continually break; but it stands firm and tames the fury of the water around it.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

81. “Everything that happens happens as it should, and if you observe carefully, you will find this to be so.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

82. “Be like the rocky headland on which the waves constantly break. It stands firm, and round it the seething waters are laid to rest.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

83. “It’s normal to feel pain in your hands and feet, if you’re using your feet as feet and your hands as hands. And for a human being to feel stress is normal – if he’s living a normal life. And if it’s normal, how can it be bad?” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

84. “There was a dream that was Rome. You could only whisper it. Anything more than a whisper and it would vanish, it was so fragile.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

85. “Stop whatever you’re doing for a moment and ask yourself: Am I afraid of death because I won’t be able to do this anymore?” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

86. “Whoever does wrong, wrongs himself; whoever does injustice, does it to himself, making himself evil.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

87. “Why should we feel anger at the world? As if the world would notice?” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

88. “Let not your mind run on what you lack as much as on what you have already.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

89. “The cucumber is bitter? Then throw it out. There are brambles in the path? Then go around. That’s all you need to know.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

90. “Because a thing seems difficult for you, do not think it impossible for anyone to accomplish.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

91. “Everything is interwoven, and the web is holy; none of its parts are unconnected. They are composed harmoniously, and together – they compose the world.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

92. “You have to assemble your life yourself – action by action.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

93. “My true Self is free. I cannot be contained.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

94. “For any particular thing, ask: What is it in itself? What is its nature?” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

95. “That which is not good for the bee-hive cannot be good for the bees.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

96. “External things are not the problem. It’s your assessment of them. Which you can erase right now.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

97. “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.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

98. “All things fade and quickly turn to myth.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

Great Marcus Aurelius Quotes

99. “Receive wealth or prosperity without arrogance; and be ready to let it go.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

100. “Every living organism is fulfilled when it follows the right path for its own nature.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

101. “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.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

102. “In the morning when thou risest unwillingly, let this thought be present – I am rising to the work of a human being. Why then am I dissatisfied if I am going to do the things for which I exist and for which I was brought into the world?” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

103. “Your task is to stand straight; not to be held straight.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

104. “The art of living is more like wrestling than dancing.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

105. “When force of circumstance upsets your equanimity lose no time in recovering your self-control, and do not remain out of tune longer than you can help. Habitual recurrence to the harmony will increase your mastery of it.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

106. “The blazing fire makes flames and brightness out of everything thrown into it.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

107. “It is in your power to withdraw yourself whenever you desire. Perfect tranquility within consists in the good ordering of the mind, the realm of your own.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

108. “To refrain from imitation is the best revenge.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

109. “Look well into thyself; there is a source of strength which will always spring up if thou wilt always look.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

110. “He who pays no attention to what his neighbor does, says or thinks, preferring to concentrate on making his own actions appropriate and justifiable, better uses his time.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

111. “Regain your senses, call yourself back, and once again wake up. Now that you realize that only dreams were troubling you, view this ‘reality’ as you view your dreams.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

112. “No one was ever injured by the truth; but he who persists in self-deception and ignorance is injured.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

113. “A little flesh, a little breath, and a Reason to rule all – that is myself.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

114. “A man must stand erect, not be kept erect by others.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

115. “Find joy in simplicity, self-respect, and indifference to what lies between virtue and vice. Love the human race. Follow the divine.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

116. “Humans have come into being for the sake of each other, so either teach them, or learn to bear them.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

117. “Be content to seem what you really are.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

118. “Accept whatever comes to you woven in the pattern of your destiny, for what could more aptly fit your needs?” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

119. “Your manners will depend very much upon the quality of what you frequently think on; for the soul is as it were tinged with the colour and complexion of thought.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

120. “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.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

121. “You are a little soul carrying about a corpse, as Epictetus used to say.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

122. “Whatever anyone does or says, I must be emerald and keep my colour.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

123. “Never value anything as profitable to thyself which shall compel thee to break thy promise, to lose thy self-respect, to hate any man, to suspect, to curse, to act the hypocrite, to desire anything which needs walls and curtains.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

124. “Take the shortest route. The one that nature planned – to speak and act in the healthiest way. Do that, and be free of pain and stress, free of all calculations and pretension.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

125. “We are born for cooperation.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

126. “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.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

127. “Spend your brief moment according to nature’s law, and serenely greet the journey’s end as an olive falls when it is ripe, blessing the branch that bare it, and giving thanks to the tree that gave it life.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

128. “Body. Soul. Mind. Sensations: the body. Desires: the soul. Reasoning: the mind.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

129. “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).

130. “When jarred, unavoidably, by circumstance revert at once to yourself and don’t lose the rhythm more than you can help. You’ll have a better grasp of harmony if you keep going back to it.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

Meaningful Marcus Aurelius Quotes

131. “Were you to live three thousand years, or even thirty thousand, remember that the sole life which a man can lose is that which he is living at the moment; and furthermore, that he can have no other life except the one he loses…” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

132. “The perfection of moral character consists in this, in passing every day as the last, and in being neither violently excited nor torpid nor playing the hypocrite.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

133. “Look to nothing, not even for a moment except to reason.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

134. “One universe made up all that is; and one God in it all, and one principle of being, and one law, the reason shared by all thinking creatures, and one truth.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

135. “And in the case of superior things like stars, we discover a kind of unity in separation. The higher we rise on the scale of being, the easier it is to discern a connection even among things separated by vast distances.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

136. “I will march on in the path of nature till my legs sink under me, and then I shall be at rest, and expire into that air which has given me my daily breath.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

137. “Yet living and dying, honour and dishonour, pain and pleasure, riches and poverty, and so forth are equally the lot of good men and bad. Things like these neither elevate nor degrade; and therefore they are no more good than they are evil.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

138. “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.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

139. “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).

