Quotes from 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.

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.

Soon you'll be ashes or bones. A mere name at most - and even that is just a sound, an echo. The things we want in life are empty, stale, trivial.

And why should we feel anger at the world? As if the world would notice!

Take away thy opinion, and then there is taken away the complaint, I have been harmed. Take away the complaint, I have been harmed, and the harm is taken away.   That which does not make a man worse than he was, also does not make his life worse, nor does it harm him either from without or from within.

You have power over your mind - not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength. 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.

When you start to lose your temper, remember: There's nothing manly about rage. It's courtesy and kindness that define a human being—and a man. That's who possesses strength and nerves and guts, not the angry whiners. To react like that brings you closer to impassivity—and so to strength. Pain is the opposite of strength, and so is anger. Both are things we suffer from, and yield to.

Your mind will take on the character of your most frequent thoughts: souls are dyed by thoughts.

So here is a rule to remember in future, when anything tempts you to feel bitter: not, 'This is a misfortune,' but 'To bear this worthily is good fortune.

Does the emerald lose its beauty for lack of admiration? Does gold, or ivory, or purple? A lyre or a dagger, a rosebud or a sapling?

a limit of time is fixed for thee, which if thou dost not use for clearing away the clouds from thy mind, it will go and thou wilt go, and it will never return.

If you're honest and straightforward and mean well, it should show in your eyes. It should be unmistakable.

No matter what anyone says or does, my task is to be good.

The present moment is the only thing of which anyone can be deprived, at least if this is the only thing he has and he cannot lose what he has not got.

How much time he saves who does not look to see what his neighbor says or does or thinks.

Remember how long you've been putting this off, how many extensions the gods gave you, and you didn't use them. At some point you have to recognize what world it is that you belong to; what power rules it and from what source you spring; that there is a limit to the time assigned you, and if you don't use it to free yourself it will be gone and will never return.

De multe ori am fost uimit de faptul ca fiecare, desi se iubeste pe sine insusi mai mult decat pe toti ceilalti, pune totusi mai putin pret pe propria parere despre sine decat pe parerea celorlalti despre el.

Think not so much of what you lack as of what you have: but of the things that you have, select the best, and then reflect on how eagerly you would have sought them if you did not have them.

The best revenge is not to be like that.

Not to live as if you had endless years ahead of you. Death overshadows you. While you're alive and able—be good. 18.

It is quite possible to be a good man without anyone realizing it.

If you are distressed about anything, the pain is not due to the thing but to your own estimate of it.

In no great while you will be no one and nowhere, and nothing that you now behold will be in existence, nor will anyone now alive. For it is in the nature of all things to change and alter and perish, so that others may arise in their turn.

The things ordained for you—teach yourself to be at one with those. And the people who share them with you—treat them with love. With real love.