"If you do the task before you always adhering to strict reason with zeal and energy and yet with humanity, disregarding all lesser ends and keeping the divinity within you pure and upright, as though you were even now faced with its recall - if you hold steadily to this, staying for nothing and shrinking from nothing, only seeking in each passing action a conformity with nature and in each word and utterance a fearless truthfulness, then the good life shall be yours. And from this course no man has the power to hold you back."
Marcus Aurelius
Philosopher, Emperor
Marcus Aurelius was a Roman Emperor and Stoic philosopher, notable for his work 'Meditations', which explores themes of control and virtue.
- Born
- April 26, 0121
- Died
- March 17, 0180
- Quotes
- 777
- Rank
- #6
Quote collection
Marcus Aurelius quotes (page 4 of 39)
777 quotes — follow a thought to its full quote page.
"To understand the true quality of people, you must look into their minds, and examine their pursuits and aversions."
"How much time he saves who does not look to see what his neighbor says or does or thinks."
"The true worth of a man is to be measured by the objects he pursues."
"In the end, what would you gain from everlasting remembrance? Absolutely nothing. So what is left worth living for? This alone: justice in thought, goodness in action, speech that cannot deceive, and a disposition glad of whatever comes, welcoming it as necessary, as familiar, as flowing from the same source and fountain as yourself."
"Every man's life lies within the present; for the past is spent and done with, and the future is uncertain."
"The best revenge is not to be like your enemy."
"Take care that you entertain no notions unsuitable to virtue and reasonable nature."
"The inner master, when confronted with an obstacle, uses it as fuel, like a fire which consumes things that are thrown into it. A small lamp would be snuffed out, but a big fire will engulf what is thrown at it and burn hotter; it consumes the obstacle and uses it to reach a higher level."
"The cucumber is bitter? Then throw it out. There are brambles in the path? Then go around. That's all you need to know."
"Be not careless in deeds, nor confused in words, nor rambling in thought."
"The secret of all victory lies in the organization of the non-obvious."
"No one was ever injured by the truth; but he who persists in self-deception and ignorance is injured."
"Life is short. Do not forget about the most important things in our life, living for other people and doing good for them."
"Look within. Within is the fountain of good, and it will ever bubble up, if thou wilt ever dig."
"The art of living is more like wrestling than dancing."
"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."
"Your task is to stand straight; not to be held straight."
"As thou thyself art a component part of a social system, so let every act of thine be a component part of social life. Whatever act of thine that has no reference, either immediately or remotely, to a social end, this tears asunder thy life, and does not allow it to be one, and it is of the nature of a mutiny, just as when in a popular assembly a man acting by himself stands apart from the general agreement."
"I cannot comprehend how any man can want anything but the truth."