140. “Perhaps there are none more lazy, or more truly ignorant, than your everlasting readers.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

141. “Flinch not, neither give up nor despair, if the achieving of every act in accordance with right principle is not always continuous with thee.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

142. “If any man can convince me and bring home to me that which I do not think or act aright, gladly will I change; for I search after truth, by which man never yet was harmed. But he is harmed who abideth on still in his deception and ignorance.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

143. “The universal order and the personal order are nothing but different expressions and manifestations of a common underlying principle.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

144. “The soul is dyed by the thoughts. Dye it then, with a continuous series of such thoughts as these – that where a man can live, there – if he will – he can also live well.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

145. “Remind oneself continually of one of those who practiced virtue in days gone by.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

146. “Pray look upon the plants and birds, the ants, spiders, and bees, and you will see them all exerting their nature, and busy in their station. Pray, shall not a man act like a man?” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

147. “Deem not life a thing of consequence. For look at the yawning void of the future, and at that other limitless space, the past.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

148. “Think of yourself as dead. You have lived your life. Now, take what’s left and live it properly. What doesn’t transmit light creates its own darkness.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

149. “Short-lived are both the praiser and the praised, and rememberer and the remembered: and all this in a nook of this part of the world; and not even here do all agree, no, not any one with himself: and the whole earth too is a point.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

150. “Direct thy attention to what is said. Let thy understanding enter into the things that are doing and the things which do them.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

151. “If you are pained by any external thing, it is not this that disturbs you, but your own judgment about it.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

152. “The only wealth which you will keep forever is the wealth you have given away.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

153. “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?” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

154. “The intelligence of the universe is social.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

155. “Just as nature takes every obstacle, every impediment, and works around it – turns it to its purposes, incorporates it into itself, so, too, a rational being can turn each setback into raw material and use it to achieve its goal.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

156. “Alexander the Great and his mule driver both died and the same thing happened to both.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

157. “The only thing that isn’t worthless: to live this life out truthfully and rightly, And be patience with those who don’t.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

158. “In reading and writing, you cannot lay down rules until you have learnt to obey them. Much more so in life.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

159. “Leave other people’s mistakes where they lie.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

160. “Your time has a limit set to it. Use it, then, to advance your enlightenment; or it will be gone, and never in your power again.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

161. “When pain is unbearable it destroys us; when it does not it is bearable.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

162. “The universe is in change, life is an opinion.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

163. “Poverty is the mother of crime.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

164. “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).

165. “Past and future have no power over you. Just the present – and even that can be minimized.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

166. “Everything is in a state of metamorphosis. Thou thyself art in everlasting change and in corruption to correspond; so is the whole universe.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

167. “This is moral perfection: to live each day as though it were the last; to be tranquil, sincere, yet not indifferent to one’s fate.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

168. “If you do everything as if it were the last thing you were doing in your life, and stop being aimless, stop letting your emotions override what your mind tells you, stop being hypocritical, self-centered, irritable.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

169. “Because other people are fools, must you be so too?” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

170. “There is but one thing of real value – to cultivate truth and justice, and to live without anger in the midst of lying and unjust men.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

171. “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.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

172. “Never esteem anything as of advantage to you that will make you break your word or lose your self-respect.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

173. “A man should be upright, not be kept upright.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

174. “I was once a fortunate man but at some point fortune abandoned me. But true good fortune is what you make for yourself. Good fortune: good character, good intentions, and good actions.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

175. “Live out your life in truth and justice, tolerant of those who are neither true nor just.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

176. “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).

177. “Love the people with whom fate brings you together.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

178. “Bear in mind that the measure of a man is the worth of the things he cares about.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

179. “If any man despises me, that is his problem. My only concern is not doing or saying anything deserving of contempt.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

180. “People who labor all their lives but have no purpose to direct every thought and impulse toward are wasting their time-even when hard at work.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

181. “How much time he saves who does not look to see what his neighbor says or does or thinks.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

182. “Let no act be done without purpose.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

183. “Look within. Within is the fountain of good, and it will ever bubble up, if thou wilt ever dig.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

184. “We are born for synergy, just like the feet, just like the hands, just like the eyes, just like the rows of upper and lower teeth. Working against each other is unnatural, and being annoyed and turning one’s back is counterproductive.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

185. “Pass then through this little space of time conformably to nature, and end thy journey in content, just as an olive falls off when it is ripe, blessing nature who produced it, and thanking the tree on which it grew.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

186. “The world is a living being – one nature, one soul. Keep that in mind.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

187. “Our anger and annoyance are more detrimental to us than the things themselves which anger or annoy us.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

188. “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).

