Marcus Aurelius (121–180 CE,) fully Caesar Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus, born Marcus Annius Verus, was the Roman emperor 161–180. He was engaged for much of his rule with wars against Germanic tribes. By nature philosophical contemplative, Marcus is also known for his aphorisms and reflections based on a Stoic outlook in his Meditations.
Born into a prominent Roman family, Marcus was adopted in 138 by Emperor Hadrian’s successor, Antoninus Pius (at Hadrian’s behest.) Marcus succeeded Antoninus as emperor in 161. During his reign, Rome faced troubles on the frontiers of the empire, and Marcus’s death is often considered the end of the golden age of the Roman Empire.
Marcus is well-known for the intimate notebook, Meditations that he wrote during the military campaigns of the last ten years of his life. According to scholars, Marcus may have turned to philosophy for mental stimulation while removed from the cultural and intellectual life of Rome.
The twelve books that comprise the Meditations are unorganized private reflections on life, death, personal conduct, and the cosmos, owe much to the Stoic philosophers Epictetus and Gaius Musonius Rufus, even though they were Marcus’s own thoughts.
Published unrevised only after Marcus’s death, Meditations were not very influential straightway. Later considered by many generations one of the greatest books of all times, Meditations are a substantial source of the modern understanding of ancient Stoic philosophy.
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Thou hast existed as a part; thou shalt disappear into that which produced thee. This, too, nature wills. Pass then through this little space of time conformably to nature and end thy journey in content, just as the olive falls when it is ripe, thanking the tree on which it grew and blessing the nature that gave it birth.
—Marcus Aurelius
Topics: Nature
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
Topics: Dying, Death
Give thy mind more to what thou has than to what thou hast not.
—Marcus Aurelius
Topics: Possessions
Vex not thy spirit at the course of things; they heed not thy vexation. How ludicrous and outlandish is astonishment at anything that may happen in life.
—Marcus Aurelius
Topics: Realistic Expectations, Acceptance
Very little is needed to make a happy life; it is all within yourself, in your way of thinking.
—Marcus Aurelius
Topics: Thought, Happiness, Thinking
The universe is change; our life is what our thoughts make it.
—Marcus Aurelius
Topics: Optimism, Positive Attitudes
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
To them that ask, where have you seen the Gods, or how do you know for certain there are Gods, that you are so devout in their worship? I answer: Neither have I ever seen my own soul, and yet I respect and honor it.
—Marcus Aurelius
Topics: Faith, Divinity, God
Despise not death, but welcome it, for nature wills it like all else.
—Marcus Aurelius
Topics: Death, Dying
A man’s life is what his thoughts make of it.
—Marcus Aurelius
Topics: Thought, Thinking, Thoughts
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.
—Marcus Aurelius
Topics: Truth
Let not your mind run on what you lack as much as on what you have already.
—Marcus Aurelius
Topics: Satisfaction, Attitude
A man should be upright, not be kept upright.
—Marcus Aurelius
Topics: Integrity
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.
—Marcus Aurelius
Topics: Beauty
Without a purpose nothing should be done.
—Marcus Aurelius
Topics: Goals, Aspirations
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.
—Marcus Aurelius
Topics: Judging, Judgment, Judges
The most complete revenge is not to imitate the aggressor.
—Marcus Aurelius
Topics: Anger
Time is a sort of river of passing events, and strong is its current; 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.
—Marcus Aurelius
Topics: Time, Time Management
Such as are thy habitual thoughts, such also will be the character of thy soul-for the soul is dyed by the thoughts. Dye it then, with a continuous series of such thoughts as these-that where a man can live, there if he will, he can also live well.
—Marcus Aurelius
Topics: Habit, Character, Thinking, Habits
To live each day as though one’s last, never flustered, never apathetic, never attitudinizing—here is perfection of character.
—Marcus Aurelius
Topics: Time Management
Mark how fleeting and paltry is the estate of man—yesterday in embryo, tomorrow a mummy or ashes. So for the hairsbreadth of time assigned to thee, live rationally, and part with life cheerfully, as drops the ripe olive, extolling the season that bore it and the tree that matured it.
—Marcus Aurelius
Topics: Mankind, Man, Humankind, Humanity
Life is neither good or evil, but only a place for good and evil.
—Marcus Aurelius
Topics: Evil, Good
Opinion is the main thing which does good or harm in the world. It is our false opinions of things which ruin us.
—Marcus Aurelius
Topics: Opinions, Opinion
Always observe how ephemeral and worthless human things are. 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
Topics: Humanity, Humankind
If it is not right do not do it; if it is not true do not say it.
—Marcus Aurelius
Topics: Integrity
Here is the rule to remember in the future, When anything tempts you to be bitter: not, “This is a misfortune” but “To bear this worthily is good fortune.”
—Marcus Aurelius
Topics: Adversity
Ask thyself, daily, to how many ill-minded persons thou hast shown a kind disposition.
—Marcus Aurelius
Topics: Kindness
All the transactions of the past differ very little from those of the present.
—Marcus Aurelius
It is the duty of men to love even those who injure them.
—Marcus Aurelius
Topics: Love
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
Topics: The Future, Future, Live-now
Nothing has such power to broaden the mind as the ability to investigate systematically and truly all that comes under thy observation in life.
—Marcus Aurelius
Topics: Power
Forward, as occasion offers.
Never look round to see whether any shall note it….
Be satisfied with success in even the smallest matter,
and think that even such a result is no trifle.
—Marcus Aurelius
You exist but as a part inherent in a greater whole. Do not live as though you had a thousand years before you. The common due impends; while you live, and while you may, be good.
—Marcus Aurelius
Topics: Goodness
Snow endures but for a season, and joy comes with the morning.
—Marcus Aurelius
Topics: Morning
Poverty is the mother of crime.
—Marcus Aurelius
Topics: Justice, Poverty
A rational nature admits of nothing which is not serviceable to the rest of mankind.
—Marcus Aurelius
Topics: Man, Humanity
A man’s true greatness lies in the consciousness of an honest purpose in life, founded on a just estimate of himself and everything else, on frequent self-examinations, and a steady obedience to the rule which he knows to be right, without troubling himself about what others may think or say, or whether they do or do not that which he thinks and says and does.
—Marcus Aurelius
Topics: Greatness
All things change, and you yourself are constantly wasting away. So also is the universe.
—Marcus Aurelius
Topics: Change
He tells himself over and over again in any choice presented to him, ‘Prefer the hard.’ This holds good not only in great matters, but also in very small, in fighting by the frozen Danube and in starting the day early.
—Marcus Aurelius
Topics: Choice
This is moral perfection: to live each day as though it were the last; to be tranquil, sincere.
—Marcus Aurelius
Topics: Perfectionism
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