Marco Aurélio

I search after truth, by which man never yet was harmed.

I, who have never willfully pained another, have no business to pain myself.

In reading and writing, you cannot lay down rules until you have learnt to obey them. Much more so in life.

Remember that the sole life which a man can lose is that which he is living at the moment.

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.

The passing minute is every man’s equal possession, but what has once gone by is not ours.

I often marvel how it is that though each man loves himself beyond all else, he should yet value his own opinion of himself less than that of others.

The longest-lived and the shortest-lived man, when they come to die, lose one and the same thing.

A man’s happiness,—to do the things proper to man.

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.

A man makes no noise over a good deed, but passes on to another as a vine to bear grapes again in season.

Shame on the soul, to falter on the road of life while the body still perseveres.

When men are inhuman, take care not to feel towards them as they do towards other humans.

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.

A man’s worth is no greater than the worth of his ambitions.

Here is a sort of river of things passing into being, and time is a violent torrent; 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.

Every instant of time is a pinprick of eternity. All things are petty, easily changed, vanishing away.

“What then is that which is able to conduct a man? One thing and only one, philosophy.”

“Accept whatever comes to you woven in the pattern of your destiny, for what could more aptly fit your needs?”

“Mastery of reading and writing requires a master. Still more so life.”

“If you don’t have consistent goal in life, you can’t live it in a consistent way.”

“At dawn, when you have trouble getting out of bed, tell yourself: I have to go to work—as a human being. What do I have to complain of, if I’m going to do what I was born for—the things I was brought into the world to do? Or is this what I was created for? To huddle under the blankets and stay warm?”

“Just that you do the right thing. The rest doesn’t matter.”

“And you can also commit injustice by doing nothing.”

“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.”

“Confine yourself to the present.”

“The first step: Don’t be anxious. Nature controls it all.”

“Here is a rule to remember in future, when anything tempts you to feel bitter: not, ‘This is misfortune,’ but, ‘To bear this worthily is good fortune.’”

“Nothing is needed by fools, for they do not understand how to use anything, but are in want of everything.”

“Look back over the past, with its changing empires that rose and fell, and you can foresee the future, too.”

“The problem creates the solution. What stands in the way becomes the way.”

“Be indifferent to what makes no difference.”

“Pleasures, when they go beyond a certain limit, are but punishments.”

“What we do now echoes in eternity.”

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

“If a friend feels upset by you, be the first to try to put things right.”

“The tranquility that comes when you stop caring what they say. Or think or do. Only what you do.”

“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.”

“Think of yourself as dead. You have lived your life. Now take what’s left and live it properly.”

“All that exists is the seed of what will emerge from it.”

“Misfortune nobly born is good fortune.”

“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.”

“Men seek out retreats for themselves in the country, by the seaside, on the mountains… nowhere can a man find a retreat more peaceful or more free from trouble than his own soul.”

“Don’t allow yourself to be heard any longer griping about public life, not even with your own ears!”

“If it is not right, do not do it, if it is not true, do not say it.”

“If it’s endurable, then endure it, stop complaining.”

“Every hour, focus your mind attentively… on the performance of the task in hand, with dignity, human sympathy, benevolence and freedom, and leave aside all other thoughts. You will achieve this, if you perform each action as if it were your last.”

“External things are not the problem. It’s your assessment of them, which you can erase right now.”

“Today, I escaped from anxiety. Or, no; I discarded it, because it was within me, in my own perceptions—not outside.”

“Don’t be overheard complaining…not even to yourself.”

“You have to assemble your life yourself, action by action.”

“Ask yourself at every moment, is this necessary?”

“Recognize that if something is humanly possible, you can do it too.”

“In your actions, don’t procrastinate. In your conversations, don’t confuse. In your thoughts, don’t wander. In your soul, don’t be passive or aggressive. In your life, don’t be all about business.”

“Kindness is unconquerable, so long as it is without flattery or hypocrisy. For what can the most insolent man do to you, if you contrive to be kind to him, and if you have the chance gently advise and calmly show him what is right…and point this out tactfully and from a universal perspective.”

“Have I done something for the common good? Then I share in the benefits.”

“Speak the truth as you see it. But with kindness. With humility.”

“Be tolerant with others and strict with yourself.”

