Marcus Aurelius

"A man must stand erect, not be kept erect by others."

"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."

"A man's worth is no greater than his ambitions."

"A person's worth is measured by the worth of what he values."

"Accept the things to which fate binds you, and love the people with whom fate brings you together, and do so with all your heart."

"Accept the things to which fate binds you, and love the people with whom fate brings you together, but do so with all your heart."

"Waste no more time arguing about what a good man should be. Be one."

"Be like the cliff against which the waves continually break but it stands firm and tames the fury of the water around it."

"Because a thing seems difficult for you, do not think it impossible for anyone to accomplish."

"Confine yourself to the present."

"Despise not death, but welcome it, for nature wills it like all else."

"Do every act of your life as though it were the very last act of your life."

"Do not act as if you were going to live ten thousand years. Death hangs over you. While you live, while it is in your power, be good."

"Dwell on the beauty of life. Watch the stars, and see yourself running with them."

"Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth."

"It is not death that a man should fear, but he should fear never beginning to live."

"Very little is needed to make a happy life; it is all within yourself, in your way of thinking."

"He who lives in harmony with himself lives in harmony with the universe."

"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.'"

"How much time he gains who does not look to see what his neighbour says or does or thinks, but only at what he does himself, to make it just and holy."

"How ridiculous and how strange to be surprised at anything which happens in life."

"If it is not right do not do it; if it is not true do not say it."

"If someone is able to show me that what I think or do is not right, I will happily change, for I seek the truth, by which no one was ever truly harmed. It is the person who cont…"

"If it is not right, do not do it; if it is not true, do not say it."

"It is not death that a man should fear, but he should fear never beginning to live."

"It is the responsibility of leadership to work intelligently with what is given, and not waste time fantasizing about a world of flawless people and perfect choices."

"Perfection of character is this: to live each day as if it were your last, without frenzy, without apathy, without pretense."

"Let each thing you would do, say, or intend, be like that of a dying person."

"Let not your mind run on what you lack as much as on what you have already."

"Look back over the past, with its changing empires that rose and fell, and you can foresee the future, too."

"Look well into thyself; there is a source of strength which will always spring up if thou wilt always look."

"Loss is nothing else but change, and change is Nature's delight."

"Nothing happens to any man that he is not formed by nature to bear."

"Nowhere can man find a quieter or more untroubled retreat than in his own soul."

"Objective judgment, now, at this very moment. Unselfish action, now, at this very moment. Willing acceptance—now, at this very moment—of all external events. That’s all you need."

"The impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way."

"Often injustice lies in what you aren't doing, not only in what you are doing."

"Our life is what our thoughts make it."

"Pass through this brief patch of time in harmony with nature, and come to your final resting place gracefully, just as a ripened olive might drop, praising the earth that nouris…"

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

"The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts."

"Receive without conceit, release without struggle."

"Reject your sense of injury and the injury itself disappears."

"That which is not good for the bee-hive cannot be good for the bees."

"The art of living is more like wrestling than dancing."

"The best revenge is to be unlike him who performed the injury."

"The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts."

"The impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way."

"The memory of everything is very soon overwhelmed in time."

"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."

"The only wealth which you will keep forever is the wealth you have given away."

"The universal order and the personal order are nothing but different expressions and manifestations of a common underlying principle."

"Think of yourself as dead. You have lived your life. Now, take what's left and live it properly."

"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."

"To live a good life: We have the potential for it. If we can learn to be indifferent to what makes no difference."

"To love only what happens, what was destined. No greater harmony."

"Understand that your time has a limit set to it. Use it, then, to advance your enlightenment; or it will be gone, and never in your power again."

"The first rule is to keep an untroubled spirit. The second is to look things in the face and know them for what they are."

"Very little is needed to make a happy life; it is all within yourself, in your way of thinking."

"Waste no more time arguing about what a good man should be. Be one."

"What we do now echoes in eternity."

"Whatever anyone does or says, I must be emerald and keep my color."

"Whatever happens to you has been waiting to happen since the beginning of time."

"When you are offended at any man's fault, forthwith turn to yourself and reflect in what like manner you do err yourself."

"When you arise in the morning think of what a privilege it is to be alive, to think, to enjoy, to love..."

"You always own the option of having no opinion."

"You have power over your mind - not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength."