"Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"You have power over your mind - not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"It never ceases to amaze me: we all love ourselves more than other people, but care more about their opinions than our own." ~ 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
"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
"The opinion of 10,000 men is of no value if none of them know anything about the subject." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"If you are distressed by anything external, the pain is not due to the thing itself, but to your estimate of it; and this you have the power to revoke at any moment." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"The things you think about determine the quality of your mind. Your soul takes on the color of your thoughts." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"You always own the option of having no opinion. There is never any need to get worked up or to trouble your soul about things you can't control. These things are not asking to be judged by you. Leave them alone." ~ 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
"Our anger and annoyance are more detrimental to us than the things themselves which anger or annoy us." ~ 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
"Imagine you were now dead, or had not lived before his moment. Now view the rest of your life as a bonus." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"Always bear this in mind, that very little indeed is necessary for living a happy life." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"It is not death that a man should fear, but he should fear never beginning to live." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"Very little is needed to make a happy life; it is all within yourself, in your way of thinking." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"If someone can prove me wrong and show me my mistake in any thought or action, I shall gladly change. I seek the truth, which never harmed anyone: the harm is to persist in one's own self-deception and ignorance." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"Most of what we say and do is not essential. If you can eliminate it, you'll have more time, and more tranquillity. Ask yourself at every moment, 'Is this necessary?" ~ Marcus Aurelius
"I'm going to be meeting with people today who talk too much - people who are selfish, egotistical, ungrateful. But I won't be surprised or disturbed, for I can't imagine a world without such people." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"Live your life as if you are ready to say goodbye to it at any moment, as if the time left for you were some pleasant surprise." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"Life is short. Do not forget about the most important things in our life, living for other people and doing good for them." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"Do not indulge in dreams of having what you have not, but reckon up the chief of the blessings you do possess, and then thankfully remember how you would crave for them if they were not yours." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"The impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"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." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"Dwell on the beauty of life. Watch the stars, and see yourself running with them." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"No one was ever injured by the truth; but he who persists in self-deception and ignorance is injured." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"When another blames you or hates you, or people voice similar criticisms, go to their souls, penetrate inside and see what sort of people they are. You will realize that there is no need to be racked with anxiety that they should hold any particular opinion about you." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"Whoever values peace of mind and the health of the soul will live the best of all possible lives." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"If any man despises me, that is his problem. My only concern is not doing or saying anything deserving of contempt." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"There is but one thing of real value - to cultivate truth and justice, and to live without anger in the midst of lying and unjust men." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"Don't be ashamed to need help. Like a soldier storming a wall, you have a mission to accomplish. And if you've been wounded and you need a comrade to pull you up? So what?" ~ Marcus Aurelius
"When you need encouragement, think of the qualities the people around you have: this one's energy, that one's modesty, another's generosity, and so on. Nothing is as encouraging as when virtues are visibly embodied in the people around us, when we're practically showered with them. It's good to keep this in mind." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"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." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"Adapt yourself to the life you have been given; and truly love the people with whom destiny has surrounded you." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"The happiness of those who want to be popular depends on others; the happiness of those who seek pleasure fluctuates with moods outside their control; but the happiness of the wise grows out of their own free acts." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"Past and future have no power over you. Just the present - and even that can be minimized." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"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, on frequent self-examinations, and a steady obedience to the rule which he knows to be right, without troubling himself about what others may think or say, or whether they do or do not that which he thinks and says and does." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"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." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"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." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"To understand the true quality of people, you must look into their minds, and examine their pursuits and aversions." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"If you are pained by any external thing, it is not this thing that disturbs you, but your own judgment about it. It is in your power to erase this judgment about it. If anything in your own nature gives you pain, you are who hinders you from correcting your opinion." ~ 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 ... then make that day count!" ~ Marcus Aurelius