189. “Observe the movements of the stars as if you were running their courses with them, and let your mind constantly dwell on the changes of the elements into each other. Such imaginings wash away the filth of life on the ground.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

190. “The stone that is thrown into the air is none the worse for falling down, and none the better for going up.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

191. “Let men see, let them know, a real man, who lives as he was meant to live.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

192. “Look to the essence of a thing, whether it be a point of doctrine, of practice, or of interpretation.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

193. “If it’s in your control, why do you do it? If it’s in someone else’s control, then who are you blaming? Atoms? The gods? Stupid either way. Blame no one. Set people straight, if you can. If not, just repair the damage.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

194. “Misfortune nobly born is good fortune.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

195. “Live not one’s life as though one had a thousand years, but live each day as the last.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

196. “No man is happy who does not think himself so.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

197. “It doesn’t hurt me unless I interpret its happening as harmful to me. I can choose not to.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

198. “Cultivate these, then, for they are wholly within your power: sincerity and dignity; industriousness; and sobriety. Avoid grumbling, be frugal, considerate, and frank; be temperate in manner and speech; carry yourself with authority.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

199. “Death, like birth, is a secret of Nature.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

200. “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.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

201. “A man should remove not only unnecessary acts, but also unnecessary thoughts, for then superfluous activity will not follow.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

202. “Limit time to the present. Meditate upon your last hour.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

203. “There is a limit circumscribed to your time – if you do not use it to clear away your clouds, it will be gone, and you will be gone, and the opportunity will not return.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

204. “Whatever the universal nature assigns to any man at any time is for the good of that man at that time.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

205. “We are born for cooperation, as are the feet, the hands, the eyelids, and the upper and lower jaws.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

206. “Don’t let your imagination be crushed by life as a whole.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

207. “Understand however that every man is worth just so much as the things are worth about which he busies himself.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

208. “Life is short. That’s all there is to say. Get what you can from the present – thoughtfully, justly.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

209. “Life is short. Do not forget about the most important things in our life, living for other people and doing good for them.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

210. “Everything harmonizes with me, which is harmonious to thee, o Universe. Nothing for me is too early or too late, which is in due time for thee.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

211. “Does the light of the lamp shine without losing its splendour until it is extinguished; and shall the truth which is in thee and justice and temperance be extinguished before thy death?” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

212. “Be not careless in deeds, nor confused in words, nor rambling in thought.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

213. “All is as thinking makes it so.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

214. “Natural ability without education has more often raised a man to glory and virtue than education without natural ability.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

215. “Do not expect Plato’s ideal republic; be satisfied with even the smallest step forward, and consider this no small achievement.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

216. “To breathe, to think, to enjoy, to love.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

217. “People find pressure in different ways. I find it in keeping my mind clear. In not turning away from people or the things that happen to them. In accepting and welcoming everything I see. In treating each thing as it deserves.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

218. “Embellish the soul with simplicity, with prudence, and everything which is neither virtuous nor vicious. Love all men. Walk according to God; for, as a poet hath said, his laws govern all.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

219. “Purge your mind of all aimless and idle thoughts, especially those that pry into the affairs of others or wish them ill.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

220. “The act of dying is one of the acts of life.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

221. “Practice really hearing what people say. Do your best to get inside their mind.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

222. “Take me and cast me where you will; I shall still be possessor of the divinity within me, serene and content.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

223. “When you have trouble getting out of bed in the morning, remember that your defining characteristic-what defines a human being-is to work with others.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

224. “Each of us lives only now, this brief instant. The rest been lived already, or is impossible to see. The span we live is small – small as the corner of the earth in which we live it.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

225. “Take it that you have died today, and your life’s story is ended; and henceforward regard what future time may be given you as uncovenanted surplus, and live it out in harmony with nature.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

226. “Give thyself time to learn something new and good, and cease to be whirled around.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

227. “The true worth of a man is to be measured by the objects he pursues.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

228. “Change your attitude to the things that bother you and you will be aware of them.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

229. “Failing to understand the workings of one’s own mind is bound to lead to unhappiness.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

230. “Within ten days thou wilt seem a god to those to whom thou art now a beast and an ape, if thou wilt return to thy principles and the worship of reason.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

231. “Man is born for deeds of kindness.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

232. “This is the mark of a perfect character – to pass through each day as though it were the last, without agitation, without torpor, and without pretense.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

233. “Despise not death, but welcome it, for nature wills it like all else.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

234. “Where a man can live, he can also live well.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

235. “Remember that all is opinion.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

236. “Observe always that everything is the result of change, and get used to thinking that there is nothing Nature loves so well as to change existing forms and make new ones like them.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

237. “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).

238. “You should banish any thoughts of how you may appear to others.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

239. “Anger cannot be dishonest.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

240. “Tomorrow is nothing, today is too late; the good lived yesterday.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

241. “Keep yourself simple, good, pure, serious, and unassuming; the friend of justice and godliness; kindly, affectionate, and resolute in your devotion to duty.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

242. “How ridiculous and how strange to be surprised at anything which happens in life.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

Profound Marcus Aurelius Quotes

243. “Submit to the fate of your own free will.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

244. “The art of living is more like wrestling than dancing, in so far as it stands ready against the accidental and the unforeseen, and is not apt to fall.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

245. “Is your cucumber bitter? Throw it away. Are there briars in your path? Turn aside. That is enough. Do not go on and ay, ‘Why were things of this sort ever brought into the world?’” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

246. “The longest-lived and the shortest-lived man, when they come to die, lose one and the same thing.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

247. “Turn thy thoughts now to the consideration of thy life, thy life as a child, as a youth, thy manhood, thy old age, for in these also every change was a death. Is this anything to fear?” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

248. “All men are made one for another: either then teach them better or bear with them.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

249. “No matter what anyone says or does, my task is to be emerald, my color undiminished.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

250. “No longer talk at all about the kind of man that a good man ought to be, but be such.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

251. “To live happily is an inward power of the soul.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

252. “I am an old man and have had many worries, but most have never come to pass.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

253. “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).

