Best quotes from Marcus Aurelius

Marcus Aurelius Antoninus was Roman emperor from 161 to 180 and a Stoic philosopher. He was the last of the rulers known as the Five Good Emperors (a term coined some 13 centuries later by Niccolò Machiavelli), and the last emperor of the Pax Romana, an age of relative peace and stability for the Roman Empire lasting from 27 BCE to 180 CE. He served as Roman consul in 140, 145, and 161.

After Antoninus died in 161, Marcus acceded to the throne alongside his adoptive brother, who reigned under the name Lucius Verus. Under Marcus’s rule, the Roman Empire witnessed heavy military conflict. In the East, the Romans fought successfully with a revitalized Parthian Empire and the rebel Kingdom of Armenia.

Marcus defeated the Marcomanni, Quadi, and Sarmatian Iazyges in the Marcomannic Wars; however, these and other Germanic peoples began to represent a troubling reality for the Empire. He modified the silver purity of the Roman currency, the denarius. The persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire appears to have increased during Marcus’s reign, but his involvement in this is unknown.

The Antonine Plague broke out in 165 or 166 and devastated the population of the Roman Empire, causing the deaths of five to ten million people. Lucius Verus may have died from the plague in 169. Unlike some of his predecessors, Marcus chose not to adopt an heir. His children included Lucilla, who married Lucius, and Commodus, whose succession after Marcus has been a subject of debate among both contemporary and modern historians.

The Column and Equestrian Statue of Marcus Aurelius still stand in Rome, where they were erected in celebration of his military victories. Meditations, the writings of “the philosopher” – as contemporary biographers called Marcus – are a significant source of the modern understanding of ancient Stoic philosophy. They have been praised by fellow writers, philosophers, monarchs, and politicians centuries after his death.

Some of the best quotes from Marcus Aurelius are listed below.