"Bear in mind that the measure of a man is the worth of the things he cares about." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"Everything that happens happens as it should, and if you observe carefully, you will find this to be so." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"It's silly to try to escape other people's faults. They are inescapable. Just try to escape your own." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"It doesn't hurt me unless I interpret its happening as harmful to me. I can choose not to." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"Treat with utmost respect your power of forming opinions, for this power alone guards you against making assumptions that are contrary to nature and judgments that overthrow the rule of reason." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"Think of what you have rather than of what you lack. Of the things you have, select the best and then reflect how eagerly you would have sought them if you did not have them." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"When you are offended at anyone's fault, turn to yourself and study your own failings. By attending to them, you will forget your anger and learn to live wisely." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"One of the recurring themes in Marcus' handbook is leadership's responsibility to work intelligently with what it is given and not waste time fantasizing about a world of flawless people and perfect choices." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"The only wealth which you will keep forever is the wealth you have given away." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"Remember that man lives only in the present, in this fleeting instant; all the rest of his life is either past and gone, or not yet revealed." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"Perfection of character is this: to live each day as if it were your last, without frenzy, without apathy, without pretence." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"The only thing that isn't worthless: to live this life out truthfully and rightly, And be patience with those who don't." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"Withdraw to the untroubled quietude deep within the soul, and refresh yourself." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"Whosoever does wrong, wrongs himself; whosoever does injustice, does it to himself, making himself evil." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"If you are pained by any external thing, it is not this that disturbs you, but your own judgment about it." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"Practice really hearing what people say. Do your best to get inside their mind." ~ 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
"External things are not the problem. It's your assessment of them. Which you can erase right now." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"Discard everything except these few truths: we can live only in the present moment, in this brief now; all the rest of our life is dead and buried or shrouded in uncertainty. Short is the life we lead, and small our patch of earth." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"Failing to understand the workings of one's own mind is bound to lead to unhappiness." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"Never esteem anything as of advantage to you that will make you break your word or lose your self-respect." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"Remember that there is a God who desires neither praise nor glory from men created in his image, but rather that they, guided by the understanding given them, should in their actions become like unto him." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"Natural ability without education has more often raised a man to glory and virtue than education without natural ability." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"How much time he saves who does not look to see what his neighbor says or does or thinks." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"Remember: Matter: how tiny your share of it. Time: how brief and fleeting your allotment of it. Fate: how small a role you play in it." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"If it's in your control, why do you do it? If it's in someone else's control, then who are you blaming? Atoms? The gods? Stupid either way. Blame no one. Set people straight, if you can. If not, just repair the damage." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"Be like the cliff against which the waves continually break; but it stands firm and tames the fury of the water around it." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"Confine yourself to the present." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"The main thing we were made for is to work with others." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"Reject your sense of injury, and the injury itself disappears." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"Let no act be done without purpose." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"Put from you the belief that 'I have been wronged', and with it will go the feeling. Reject your sense of injury, and the injury itself disappears." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"He who lives in harmony with himself lives in harmony with the universe." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"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
"Tranquility is nothing else than the good ordering of the mind." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"The cucumber is bitter? Then throw it out. There are brambles in the path? Then go around. That's all you need to know." ~ 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
"Nothing is evil which is according to nature." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"What we do now echoes in eternity." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"The soul becomes dyed with the color of its thoughts." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"The world is a living being - one nature, one soul. Keep that in mind." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"Bear in mind that the measure of a man is the worth of the things he cares about. If it is good to say or do something, then it is even better to be criticized for having said or done it." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"How can a man find a sensible way to live? One way and one only- Philosophy. And my philosophy means keeping that vital spark within you free from damage and degradation, using it to transcend pain and pleasure, doing everything with a purpose, avoiding lies and hypocrisy, not relying on another person's actions or failings. To accept everything that comes, and everything that is given, as coming from that same spiritual source." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"Your mind will take on the character of your most frequent thoughts: souls are dyed by thoughts." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"Everything - a horse, a vine - is created for some duty... For what task, then, were you yourself created?" ~ Marcus Aurelius
"Frequently consider the connection of all things in the universe. .. We should not say 'I am an Athenian' or 'I am a Roman' but 'I am a citizen of the Universe." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"Look well into thyself; there is a source of strength which will always spring up if thou wilt always look." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"How much more grievous are the consequences of anger than the causes of it." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"Every man's life lies within the present; for the past is spent and done with, and the future is uncertain." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"If you are distressed by something, it is due to your own estimate of it; and you have the power to change it at will." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"Life is a stranger's sojourn, a night at an inn." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"He who pays no attention to what his neighbor does, says or thinks, preferring to concentrate on making his own actions appropriate and justifiable, better uses his time." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"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." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"Choose not to be harmed and you won't feel harmed. Don't feel harmed and you haven't been." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"To the wise, life is a problem; to the fool, a solution." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"Do not be ashamed of help." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"Because other people are fools, must you be so too?" ~ Marcus Aurelius
