Quotes About Morality

It would be wrong for anything to stand between you and attaining goodness—as a rational being and a citizen. Anything at all: the applause of the crowd, high office, wealth, or self-indulgence. All of them might seem to be compatible with it—for a while. But suddenly they control us and sweep us away.

Upon every action that thou art about, put this question to thyself; How will this when it is done agree with me? Shall I have no occasion to repent of it?

But I have seen the beauty of good, and the ugliness of evil, and have recognized that the wrongdoer has a nature related to my own

but he that sins through lust, being overcome by pleasure, doth in his very sin bewray a more impotent, and unmanlike disposition.

Su visión del hombre es pesimista, pues considera que sus pasiones son el factor principal de la corrupción del mundo, por lo que aconseja perseguir tan sólo aquellos fines que dependan de uno mismo.

Injustice results as often from not doing as from doing.

He therefore that forsakes the law, is a fugitive. So is he, whosoever he be, that is either sorry, angry, or afraid

Pecinta ketenaran menganggap aktivitas orang lain adalah kebaikannya sendiri; pecinta kenikmatan, menganggapnya sebagai sensasi yang ia sendiri rasakan; tetapi orang yang cerdas menganggap semua tindakannya sebagai kebaikannya sendiri. - Marcus Aurelius

Repentance is a sort of self-reproach at some useful thing passed by; but the good must needs be a useful thing, and ever to be cultivated by the true good man; but the true good man would never regret having passed a pleasure by. Pleasure therefore is neither a useful thing nor a good.

When someone wrongs you, ask yourself: What made him do it? Once you understand his concept of good and evil, you'll feel sorry for him and cease to either be amazed or angry. If his concept is similar to yours, then you will be bound to forgive him since you would have acted as he did in similar circumstances. But if you do not share his ideas of good and evil, then you should find it even easier to overlook the wrongs of someone who is confused and in a moral muddle.

Don't give up if you fail to follow your principles — don't give up, but simply pick yourself up and return to them. Remember that these principles are in line with your true self, and what you fell to was not.

La perfección moral lleva consigo que se viva cada día como si fuere el ultimo, sin apresurarse ni amilanarse, ni obrar con ficción.

In every action ask thyself, How does it affect me? Shall I regret it? But

Let no one have the chance to accuse you, with any truth, of not being sincere or a good man: make sure that anyone taking this view of you is a liar. This is wholly up to you- who is there to prevent you being good and sincere? You must just decide to live no longer if you won't have these qualities. And reason too abandons the man who won't. p102

Whatsoever any man either doth or saith, thou must be good; not for any man's sake, but for thine own nature's sake; as if either gold, or the emerald, or purple, should ever be saying to themselves, Whatsoever any man either doth or saith, I must still be an emerald, and I must keep my colour.

Make it not any longer a matter of dispute or discourse, what are the signs and properties of a good man, but really and actually be such.

A man should be upright, not be kept upright.

Qui una sola cosa ha valore: trascorrere tutta la vita nella verità e nella giustizia pur trattando con indulgenza i bugiardi e gli ingiusti.

El libre albedrio de mi prójimo es igualmente indiferente a mi libre albedrio como su soplo y su carne. Puesto que, aunque en realidad unos nacimos para los otros, la recta razón de cada uno posee su propia independencia; de no ser así la maldad del prójimo vendría a ser un mal para mi. Pero Dios no lo ha decretado así, por que de lo contrario estaría en manos de otro el que yo fuera desgraciado.

Put an end once for all to this discussion of what a good man should be, and be one.

The best revenge is to be unlike your enemy.

Die Aufgabe des Lebens besteht nicht darin, auf der Seite einer Mehrzahl zu stehen, sondern dem inneren Gesetz gemäß zu leben.

Say to yourself in the early morning: I shall meet today ungrateful, violent, treacherous, envious, uncharitable men. All of these things have come upon them through ignorance of real good and ill… I can neither be harmed by any of them, for no man will involve me in wrong, nor can I be angry with my kinsman or hate him; for we have come into the world to work together

Be not whirled aside; but in every impulse fulfil the claims of justice, and in every impression safeguard certainty.