254. “Dress not thy thoughts in too fine a raiment. And be not a man of superfluous words or superfluous deeds.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

255. “All things of the body stream away like a river, all things of the mind are dreams and delusion; life is warfare, and a visit to a strange land; the only lasting fame is oblivion.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

256. “A good disposition is invincible, if it be genuine.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

257. “At day’s first light have in readiness, against disinclination to leave your bed, the thought that “I am rising for the work of man.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

258. “Once you have done a man a service, what more reward would you have? Is it not enough to have obeyed the laws of your own nature, without expecting to be paid for it?” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

259. “You need to be prepared for firm decisions and action, without losing gentleness towards those who obstruct or abuse you. It’s as great a weakness to be angry with them as it is to abandon your plan of action and give up through fear.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

260. “Everything is interwoven, and the web is holy.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

261. “It is the duty of men to love even those who injure them.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

262. “In an expression of true gratitude, sadness is conspicuous only by its absence.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

263. “A good man does not spy around for the black spots in others, but presses unswervingly on towards his mark.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

264. “Life is a warfare and a stranger’s sojourn, and after fame is oblivion.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

265. “When men are inhuman, take care not to feel towards them as they do towards other humans.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

266. “Love the little trade which thou hast learned, and be content therewith.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

267. “From Apollonius I learned freedom of will and undeviating steadiness of purpose; and to look to nothing else, not even for a moment, except to reason.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

268. “The whole universe is change and life itself is but what you deem it.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

269. “When forced, as it seems, by your environment to be utterly disquieted, return with all speed into your self, staying in discord no longer than you must. By constant recurrence to the harmony, you will gain more command over it.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

270. “Consider that everything is opinion, and opinion is in thy power.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

271. “He who follows reason in all things is both tranquil and active at the same time, and also cheerful and collected.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

272. “Neither worse then or better is a thing made by being praised.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

273. “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).

274. “Without a purpose, nothing should be done.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

275. “What springs from earth dissolves to earth again, and heaven-born things fly to their native seat.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

276. “Everything is ephemeral, both that which remembers and that which is remembered.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

277. “Withdraw to the untroubled quietude deep within the soul, and refresh yourself.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

278. “Where life is possible at all, a right life is possible; life in a palace is possible; therefore even in a palace a right life is possible.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

279. “While you live, while it is in your power, be good.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

280. “God overrules all mutinous accidents, brings them under His laws of fate, and makes them all serviceable to His purpose.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

281. “Death, like birth, is one of nature’s mysteries, the combining of primal elements and dissolving of the same into the same.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

282. “It were well to die if there be gods, and sad to live if there be none.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

283. “Because your own strength is unequal to a task, do not assume it is beyond the powers of man.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

284. “Take full account of what Excellencies you possess, and in gratitude remember how you would hanker after them, if you had them not.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

285. “The wrongdoer is often the person who left something undone, rather than the person who has done something.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

286. “Consider thyself to be dead, and to have completed thy life up to the present time; and live according to nature the remainder which is allowed thee.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

287. “It is right that man should love those who have offended him. He will do so when he remembers that all men are his relations, and that it is through ignorance and involuntarily that they sin, – and then we all die so soon.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

288. “Live with the gods. And he does so who constantly shows them that his soul is satisfied with what is assigned to him.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

289. “Because a thing is difficult for you, do not therefore suppose it to be beyond mortal power. On the contrary, if anything is possible and proper for man to do, assume that it must fall within your own capacity.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

290. “Search men’s governing principles, and consider the wise, what they shun and what they cleave to.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

291. “When thou art above measure angry, bethink thee how momentary is man’s life.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

292. “You are making an inopportune rejection of what Nature has given you today, if all your mind is set on what men will say of you tomorrow.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

293. “When you find an unwillingness to rise early in the morning, endeavor to rouse your faculties, and act up to your kind, and consider that you have to do the business of a man; and that action is both beneficial and the end of your being.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

294. “Snow endures but for a season, and joy comes with the morning.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

295. “It is the act of a madman to pursue impossibilities .” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

296. “All that happens is as usual and familiar as the rose in spring and the crop in summer.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

297. “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.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

298. “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.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

299. “Let thine occupations be few, saith the sage, if thou wouldst lead a tranquil life.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

300. “Look within, for within is the wellspring of virtue, which will not cease flowing, if you cease not from digging.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

301. “You must become an old man in good time if you wish to be an old man long.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

302. “A man does not sin by commission only, but often by omission.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

303. “The offender needs pity, not wrath; those who must needs be corrected, should be treated with tact and gentleness; and one must be always ready to learn better. ‘The best kind of revenge is, not to become like unto them.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

304. “The healthy eye ought to see all visible things and not to say, I wish for green things; for this is the condition of a diseased eye.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

305. “Nothing that goes on in anyone else’s mind can harm you.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