Be satisfied with your business, and learn to love what you were bred to.

The true worth of a man is to be measured by the objects he pursues.

Everything that exists is in a manner the seed of that which will be.

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

A good man does not spy around for the black spots in others, but presses unswervingly on towards his mark.

Life itself is neither good nor evil, but only a place for good and evil.

Men exist for the sake of one another. Teach them then or bear with them.

Death hangs over thee, While thou still live, while thou may, do good.

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

Whatever may befall thee, it was preordained for thee from everlasting.

Let not your mind run on what you lack as much as on what you have already.

Loss is nothing else but change, and change is Nature's delight.

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

Love the little trade which thou hast learned, and be content therewith.

Deem not life a thing of consequence. For look at the yawning void of the future, and at that other limitless space, the past.

No form of Nature is inferior to Art for the arts merely imitate natural forms.

As for life, it is a battle and a sojourning in a strange land but the fame that comes after is oblivion.

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

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.

If it is not seemly, do it not if it is not true, speak it not.

This Being of mine, whatever it really is, consists of a little flesh, a little breath, and the part which governs.

Forward, as occasion offers. Never look round to see whether any shall note it....

Look beneath the surface let not the several quality of a thing nor its worth escape thee.

Things that have a common quality ever quickly seek their kind.

A wrong-doer is often a man that has left something undone, not always he that has done something.

What is not good for the swarm is not good for the bee.

Be not careless in deeds, nor confused in words, nor rambling in thought.

That which comes after ever conforms to that which has gone before.

Reject your sense of injury and the injury itself disappears.

How ridiculous and unrealistic is the man who is astonished at anything that happens in life.

How much more grievous are the consequences of anger than the causes of it.

Virtue they will but abuse, and taunt her with bitter revilling.

Erase fancy; curb impulse; quench desire; let sovereign reason have the mastery.

The sinners sins against himself; the wrongdoer wrongs himself, becoming the worse by his own action.

It is a sin to persue pleasure as a good and to avoid pain as a evil.

To live happily is an inward power of the soul.

The key to being a good manager is keeping the people who hate me away from those who are still undecided. Casey Stengal 11522 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.

Waste no more time talking about great souls and how they should be. Become one yourself!

Death smiles at us all, but all a man can do is smile back.

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

Nowhere can a man find a quieter or more untroubled retreat than in his own soul.

All is ephemeral--fame and the famous as well.

Remember this-that there is a proper dignity and proportion to be observed in the performance of every act of life.

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.

It is the act of a madman to pursue impossibilities.

Look well into thyself; there is a source of strength which will always spring up if thou wilt always look there.

The object in life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane.

A candour affected is a dagger concealed.

A man does not sin by commission only, but often by omission.

To refrain from imitation is the best revenge.

To stand up -- or be setup?

A little flesh, a little breath, and a Reason to rule all - that is myself.

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.

Whatever is in any way beautiful hath its source of beauty in itself, and is complete in itself; praise forms no part of it. So it is none the worse nor the better for being praised.

Think not disdainfully of death, but look on it with favor; for even death is one of the things that Nature wills.

By a tranquil mind I mean nothing else than a mind well ordered.

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.

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

The secret of all victory lies in the organization of the non-obvious.

Execute every act of thy life as though it were thy last.

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.

The art of living is more like wrestling than dancing.

Such as are your habitual thoughts, such also will be the character of your mind; for the soul is dyed by the thoughts.

Let it judge that nothing is either bad or good which can happen equally to the bad man and the good. For that which happens equally to him who lives contrary to nature and to him who lives according to nature, is neither according to nature nor contrary to nature.

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.

The happiness of your life depends on the quality of your thoughts.

Remember this that very little is needed to make a happy life.

Mankind have been created for the sake of one another. Either instruct them, therefore, or endure them.

To change your mind and to follow him who sets you right is to be nonetheless the free agent that you were before.

Nothing happens to anybody which he is not fitted by nature to bear.

Every instant of time is a pinprick of eternity.

Everything is fitting for me, my universe, which fits thy purpose. Nothing in its good time is too early or too late for me; everything is fruit for me which thy seasons, Nature, bear; from thee, in thee, to thee, are all things.

Our life is what our thoughts make it.

Marco Aurélio

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