1. “A better wrestler, but not a better citizen, a better person, a better resource in tight places, a better forgiver of faults.” – Marcus Aurelius
2. “A key point to bear in mind: the value of attentiveness varies in proportion to its object. You’re better off not giving the small things more time than they deserve.” – Marcus Aurelius
3. “A man must stand erect, not be kept erect by others.” – Marcus Aurelius
4. “A man should always have these two rules in readiness. First, to do only what the reason of your ruling and legislating faculties suggest for the service of man. Second, to change your opinion whenever anyone at hand sets you right and unsettles you in an opinion, but this change of opinion should come only because you are persuaded that something is just or to the public advantage, not because it appears pleasant or increases your reputation.” – Marcus Aurelius
5. “A man’s worth is no greater than the worth of his ambitions.” – Marcus Aurelius
6. “A wrongdoer is often a man who has left something undone, not always one who has done something.” – Marcus Aurelius
7. “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
8. “Accept whatever comes to you woven in the pattern of your destiny, for what could more aptly fit your needs?” – Marcus Aurelius
9. “Adapt yourself to the life you have been given; and truly love the people with whom destiny has surrounded you.” – Marcus Aurelius
10. “All of us are creatures of a day – the rememberer and the remembered alike. All is ephemeral – both memory and the object of memory.” – Marcus Aurelius
11. “All things fade and quickly turn to myth.” – Marcus Aurelius
12. “All things from eternity are of like forms and come round in a circle.” – Marcus Aurelius
13. “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
14. “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
15. “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
16. “Anger cannot be dishonest.” – Marcus Aurelius
17. “Anywhere you can lead your life, you can lead a good one.” – Marcus Aurelius
18. “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
19. “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
20. “Be tolerant with others and strict with yourself.” – Marcus Aurelius
21. “Be your own master, and look at things as a man, as a human being, as a citizen, as a mortal creature.” – Marcus Aurelius
22. “Because a thing seems difficult for you, do not think it impossible for anyone to accomplish.” – Marcus Aurelius
23. “Begin each day by telling yourself, ‘Today I shall be meeting with interference, ingratitude, insolence, disloyalty, ill-will, and selfishness’ – all of them due to the offenders’ ignorance of what is good or evil.” – Marcus Aurelius
24. “Choose not to be harmed – and you won’t feel harmed. Don’t feel harmed – and you haven’t been.” – Marcus Aurelius
25. “Confine yourself to the present.” – Marcus Aurelius
26. “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
27. “Death smiles at us all; all we can do is smile back.” – Marcus Aurelius
28. “Dig within – within is the wellspring of good; and it is always ready to bubble up, if you just dig.” – Marcus Aurelius
29. “Do every act of your life as though it were the very last act of your life.” – Marcus Aurelius
30. “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
31. “Do not be ashamed of help.” – Marcus Aurelius
32. “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
33. “Do not think that what is hard for you to master is humanly impossible; and if it is humanly possible, consider it to be within your reach.” – Marcus Aurelius
34. “Do what you will. Even if you tear yourself apart, most people will continue doing the same things.” – Marcus Aurelius
35. “Dwell on the beauty of life. Watch the stars and see yourself running with them.” – Marcus Aurelius
36. “Every living organism is fulfilled when it follows the right path for its own nature.” – Marcus Aurelius
37. “Everything – a horse, a vine – is created for some duty. For what task, then, were you yourself created?” – Marcus Aurelius
38. “Everything in any way beautiful has its beauty of itself, inherent and self-sufficient. Praise is no part of it.” – Marcus Aurelius
39. “Everything is banal in experience, fleeting in duration, sordid in content; in all respects the same today as generations now dead and buried have found it to be.” – Marcus Aurelius
40. “Everything is only for a day – both that which remembers and that which is remembered.” – Marcus Aurelius
41. “Everything that exists is in a manner the seed of that which will be.” – Marcus Aurelius
42. “Everything that happens, happens as it should, and if you observe carefully, you will find this to be so.” – Marcus Aurelius
43. “Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth.” – Marcus Aurelius
44. “Everywhere, at each moment, you have the option: to accept this event with humility, to treat this person as he should be treated, to approach this thought with care, so that nothing irrational creeps in.” – Marcus Aurelius
45. “Fame after life is no better than oblivion.” – Marcus Aurelius
46. “For it is in your power to retire into yourself whenever you choose.” – Marcus Aurelius
47. “For outward show is a wonderful perverter of the reason.” – Marcus Aurelius
48. “Give up your thirst for books, so that you do not die a grouch.” – Marcus Aurelius
49. “He is so rich, he has no room to shit.” – Marcus Aurelius
50. “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.’” – Marcus Aurelius
51. “How much more grievous are the consequences of anger than the causes of it.” – Marcus Aurelius
52. “How ridiculous and how strange to be surprised at anything which happens in life.” – Marcus Aurelius
53. “Humans have come into being for the sake of each other, so either teach them, or learn to bear them.” – Marcus Aurelius
54. “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 opinion of himself than on the opinion of others.” – Marcus Aurelius
55. “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
56. “If it is not right, do not do it; if it is not true, do not say it.” – Marcus Aurelius
57. “If someone is able to show me that what I think or do is not right, I will happily change, for I seek the truth, by which no one was ever truly harmed. It is the person who continues in his self-deception and ignorance who is harmed.” – Marcus Aurelius
58. “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
59. “If you are pained by external things, it is not they that disturb you, but it is your own judgement of them. And it is in your power to wipe out that judgement now.” – Marcus Aurelius
60. “In an expression of true gratitude, sadness is conspicuous only by its absence.” – Marcus Aurelius
61. “In the life of a man, his time is but a moment, his being an incessant flux, his sense a dim rushlight, his body a prey of worms, his soul an unquiet eddy, his fortune dark, his fame doubtful. In short, all that is body is as coursing waters, all that is of the soul as dreams and vapors.” – Marcus Aurelius
62. “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
63. “It is a ridiculous thing for a man not to fly from his own badness, which is indeed possible, but to fly from other men’s badness, which is impossible.” – Marcus Aurelius
64. “It is not death that a man should fear, but he should fear never beginning to live.” – Marcus Aurelius
65. “It is not the actions of others which trouble us – for those actions are controlled by their governing part – but rather it is our own judgments. Therefore, remove those judgments and resolve to let go of your anger, and it will already be gone. How do you let go? By realizing that such actions are not shameful to you.” – Marcus Aurelius
66. “It is within our power not to make a judgement about something, and so not disturb our minds; for nothing in itself possesses the power to form our judgements.” – Marcus Aurelius