306. “Praise adds nothing to beauty – makes it neither better nor worse.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

307. “Thou sufferest justly: for thou choosest rather to become good to-morrow than to be good to-day.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

308. “If it’s time for you to go, leave willingly – as you would to accomplish anything that can be done with grace and honor.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

309. “Your mind will take on the character of your most frequent thoughts: souls are dyed by thoughts.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

310. “Look deeply. Don’t miss the inherent quality and value of everything.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

311. “In the meantime, cling tooth and nail to the following rule: not to give in to adversity, not to trust prosperity, and always take full note of fortune’s habit of behaving just as she pleases.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

312. “Vex not thy spirit at the course of things, they heed not thy vexations.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

313. “Unhappy am I because this has happened to me.- Not so, but happy am I, though this has happened to me, because I continue free from pain, neither crushed by the present nor fearing the future.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

314. “How soon will time cover all things.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

315. “Time is a kind of river, an irresistible flood sweeping up men and events and carrying them headlong, one after the other, to the great sea of being.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

316. “He who eats my bread, does my will.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

317. “It is not the weight of the future or the past that is pressing upon you, but ever that of the present alone. Even this burden, too, can be lessened if you confine it strictly to its own limits.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

318. “Welcome every experience the looms of fate may weave for you…” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

319. “Tranquility is nothing else than the good ordering of the mind.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

320. “Do not consider anything for your interest which makes you break your word, quit your modesty or inclines you to any practice which will not bear the light or look the world in the face.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

321. “When you have done a good deed that another has had the benefit of, why do you need a third reward-as fools do-praise for having done well or looking for a favor in return.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

322. “We are the other of the other.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

323. “My city and state are Rome. But as a human being? The world. So for me, “good” can only mean what’s good for both communities.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

324. “To live each day as though one’s last, never flustered, never apathetic, never attitudinizing – here is the perfection of character.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

325. “Know the joy of life by piling good deed on good deed until no rift or cranny appears between them.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

326. “There is no man so blessed that some who stand by his deathbed won’t hail the occasion with delight.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

327. “Remember that there is a God who desires neither praise nor glory from men created in his image, but rather that they, guided by the understanding given them, should in their actions become like unto him.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

328. “Failure to read what is happening in another’s soul is not easily seen as a cause of unhappiness: but those who fail to attend the motions of their own soul are necessarily unhappy.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

329. “The best way of avenging thyself is not to become like the wrong-doer.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

330. “From my grandfather’s father, I learned to dispense with attendance at public schools, and to enjoy good teachers at home, and to recognize that on such things money should be eagerly spent.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

331. “Men despise one another and flatter one another; and men wish to raise themselves above one another, and crouch before one another.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

332. “Things can never touch the soul, but stand inert outside it, so that disquiet can arise only from fancies within.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

333. “And what after all is everlasting fame? Altogether vanity.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

334. “How many after being celebrated by fame have been given up to oblivion; and how many who have celebrated the fame of others have long been dead.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

335. “The one thing worth living for is to keep one’s soul pure.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

336. “Everything that exists is in a manner the seed of that which will be.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

337. “And thou wilt give thyself relief, if thou doest every act of thy life as if it were the last.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

338. “For outward show is a wonderful perverter of the reason.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

339. “Socrates used to call the opinions of the many by the name of Lamiae, bugbears to frighten children.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

Insightful Marcus Aurelius Quotes

340. “Things that have a common quality ever quickly seek their kind.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

341. “Be content with what you are, and wish not change; nor dread your last day, nor long for it.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

342. “Never act without purpose and resolve, or without the means to finish the job.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

343. “Take away the complaint, ‘I have been harmed,’ and the harm is taken away.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

344. “I am called to man’s labour; why then do I make a difficulty if I am going out to do what I was born to do and what I was brought into the world for?” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

345. “Nothing proceeds from nothingness, as also nothing passes away into non-existence.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

346. “There is nothing happens to any person but what was in his power to go through with.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

347. “You exist but as a part inherent in a greater whole. Do not live as though you had a thousand years before you. The common due impends; while you live, and while you may, be good.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

348. “No one can keep you from living as your nature requires. Nothings can happen to you that is not required by Nature.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

349. “Always bear this in mind, that very little indeed is necessary for living a happy life.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

350. “Death – a stopping of impressions through the senses, and of the pulling of the cords of motion, and of the ways of thought, and of service to the flesh.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

351. “The constant recollection of death is the test of human conduct.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

352. “To my great-grandfather I owed the advice to dispense with the education of the schools and have good masters at home instead – and to realize that no expense should be grudged for this purpose.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

353. “Do not be ashamed of help.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

354. “It is a sin to persue pleasure as a good and to avoid pain as a evil.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

355. “No form of nature is inferior to art; for the arts merely imitate natural forms. – Variant: There is no nature which is inferior to art, the arts imitate the nature of things.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

356. “Do what you will. Even if you tear yourself apart, most people will continue doing the same things.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

357. “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).

