Marcus Aurelius quotes - page 19

The noblest kind of retribution is not to become like your enemy. (Marcus Aurelius)
You must become an old man in good time if you wish to be an old man long. View quote
Marcus Aurelius
To my great-grandfather I owed the advice to dispense with the education of the schools and have good masters at home instead - and to realize that no expense should be grudged for this purpose. View quote
Marcus Aurelius
Take away your 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. View quote
Marcus Aurelius
Live with the gods. And he does so who constantly shows them that his soul is satisfied with what is assigned to him. View quote
Marcus Aurelius
If you do everything as if it were the last thing you were doing in your life, and stop being aimless, stop letting your emotions override what your mind tells you, stop being hypocritical, self-centered, irritable. View quote
Marcus Aurelius
One universe made up all that is and one God in it all, and one principle of being, and one law, the reason shared by all thinking creatures, and one truth. View quote
Marcus Aurelius
Glory arrives too late when it comes only to one's ashes. View quote
Marcus Aurelius
As the same fire assumes different shapes When it consumes objects differing in shape, So does the one Self take the shape Of every creature in whom he is present. View quote
Marcus Aurelius
Light may earth's crumbling sand be laid on thee, that dogs may dig thy bones up easily. View quote
Marcus Aurelius
When thou art offended at any man's fault, forthwith turn to thyself and reflect in what manner thou doest error thyself. For by attending to this thou wilt quickly forget thy anger, if this consideration is also added, that the man is compelled; for what else could he do? or, if thou art able, take away from him the compulsion. (Marcus Aurelius)
As for literature, thefts cannot harm it, while the lapse of ages augments its value. View quote
Marcus Aurelius
To no man make yourself a boon companion Your joy will be less but less will be your grief. View quote
Marcus Aurelius
Is any man afraid of change Why what can take place without change What then is more pleasing or more suitable to the universal nature. View quote
Marcus Aurelius
Her reverence for the divine, her generosity, her inability not only to do wrong but even to conceive of doing it. And the simple way she lived-not in the least like the rich. (Hays translation) View quote
Marcus Aurelius
...undefiled by pleasures, invulnerable to any pain, untouched by arrogance, unaffected by meanness, an athlete in the greatest of all contests-the struggle not to be overwhelmed by anything that happens. (Hays translation) View quote
Marcus Aurelius
If you do the job in a principled way, with diligence, energy and patience, if you keep yourself free of distractions, and keep the spirit inside you undamaged, as if you might have to give it back at any moment- If you can embrace this without fear or expectation-can find fulfillment in what you're doing now, as Nature intended, and in superhuman truthfulness (every word, every utterance)-then your life will be happy. (Hays translation)-. View quote
Marcus Aurelius
People try to get away from it all-to the country, to the beach, to the mountains. You always wish that you could too. Which is idiotic: you can get away from it anytime you like. By going within. Nowhere you can go is more peaceful-more free of interruptions-than your own soul. (Hays translation) View quote
Marcus Aurelius
Don't let yourself forget how many doctors have died, after furrowing their brows over how many deathbeds. How many astrologers, after pompous forecasts about others' ends. How many philosophers, after endless disquisitions on death and immortality. How many warriors, after inflicting thousands of casualties themselves. How many tyrants, after abusing the power of life and death atrociously, as if they were themselves immortal. (Hays translation) View quote
Marcus Aurelius
So remember this principle when something threatens to cause you pain: the thing itself was no misfortune at all; to endure it and prevail is great good fortune. View quote
Marcus Aurelius
..If you are troubled by external circumstances, it is not the circumstances that trouble you, but your own perception of them - and they are in your power to change at any time. (Marcus Aurelius)
Today I escaped from anxiety. Or no, I discarded it, because it was within me, in my own perceptions-not outside. (Hays translation) View quote
Marcus Aurelius
It is not given to a cylinder to move everywhere by its own motion, nor yet to water nor to fire nor to anything else which is governed by nature or an irrational soul, for the things which check them and stand in the way are many. But intelligence and reason are able to go through everything that opposes them, and in such manner as they are formed by nature and as they choose. Place before thy eyes this facility with which the reason will be carried through all things, as fire upwards, as a stone downwards, as a cylinder down an inclined surface, and seek for nothing further. For all other obstacles either affect the body only, which is a dead thing; or, except for opinion and the yielding of reason itself, they do not crush nor do any harm of any kind; for if they did, he who felt it would immediately become bad. View quote
Marcus Aurelius
There is no man so fortunate that there shall not be by him when he is dying some who are pleased with what is going to happen. Suppose that he was a good and a wise man, will there not be at least some one to say to himself, Let us at last breathe freely, being relieved from this schoolmaster? It is true that he was harsh to none of us, but I perceive that he tacitly condemns us.-This is what is said of a good man. But in our own case how many other things are there for which there are many who wish to get rid of us. View quote
Marcus Aurelius
"No thefts of free will reported.” (Hays translation) View quote
Marcus Aurelius