Marcus Aurelius

Find the best quotes, maxims and aphorisms of Marcus Aurelius

Biography : Marcus Aurelius (Marcus Aurelius Antoninus) is a Roman emperor and Stoic philosopher. He ruled from 161 to 180 AD and is best known for his Meditations, a collection of aphorisms and brief reflections on duty, death, and the conduct of the wise person in the face of human errors and weaknesses.
Born: 121 - Died: 180
Period:
2nd century
Place of birth: Italy
Italy

Italy

Marcus Aurelius - Quotes

Universal Nature has made reasonable creatures for the sake of one another.
Marcus Aurelius - Meditations /

nature

Universal Nature has made reasonable creatures for the sake of one another.

Delve within; within is the fountain of good, and it is always ready to bubble up, if you always delve.
Marcus Aurelius - Meditations /

good

Often he who omits an act does injustice, not only he who commits an act.
Marcus Aurelius - Meditations /

Often he who omits an act does injustice, not only he who commits an act.

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 - Meditations /

What then can be his escort through life? One thing and one thing only, Philosophy.
Marcus Aurelius - Meditations /

'No soul is willing to be robbed of truth', he says. The same holds of justice, too, of temperance, of kindness, and the like. It is most necessary to remember this continually, for thus you will be more gentle to all men.
Marcus Aurelius - Meditations /

Do not trouble yourself, make yourself simple.
Marcus Aurelius - Meditations /

soul

At any moment you choose you can retire within yourself. Nowhere can man find a quieter or more untroubled retreat than in his own soul.
Marcus Aurelius - Meditations /

A property, of the rational soul is love of one's neighbour.
Marcus Aurelius - Meditations /

Suppose a man can convince me of error and bring home to me that I am mistaken in thought or act; I shall be glad to alter, for the truth is what I pursue, and no one was ever injured by the truth, whereas he is injured who continues in his own self-deception and ignorance.
Marcus Aurelius - Meditations /

The soul becomes dyed with the color of its thoughts.
Marcus Aurelius - Meditations /

Examine men's ruling principles, even those of the wise, what kind of things they avoid, and what kind they pursue.
Marcus Aurelius - Meditations /

sage

While you live, while it is in your power, be good.
Marcus Aurelius - Meditations /

Very little is needed to make a happy life.
Marcus Aurelius - Meditations /

happiness

Some things are hastening to be, others to have come and gone, and a part of what is coming into being is already extinct.
Marcus Aurelius - Meditations /

Don’t wait for Plato’s Republic! Rather, be content if one tiny thing makes some progress, and reflect on the fact that what results from this tiny thing is no tiny thing at all!
Marcus Aurelius - Meditations /

Have I done a neighbourly act? I am thereby benefited.
Marcus Aurelius - Meditations /

He who lives in harmony with himself lives in harmony with the universe.
Marcus Aurelius - Meditations /

Live out your life without restraint in entire gladness even if all men shout what they please against you.
Marcus Aurelius - Meditations /

Direct your thought to what is being said. Let your mind gain an entrance into what is occurring and who is producing it.
Marcus Aurelius - Meditations /

thought

Men exist for the sake of one another. Teach them then or bear with them.
Marcus Aurelius - Meditations /

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

Observe what your nature requires of you.
Marcus Aurelius - Meditations /

nature

Another's wrong act you must leave where it is.
Marcus Aurelius - Meditations /

Things do not lay hold of the soul.
Marcus Aurelius - Meditations /

A blind man is, he who shuts the eye of the mind.
Marcus Aurelius - Meditations /

If you suffer pain because of some external cause, what troubles you is not the thing but your decision about it.
Marcus Aurelius - Meditations /

Your life is short. You must turn to profit the present by the aid of reason and justice.
Marcus Aurelius - Meditations /

Does, then, the truly beautiful need anything beyond ?
Marcus Aurelius - Meditations /

I have now what Universal Nature wills me to have, and I do what my own nature wills me to do.
Marcus Aurelius - Meditations /

Fit yourself into accord with the things in which your portion has been cast, and love the men among whom your lot has fallen, but love them truly.
Marcus Aurelius - Meditations /