Marcus Aurelius Quotes

“A brief existence is common to all things, and yet you avoid and pursue all things as if they would be eternal.”

“A man must stand erect, not be kept erect by others.”

“A man’s worth is no greater than his ambitions.”

“A vine cannot behave olively, nor an olive tree vinely – it is impossible, inconceivable. No more can a human being wholly efface his native disposition.”

“Alexander the Great and his mule driver both died and the same thing happened to both.”

“Almost nothing material is needed for a happy life, for he who has understood existence.”

“Anger cannot be dishonest.”

“As an antidote to battle unkindness we were given kindness.”

“Be content to seem what you really are.”

“Concentrate every minute on doing what's in front of you.”

“Confine yourself to the present.”

“Do as Socrates did, never replying to the question of where he was from with, ‘I am Athenian,’ or ‘I am from Corinth,’ but always, ‘I am a citizen of the world.’”

“Do every act of your life as though it were the very last act of your life.”

“Each of us needs what nature gives us, when nature gives it.”

“Everything that happens is either endurable or not. If it’s endurable, then endure it. Stop complaining. If it’s unendurable… then stop complaining. Your destruction will mean its end as well. Just remember: you can endure anything your mind can make endurable, by treating it as in your interest to do so. In your interest, or in your nature.”

“Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth.”

“Everything’s destiny is to change, to be transformed, to perish. So that new things can be born.”

“Give thyself time to learn something new and good, and cease to be whirled around.”

“He who lives in harmony with himself lives in harmony with the universe.”

“How long will you wait before you demand the best of yourself, and trust reason to determine what is best?”

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

“If it’s not right, don’t do it. If it’s not true, don’t say it.”

“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.”

“In a little while you will have forgotten everything; in a little while everything will have forgotten you.”

“It is not death that a man should fear, but he should fear never beginning to live.”

“It never ceases to amaze me: we all love ourselves more than other people, but care more about their opinion than our own.”

“Live out your life in truth and justice, tolerant of those who are neither true nor just.”

“Nothing happens to anyone that he can’t endure.”

“Practice really hearing what people say. Do your best to get inside their minds.”

“Refer your action to no other end than the common good.”