Meditations
Marcus Aurelius
180
The private journal of Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius — personal reflections on Stoic philosophy and the art of living.
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Quotes from this source
21 verified quotes
“When you are reluctant to get up from your sleep, remind yourself that it is your constitution and man's nature to perform social acts, whereas sleep is something you share with dumb animals.”
“If your distress has some external cause, it is not the thing itself that troubles you, but your own judgement of it; and you can erase this immediately.”
“You are doing your proper duty; let it not matter to you whether you are cold or warm, whether you are sleepy or well-slept, whether men speak badly or well of you, even whether you are on the point of death or doing something else; because even this, the act in which we die, is one of the acts of life.”
“You may leave this life at any moment. Have this possibility in your mind in all that you do or say or think.”
“If anyone can show me, and prove to me, that I am wrong in thought or deed, I will gladly change. I seek the truth, which never harmed anyone; the harm is to persist in one's own self-deception and ignorance.”
“Concentrate on the matter in hand and see it for what it is. Remind yourself of your duty to be a good man and rehearse what man's nature demands then do it straight and unswerving, or say what you best think right. Always, though, in kindness, integrity, and sincerity.”
“The art of living is more like wrestling than dancing, in that it stands ready for what comes and is not thrown by the unforeseen.”
“You must compose your life action by action, and be satisfied if each action achieves its own end as best can be and no one can prevent you from that achievement. But there will be some external obstacle. No obstacle, though, to justice, self-control, and reason.”
“In the same way that nature turns to its own purpose anything obstructive or contrary, placing it in the fated scheme of things and making it part of itself, so the rational being can also convert every obstacle into material for his own use, and use it to further whatever his original purpose was.”
“In every contingency keep in your mind's eye those who had the same experience before, and reacted with vexation, disbelief, or complaint. So where are they now? Nowhere. Well then, do you want to act like them? Why not leave the moods and shifts of others to the shifting and the shifted, and for yourself concentrate wholly on how to make use of these contingencies? You will then use them well, and they will be raw material in your hands.”
“Dig inside yourself. Inside there is a spring of goodness ready to gush at any moment, if you keep digging.”
“Do not look around at the directing minds of other people, but keep looking straight ahead to where nature is leading you—both universal nature, in what happens to you, and your own nature, in what you must do yourself.”
“The directing mind does not disturb itself—for example, it does not frighten itself or lead itself to desire. If anyone else can frighten it or cause it pain, let him do so; of itself, of its own judgement, it will not deliberately turn to such modes.”
“Remove the judgement, and you have removed the thought 'I am hurt'; remove the thought 'I am hurt', and the hurt itself is removed.”
“Ask yourself this about each action: 'How does this sit with me? Shall I regret it?' In a short while I am dead and all things are gone.”
“Alexander, Julius Caesar, Pompey—what are they to Diogenes, Heraclitus, Socrates? These men saw into reality, its causes and its material, and their directing minds were their own masters. As for the former, they were slaves to all their ambitions.”
“Where a task can be accomplished in accordance with the reason which gods and men share, there is nothing to be afraid of; because where there is the possibility of benefit from an action which moves along the proper path, following our own human constitution, there should be no lurking fear of any harm.”
“It is in my power now to keep this soul of mine free from any vice or passion, or any other disturbance at all; but seeing all things for what they are, I can treat them on their merits. Remember this power which nature gives you.”