67. “It loved to happen.” – Marcus Aurelius
68. “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. But you must not do this with sarcasm or reproach, but lovingly and without anger in your soul.” – Marcus Aurelius
69. “Life is neither good or evil, but only a place for good and evil.” – Marcus Aurelius
70. “Life is opinion.” – Marcus Aurelius
71. “Live a good life. If there are gods and they are just, then they will not care how devout you have been, but will welcome you based on the virtues you have lived by. If there are gods, but unjust, then you should not want to worship them. If there are no gods, then you will be gone, but will have lived a noble life that will live on in the memories of your loved ones.” – Marcus Aurelius
72. “Live out your life in truth and justice, tolerant of those who are neither true nor just.” – Marcus Aurelius
73. “Look back over the past, with its changing empires that rose and fell, and you can foresee the future too.” – Marcus Aurelius
74. “Look beneath the surface; let not the several qualities of a thing nor its worth escape thee.” – Marcus Aurelius
75. “Look to nothing, not even for a moment, except to reason.” – Marcus Aurelius
76. “Look well into thyself; there is a source of strength which will always spring up if thou wilt always look.” – Marcus Aurelius
77. “Misfortune, nobly born, is good fortune.” – Marcus Aurelius
78. “Neither worse, then, or better is a thing made by being praised.” – Marcus Aurelius
79. “Never esteem anything as of advantage to you that will make you break your word or lose your self-respect.” – Marcus Aurelius
80. “Never forget that the universe is a single living organism possessed of one substance and one soul – holding all things suspended in a single consciousness and creating all things with a single purpose that they might work together spinning and weaving and knotting whatever comes to pass.” – Marcus Aurelius
81. “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
82. “Never wilt your soul, never be just good, simple or unpolished. Manifest more than the body that surrounds yourself.” – Marcus Aurelius
83. “No man is happy who does not think of himself so.” – Marcus Aurelius
84. “No one can lose either the past or the future – how could anyone be deprived of what he does not possess? It is only the present moment of which either stands to be deprived, and if this is all he has, he cannot lose what he does not have.” – Marcus Aurelius
85. “No one loses any other life than the one he now lives, nor does one live any other life than that which he will lose.” – Marcus Aurelius
86. “Nothing happens to anybody which he is not fitted by nature to bear.” – Marcus Aurelius
87. “Nothing is more scandalous than a man that is proud of his humility.” – Marcus Aurelius
88. “Nowhere can man find a quieter or more untroubled retreat than in his own soul.” – Marcus Aurelius
89. “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
90. “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
91. “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
92. “Perfect tranquility within consists in the good ordering of the mind – the realm of your own.” – Marcus Aurelius
93. “Perfection of character is this: to live each day as if it were your last – without frenzy, without apathy, without pretence.” – Marcus Aurelius
94. “Receive without conceit, release without struggle.” – Marcus Aurelius
95. “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
96. “Reject your sense of injury and the injury itself disappears.” – Marcus Aurelius
97. “Remember, nothing belongs to you but your flesh and blood – and nothing else is under your control.” – Marcus Aurelius
98. “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
99. “That which is not good for the swarm, neither is it good for the bee.” – Marcus Aurelius
100. “That which is really beautiful has no need of anything; not more than law, not more than truth, not more than benevolence or modesty.” – Marcus Aurelius
101. “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
102. “The best revenge is not to be like your enemy.” – Marcus Aurelius
103. “The blazing fire makes flames and brightness out of everything thrown into it.” – Marcus Aurelius
104. “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
105. “The happiness and unhappiness of the rational, social animal depends not on what he feels, but on what he does; just as his virtue and vice consist not in feeling but in doing.” – Marcus Aurelius
106. “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
107. “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
108. “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 chooses or not.” – Marcus Aurelius
109. “The impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way.” – Marcus Aurelius
110. “The memory of everything is very soon overwhelmed in time.” – Marcus Aurelius
111. “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
112. “The sexual embrace can only be compared with music and with prayer.” – Marcus Aurelius
113. “The soul becomes dyed with the color of its thoughts.” – Marcus Aurelius
114. “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
115. “The universe is change; our life is what our thoughts make it.” – Marcus Aurelius
116. “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
117. “Time is like a river made up of the events which happen, and a violent stream; for as soon as a thing has been seen, it is carried away, and another comes in its place, and this will be carried away too.” – Marcus Aurelius
118. “To pursue the unattainable is insanity, yet the thoughtless can never refrain from doing so.” – Marcus Aurelius
119. “To read with diligence; not to rest satisfied with a light and superficial knowledge, nor quickly to assent to things commonly spoken.” – Marcus Aurelius
120. “Today I escaped all circumstances, or rather I cast out all circumstances, for it was not outside me, but within my judgements.” – Marcus Aurelius
121. “Today I escaped anxiety. Or no, I discarded it, because it was within me, in my own perceptions – not outside.” – Marcus Aurelius
122. “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
123. “Waste no more time arguing about what a good man should be. Be one.” – Marcus Aurelius
124. “We are the other of the other.” – Marcus Aurelius
125. “What we cannot bear removes us from life; what remains can be borne.” – Marcus Aurelius
126. “What we do now echoes in eternity.” – Marcus Aurelius
127. “Whatever anyone does or says, I must be emerald and keep my color.” – Marcus Aurelius
128. “Whatever time you choose is the right time – not late, not early.” – Marcus Aurelius
129. “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
130. “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
131. “When men are inhuman, take care not to feel towards them as they do towards other humans.” – Marcus Aurelius
132. “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.” – Marcus Aurelius
133. “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
134. “Whoever does wrong, wrongs himself; whoever does injustice, does it to himself – making himself evil.” – Marcus Aurelius
135. “Will any man despise me? Let him see to it. But I will see to it that I may not be found doing or saying anything that deserves to be despised.” – Marcus Aurelius
136. “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
137. “You are a little soul carrying about a corpse, as Epictetus used to say.” – Marcus Aurelius
138. “You have power over your mind – not outside events. Realize this and you will find strength.” – Marcus Aurelius
139. “You need to avoid certain things in your train of thought – everything random, everything irrelevant, and certainly everything self-important or malicious.” – Marcus Aurelius
140. “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