Inspirational Quotations

Inspirational Quotes by Marcus Aurelius (Emperor of Rome, Stoic Philosopher)

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.

More: Wikipedia • READ: Works by Marcus Aurelius

Neither worse then or better is a thing made by being praised.
—Marcus Aurelius

It is not death that a man should fear, but he should fear never beginning to live.
—Marcus Aurelius
Topics: Anxiety, Fear

If it is not right do not do it; if it is not true do not say it.
—Marcus Aurelius
Topics: Integrity

People are always blaming their circumstances for what they are. Never esteem anything as of advantage to you that will make you break your word or lose your self-respect.
—Marcus Aurelius
Topics: Honesty, Doing Your Best, Self Respect, Respect, Self-Discovery, Self-respect

The first rule (to Peace of Mind, Serenity) is to keep an untroubled spirit. The second is to look things in the face and know them for what they are.
—Marcus Aurelius
Topics: Happiness, Realism, Courage, Serenity

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.
—Marcus Aurelius

Life is a warfare and a stranger’s sojourn, and after fame is oblivion.
—Marcus Aurelius
Topics: Fame

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
Topics: Acceptance

This is the chief thing: Be not perturbed: for all things are according to the nature of the universal.
—Marcus Aurelius
Topics: Appropriateness, Aptness

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

Man must be arched and buttressed from within, else the temple will crumble to dust.
—Marcus Aurelius
Topics: Self-Discovery, Confidence, Self-reliance

I seek the truth…it is only persistence in self-delusion and ignorance that does harm.
—Marcus Aurelius
Topics: Truth, Persistence, Wisdom

The wise man sees in the misfortune of others what he should avoid.
—Marcus Aurelius
Topics: Wisdom

It’s silly to try to escape other people’s faults. They are inescapable. Just try to escape your own.
—Marcus Aurelius

Whatever the universal nature assigns to any man at any time is for the good of that man at that time.
—Marcus Aurelius
Topics: Fate

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: Thinking, Character, Habit, Habits

Thou must be like a promontory of the sea,
against which, though the waves beat continually,
yet it both itself stands, and about it are
those swelling waves stilled and quieted.
—Marcus Aurelius

We shrink from change; yet is there anything that can come into being without it? What does Nature hold dearer, or more proper to herself? Could you have a hot bath unless the firewood underwent some change.. is it possible for any useful thing to be achieved without change? Do you not see, then, that change in yourself is of the same order, and no less necessary to Nature?
—Marcus Aurelius
Topics: Nature

Let them know a real man, who lives as he was meant to live.
—Marcus Aurelius
Topics: Aptness, Appropriateness

Life is neither good or evil, but only a place for good and evil.
—Marcus Aurelius
Topics: Good, Evil

Our understandings are always liable to error.—Nature and certainty are very hard to come at, and infallibility is mere vanity and pretence.
—Marcus Aurelius

Consider how many do not even know your name, and how many will soon forget it, and how those who now praise you will presently blame you.
—Marcus Aurelius
Topics: Praise

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.
—Marcus Aurelius
Topics: The Present

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.
—Marcus Aurelius
Topics: Opinions, Opinion, Trouble, Gossip, Confidence, Self-reliance

Live not one’s life as though one had a thousand years, but live each day as the last.
—Marcus Aurelius
Topics: Day

He that is violent in the pursuit of pleasure will not mind turning villain for the purchase.
—Marcus Aurelius
Topics: Pleasure

Consider how much more you often suffer from your anger and grief, than from those very things for which you are angry and grieved.
—Marcus Aurelius
Topics: Attitude, Grief, Anger

We ought to do good to others as simply and naturally as a horse runs, or a bee makes honey, or a vine bears grapes season after season without thinking of the grapes it has borne.
—Marcus Aurelius
Topics: Kindness, Goodness

You have power over your mind—not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.
—Marcus Aurelius

Very little is needed to make a happy life; it is all within yourself, in your way of thinking.
—Marcus Aurelius
Topics: Happiness, Thinking, Thought

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