Marcus Aurelius Antoninus was a Roman emperor and a Stoic philosopher. During one of his campaigns, Marcus wrote Meditations in Greek for his own self-improvement.
Meditations was never meant for publication as it was written for no one but himself. Yet, to this day, it remains in print.
In this book, Marcus advocates a stoic idea that to free yourself from the pain and pleasures of the material world, it is necessary to avoid indulgence in sensory affections.
And how a man can only be harmed by others is if he allows his reaction to overpower him.
Here are some of his quotes from Meditations:
How much time he saves who does not look to see what his neighbor says or does or thinks.
Marcus Aurelius
Confine yourself to the present.
Marcus Aurelius
Tomorrow is nothing, today is too late; the good lived yesterday.
Marcus Aurelius
The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts: therefore, guard accordingly, and take care that you entertain no notions unsuitable to virtue and reasonable nature.
Marcus Aurelius
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
Whenever you are about to find fault with someone, ask yourself the following question: What fault of mine most nearly resembles the one I am about to criticize?
Marcus Aurelius
The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane.
Marcus Aurelius
It is not death that a man should fear, but he should fear never beginning to live.
Marcus Aurelius
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
The best answer to anger is silence.
Marcus Aurelius
The more we value things outside our control, the less control we have.
Marcus Aurelius
When someone is properly grounded in life, they shouldn’t have to look outside themselves for approval.
Marcus Aurelius
To be feared is to fear: no one has been able to strike terror into others and at the same time enjoy peace of mind himself.
Marcus Aurelius
Under no circumstances ever say ‘I have lost something,’ only ‘I returned it.
Marcus Aurelius
What springs from earth dissolves to earth again, and heaven-born things fly to their native seat.
Marcus Aurelius
There is nothing happens to any person but what was in his power to go through with.
Marcus Aurelius
You have power over your mind – not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.
Marcus Aurelius
A man’s worth is no greater than his ambitions.
Marcus Aurelius
The universe is change; our life is what our thoughts make it.
Marcus Aurelius
I have often wondered how it is that every man loves himself more than all the rest of men, but yet sets less value on his own opinions of himself than on the opinions of others.
Marcus Aurelius
Everything that happens happens as it should, and if you observe carefully, you will find this to be so.
Marcus Aurelius
Natural ability without education has more often raised a man to glory and virtue than education without natural ability.
Marcus Aurelius
A noble man compares and estimates himself by an idea which is higher than himself; and a mean man, by one lower than himself. The one produces aspiration; the other ambition, which is the way in which a vulgar man aspires.
Marcus Aurelius
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
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
Observe constantly that all things take place by change, and accustom thyself to consider that the nature of the Universe loves nothing so much as to change the things which are, and to make new things like them.
Marcus Aurelius
Begin – to begin is half the work, let half still remain; again begin this, and thou wilt have finished.
Marcus Aurelius
Poverty is the mother of crime.
Marcus Aurelius
Do every act of your life as if it were your last.
Marcus Aurelius
We ought to do good to others as simply 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
Such as are your habitual thoughts, such also will be the character of your mind; for the soul is dyed by the thoughts.
Marcus Aurelius
Because your own strength is unequal to the task, do not assume that it is beyond the powers of man; but if anything is within the powers and province of man, believe that it is within your own compass also.
Marcus Aurelius
Let it be your constant method to look into the design of people’s actions, and see what they would be at, as often as it is practicable; and to make this custom the more significant, practice it first upon yourself.
Marcus Aurelius
Curious about who you truly are? Here’s a Free Archetype Quiz that will help you realize Your personality quirks, innate talents, and hidden weaknesses.
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Rudra
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