358. “Though you break your heart, men will go on as before.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

359. “Give your heart to the trade you have learnt, and draw refreshment from it. Let the rest of your days be spent as one who has whole-heartedly committed his all to the gods and is thenceforth no man’s master or slave.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

360. “It is satisfaction to a man to do the proper works of a man.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

361. “Nothing befalls a man except what is in his nature to endure.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

362. “In the case of most pains let this remark of Epicurus aid thee, that the pain is neither intolerable nor everlasting, if thou bear in mind that it has its limits, and if thou addest nothing to it in imagination…” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

363. “Man must be arched and buttressed from within, else the temple wavers to the dust.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

364. “They know not how many things are signified by the words stealing, sowing, buying, keeping quiet, seeing what ought to be done; for this is not effected by the eyes, but by another kind of vision.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

365. “Art thou angry with him whose armpits stink? Art thou angry with him whose mouth smells foul?” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

366. “Reflect often upon the rapidity with which all existing things, or things coming into existence, sweep past us and are carried away.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

367. “Stick to what’s in front of you – idea, action, utterance.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

368. “Nothing can come out of nothing, any more than a thing can go back to nothing.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

369. “Aptitude found in the understanding and is often inherited. Genius coming from reason and imagination, rarely.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

370. “Dig within. There lies the wellspring of good.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

371. “Remember that to change your mind and follow him who sets you right is to be none the less free than you were before.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

372. “All is Ephemeral, fame and the famous as well.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

373. “To her who gives and takes back all, to nature, the man who is instructed and modest says, Give what thou wilt; take back what thou wilt. And he says this not proudly, but obediently and well pleased with her.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

374. “The whole contains nothing that is not for its advantage. By remembering that I am part of such a whole, I shall be content with everything that happens.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

375. “The nature of the universe is the nature of things that are. Now, things that are have kinship with things that are from the beginning. Further, this nature is styled Truth; and it is the first cause of all that is true.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

376. “My only fear is doing something contrary to human nature – the wrong thing, the wrong way, or at the wrong time.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

377. “Everything is here for a purpose, from horses to vine shoots. What’s surprising about that? Even the sun will tell you, “I have a purpose,” and the other goods as well.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

378. “As far as you can, get into the habit of asking yourself in relation to any action taken by another: “What is his point of reference here?” But begin with yourself: examine yourself first.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

379. “Put an end once and for all to this discussion of what a good person should be, and be one.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

380. “Accustom yourself not to be disregarding of what someone else has to say: as far as possible enter into the mind of the speaker.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

381. “Death hangs over thee, While thou still live, while thou may, do good.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

382. “Both happiness and unhappiness depend on perception.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

383. “An angry look on the face is wholly against nature. If it be assumed frequently, beauty begins to perish, and in the end is quenched beyond rekindling.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

384. “But if we judge only those things which are in our power to be good or bad, there remains no reason either for finding fault with God or standing in a hostile attitude to man.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

385. “The mind in itself wants nothing, unless it creates a want for itself; therefore it is both free from perturbation and unimpeded, if it does not perturb and impede itself.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

386. “Do you see what little is required of a man to live a well-tempered and god-fearing life? Obey these precepts, and the gods will ask nothing more.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

387. “I can at once become happy anywhere, for he is happy who has found himself a happy lot. In a word, happiness lies all in the functions of reason, in warrantable desires and virtuous practice.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

388. “A rational nature admits of nothing but what is serviceable to the rest of mankind.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

389. “What we cannot bear removes us from life; what remains can be borne.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

390. “Let every action aim solely at the common good.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

391. “He does not write at all whose poems no man reads.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

392. “He that lives alone lives in danger; society avoids many dangers.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

393. “Either an ordered Universe or a medley heaped together mechanically but still an order; or can order subsist in you and disorder in the Whole! And that, too, when all things are so distinguished and yet intermingled and sympathetic.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

394. “Everything is mere opinion.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

395. “Am I doing anything? I do it with reference to the good of mankind. Does anything happen to me? I receive it and refer it to the gods, and the source of all things, from which all that happens is derived.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

396. “That which comes after ever conforms to that which has gone before.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

397. “Why should any of these things that happen externally distract thee? Give thyself leisure to learn some good thing: cease roving to and fro.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

398. “Retire into thyself. The rational principle which rules has this nature, that it is content with itself when it does what is just, and so secures tranquility.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

399. “A lucky chance is constant in nothing but inconstancy.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

400. “Happiness is no other than soundness and perfection of mind.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

401. “Think of the universal substance, of which thou has a very small portion; and of universal time, of which a short and indivisible interval has been assigned to thee; and of that which is fixed by destiny, and how small a part of it thou art.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

402. “The whole universe is change and life itself is but what you deem it – either gratefully better than or bitterly worse than something else that you alone choose.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

403. “Always run to the short way; and the short way is the natural: accordingly say and do everything in conformity with the soundest reason. For such a purpose frees a man from trouble, and warfare, and all artifice and ostentatious display.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

404. “Remember that all is opinion. For what was said by the Cynic Monimus is manifest: and manifest too is the use of what was said, if a man receives what may be got out of it as far as it is true.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

405. “Look beneath the surface; let not the several quality of a thing nor its worth escape thee.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

406. “This is the chief thing: be not perturbed, for all things are according to the nature of the universal.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

407. “People generally despise where they flatter, and cringe to those they would gladly overtop; so that truth and ceremony are two things.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

408. “The man who doesn’t know what the universe is doesn’t know where he lives.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

409. “The most complete revenge is not to imitate the aggressor.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

410. “Each of us needs what nature gives us, when nature gives us.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

411. “In death, Alexander of Macedon’s end differed no whit from his stable-boy’s. Either both were received into the same generative principle of the universe, or both alike were dispersed into atoms.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

412. “The wise man sees in the misfortune of others what he should avoid.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

413. “Find time still to be learning somewhat good, and give up being desultory.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

414. “How very near us stand the two vast gulfs of time, the past and the future, in which all things disappear.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

415. “Remember this-that there is a proper dignity and proportion to be observed in the performance of every act of life.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

416. “The honest and good man ought to be exactly like a man who smells strong, so that the bystander as soon as he comes near him must smell whether he choose or not.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

417. “Short is the little time which remains to thee of life. Live as on a mountain.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

418. “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.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

419. “The passing minute is every man’s equal possession but what has once gone by is not ours.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

420. “Consider frequently the connection of all things in the universe and their relation to one another. For things are somehow implicated with one another, and all in a way friendly to one another.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

421. “Receive the gifts of fortune without pride, and part with them without reluctance.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

422. “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).

423. “All things are changing; and thou thyself art in continuous mutation and in a manner in continuous destruction and the whole universe to.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

424. “Be not unwilling in what thou doest, neither selfish nor unadvised nor obstinate; let not over-refinement deck out thy thought; be not wordy nor a busybody.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

425. “Thanks to the gods I didn’t spend much time while growing up with my grandfather’s mistress and preserved the flower of my youth, waiting for the proper time to demonstrate my virility.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

426. “He who has seen present things has seen all, both everything which has taken place from all eternity and everything which will be for time without end; for all things are of one kin and of one form.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

427. “Think not disdainfully of death, but look on it with favor; for even death is one of the things that Nature wills.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

428. “Consider in what condition both in body and soul a man should be when he is overtaken by death; and consider the shortness of life, the boundless abyss of time past and future, the feebleness of all matter.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

429. “What is not good for the swarm is not good for the bee.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

430. “Can we wonder that men perish and are forgotten, when their noblest and most enduring works decay? Death comes even to monumental structures, and oblivion rests on the most illustrious names.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

431. “It is a disgrace to let ignorance and vanity do more with us than prudence and principle.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

432. “The sinner sins against himself; the wrongdoer wrongs himself, becoming the worse by his own action.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

433. “The true joy of humankind is in doing that which is most proper to our nature; and the first property of people is to be kindly affected towards them that are of one kind with ourselves.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

434. “It is not right to vex ourselves at things, for they care not about it.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

435. “Keep constantly in mind in how many things you yourself have witnessed changes already. The universe is change, life is understanding.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

436. “In man’s 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.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

437. “There is a change in all things. You yourself are subject to continual change and some decay, and this is common to the entire universe.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

438. “Gluttony and drunkenness have two evils attendant on them; they make the carcass smart, as well as the pocket.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

439. “Why do we shrink from change? What can come into being saved by change?” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

440. “Even the stoics agree that certainty is very hard to come at; that our assent is worth little, for where is infallibility to be found?” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

441. “In one way an arrow moves, in another way the mind. The mind indeed, both when it exercises caution and when it is employed about inquiry, moves straight onward not the less, and to its object.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

442. “Look deep into the hearts of men, and see what delights and disgusts the wise.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

443. “All things are the same, familiar in enterprise, momentary in endurance, coarse in substance. All things now are as they were in the day of those whom we have buried.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

44. “How easy it is to repel and release every impression which is troublesome and immediately to be tranquil.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

445. “Nature insists on whatever benefits the whole.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

446. “Love only what befalls you and is spun for you by fate.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

447. “Very little is needed to make a happy life; it is all within yourself, in your way of thinking.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

448. “A man’s worth is no greater than the worth of his ambitions.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

449. “If it is not right do not do it. If it is not true, do not say it.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).

450. “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).

451. “Dwell on the beauty of life. Watch the stars, and see yourself running with them.” ~ (Marcus Aurelius).



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Short Biography of Marcus Aurelius

Marcus Aurelius, a Stoic philosopher and Roman Emperor from 161 to 180, was the last of the Five Good Emperors.

Raised by his mother and grandfather after his father’s early death, he was later adopted by his uncle, Emperor Antoninus Pius.

Upon Antoninus’s death, Marcus ascended to the throne, facing military conflicts and the devastating Antonine Plague.

Full Name Marcus Aurelius Antoninus
Birth Name Marcus Annius Catilius Severus
Other Names Marcus Annius Verus (124)
Marcus Aelius Aurelius Verus Caesar (138)
Regnal Name Imperator Caesar Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus
Born 26 April 121 AD, Rome, Italia, Roman Empire
Died 17 March 180 AD (age 58 years), Vindobona, Pannonia Superior, or Sirmium, Pannonia Inferior
Burial Hadrian’s Mausoleum
Place of Burial Castel Sant’Angelo, Rome, Italy
Reign 7 March 161 – 17 March 180
Predecessor Antoninus Pius
Successor Commodus
Co-emperor Lucius Verus (161–169), Commodus (177–180)
Dynasty Nerva–Antonine
Notable work Meditations
Era Hellenistic philosophy
Region Western philosophy
School Stoicism
Main interests Ethics
Notable ideas Memento mori
Spouse Faustina the Younger (m. 145; d. 175)
Father Marcus Annius Verus, Antoninus Pius (adoptive)
Mother Domitia Calvilla
Children Commodus, Marcus Annius Verus Caesar, MORE
Grandchildren Lucius Aurelius Commodus Pompeianus, MORE

Despite his challenges, Marcus didn’t appoint an heir, leading to debates about his successor, Commodus.

Marcus’s philosophical writings, “Meditations,” remain influential. Historical accounts of his life, such as the Historia Augusta and Cassius Dio’s works, though sometimes unreliable, provide insight into his reign and the period’s military history.


Quick Facts about Marcus Aurelius

  • Marcus Aurelius was Roman Emperor from 161 to 180 AD and a Stoic philosopher.
  • His reign marked the end of the Pax Romana, a period of relative peace in the Roman Empire.
  • Born on April 26, 121 AD, he was the last of the “Five Good Emperors.”
  • Marcus was adopted by Emperor Antoninus Pius, following the death of Hadrian’s adopted son.
  • He co-ruled with his adoptive brother, Lucius Verus.
  • His rule faced military conflicts, including wars with the Parthian Empire and Germanic tribes.
  • The Antonine Plague, which broke out in 165 AD, killed millions in the Roman Empire.
  • Marcus Aurelius did not adopt an heir, which was unusual for emperors of his time.
  • His son Commodus succeeded him, a decision debated by historians.
  • Marcus Aurelius is known for his work “Meditations,” a significant source of modern Stoicism.
  • His writings were praised by many, including later writers and politicians.
  • The primary sources on his life include the Historia Augusta and letters with his tutor Fronto.
  • Marcus was born into a wealthy and politically connected family.
  • Despite early military training, he was more inclined towards philosophy and learning.
  • His marriage to Faustina the Younger produced at least 13 children.
  • The early part of his reign was peaceful and marked by judicial reform and cultural pursuits.
  • The war with Parthia began during his reign, leading to significant military engagements.
  • Lucius Verus, co-emperor, led much of the military campaign against Parthia.
  • The Roman Empire made territorial gains in Armenia and Mesopotamia during his reign.
  • Marcus Aurelius’ philosophical interests were deep, influenced by his tutors and the Stoic doctrine.
  • He was known for his contemplative nature and commitment to duty.
  • His personal life was marked by a dedication to family and a modest lifestyle.
  • Marcus Aurelius faced criticism for his handling of the military and governance.
  • His legacy includes the Column and Equestrian Statue of Marcus Aurelius in Rome.
  • He was deified after his death, a common honor for Roman emperors.
  • The Antonine Plague significantly impacted his reign, affecting military and economic stability.
  • Marcus Aurelius’ correspondence with Fronto provides insight into his philosophical and personal life.
  • Despite military challenges, he is remembered for his philosophical contributions and leadership style.
  • His reign represented a pivotal period in the transition from the Pax Romana to increased military conflict.
  • Marcus Aurelius remains a figure of interest for his philosophical writings and the challenges he faced as emperor.

Top Questions about Marcus Aurelius

Q: Who was Marcus Aurelius and what philosophical school did he belong to?

A: Marcus Aurelius was a Roman Emperor from 161 to 180 AD and a Stoic philosopher.

Q: In which years did Marcus Aurelius serve as Roman consul?

A: Marcus Aurelius served as Roman consul in the years 140, 145, and 161.

Q: How was Marcus Aurelius related to Emperors Trajan and Hadrian?

A: Marcus Aurelius was related to Emperors Trajan and Hadrian through marriage.

Q: What significant military conflicts occurred during Marcus Aurelius’ reign?

A: During Marcus Aurelius’ reign, the Roman Empire engaged in heavy military conflict with a revitalized Parthian Empire, the rebel Kingdom of Armenia, and Germanic tribes like the Marcomanni, Quadi, and Sarmatian Iazyges.

Q: What notable work did Marcus Aurelius author, and why is it significant?

A: Marcus Aurelius authored “Meditations,” which is significant for its insights into ancient Stoic philosophy and is praised by writers, philosophers, monarchs, and politicians even centuries after his death.

Q: How did Marcus Aurelius’ reign mark the end of a certain era in Roman history?

A: Marcus Aurelius’ reign marked the end of the Pax Romana, an age of relative peace and stability for the Roman Empire that lasted from 27 BC to 180 AD.

Q: What was the Antonine Plague, and during whose reign did it occur?

A: The Antonine Plague was a devastating epidemic that broke out in 165 or 166 AD during Marcus Aurelius’ reign, causing the deaths of five to ten million people.

Q: What stance did Marcus Aurelius take regarding the adoption of an heir?

A: Unlike some predecessors, Marcus Aurelius chose not to adopt an heir; his succession was a subject of debate among historians.

Q: What major sources inform us about Marcus Aurelius’ life and rule?

A: The major sources include the Historia Augusta, a collection of biographies, correspondence between Marcus and his tutor Fronto, Marcus’s own “Meditations,” and works by the Greek senator Cassius Dio.

Q: What significant changes occurred in Armenia during Marcus Aurelius’ reign?

A: During his reign, the Armenian capital Artaxata was captured, and a new capital, Kaine Polis, was established with a new king installed, reflecting a reorganization of Armenia on Roman terms.

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Chandan Negi
Chandan Negi

I’m the Founder of InternetPillar.com and InboxQuotes.com - I love sharing inspirational quotes and motivational content to inspire and motivate people - #quotes #motivation #internetpillar #inboxquotes