"Whatever may happen to you was prepared for you from all eternity; and the implication of causes was from eternity spinning the thread of your being." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"Without a purpose, nothing should be done." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"The man who has a house everywhere has a home nowhere" ~ Marcus Aurelius
"Look back over the past, with its changing empires that rose and fell, and you can foresee the future, too." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"I am an old man and have had many worries, but most have never come to pass." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"Or is it your reputation that's bothering you? But look at how soon we're all forgotten. The abyss of endless time that swallows it all. The emptiness of those applauding hands. The people who praise us; how capricious they are, how arbitrary. And the tiny region it takes place. The whole earth a point in space - and most of it uninhabited." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"Do what you will. Even if you tear yourself apart, most people will continue doing the same things." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"Men seek retreats for themselves, houses in the country, sea-shores, and mountains; and thou too art wont to desire such things very much. But this is altogether a mark of the most common sort of men, for it is in thy power whenever thou shalt choose to retire into thyself. For nowhere either with more quiet or more freedom from trouble does a man retire than into his own soul." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"It's normal to feel pain in your hands and feet, if you're using your feet as feet and your hands as hands. And for a human being to feel stress is normal - if he's living a normal life. And if it's normal, how can it be bad?" ~ Marcus Aurelius
"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." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"Our life is what our thoughts make it. Do every act of your life as if it were your last. In a word, your life is short. You must make the most of the present with the aid of reason and justice. Since it is possible that you may be quitting life this very moment, govern every act and thought accordingly." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"The sinner sins against himself; the wrongdoer wrongs himself, becoming the worse by his own action." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"Letting go all else, cling to the following few truths. Remember that man lives only in the present, in this fleeting instant: all the rest of his life is either past and gone, or not yet revealed. This mortal life is a little thing, lived in a little corner of the earth; and little, too, is the longest fame to come - dependent as it is on a succession of fast-perishing little men who have no knowledge even of their own selves, much less of one long dead and gone." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"Keep reminding yourself of the way things are connected, of great relatedness. All things are implicated in one another and in sympathy with each other. This event is the consequence of some other one. Things push and pull on each other, and breathe together, and are ONE." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"Don't let your imagination be crushed by life as a whole." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"Soon you will have forgotten the world, and soon the world will have forgotten you." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"Loss is nothing else but change, and change is Nature's delight." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"The time is at hand when you will have forgotten everything; and the time is at hand when all will have forgotten you. Always reflect that soon you will be no one, and nowhere." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"Stop whatever you're doing for a moment and ask yourself: Am I afraid of death because I won't be able to do this anymore?" ~ Marcus Aurelius
"In reading and writing, you cannot lay down rules until you have learnt to obey them. Much more so in life." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"Nature has given to each conscious being every power she possesses, and one of these abilities is this: just as Nature converts and alters every obstacle and opposition, and fits them into their predestined place, making them a part of herself, so too the rational person is able to finesse every obstacle into an opportunity, and to use it for whatever purpose it may suit." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"If you are pained by external things, it is not they that disturb you, but your own judgement of them. And it is in your power to wipe out that judgement now." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"God sees the inner spirit stripped of flesh, skin, and all debris. For his own mind only touches the spirit that he has allowed to flow from himself into our bodies. And if you can act the same way, you will rid yourself of all suffering. For surely if you are not preoccupied with the body that encloses you, you will not trouble yourself about clothes, houses, fame, and other showy trappings." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"Dig within. There lies the wellspring of good." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"How ridiculous and how strange to be surprised at anything which happens in life" ~ Marcus Aurelius
"I, who have never willfully pained another, have no business to pain myself." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"A person's life is what their thoughts make it." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"No man is happy who does not think himself so." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"Be content to seem what you really are." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"A man's worth is no greater than his ambitions." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"Nowhere can man find a quieter or more untroubled retreat than in his own soul." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"Humans have come into being for the sake of each other, so either teach them, or learn to bear them." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"Nature set a limit on sleep - as it did on eating and drinking. And youre over the limit. But not of working. There youre still below your quota. You dont love yourself enough. Or youd love your nature too and what it demands of you. People who love what they do wear themselves down doing it. They even forget to wash and eat." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"Put an end once and for all to this discussion of what a good person should be, and be one." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"Do every act of your life as if it were your last." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"Frightened of change? But what can exist without it? What's closer to nature's heart? Can you take a hot bath and leave the firewood as it was? Eat food without transforming it? Can any vital process take place without something being changed? Can't you see? It's just the same with you - and just as vital to nature." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"My true Self is free. I cannot be contained." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"Alexander the Great and his mule driver both died and the same thing happened to both." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"Body. Soul. Mind. Sensations: the body. Desires: the soul. Reasoning: the mind." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"He that lives alone lives in danger; society avoids many dangers." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"Waste no more time talking about great souls and how they should be, become one yourself!" ~ Marcus Aurelius
""Begin the morning by saying to thyself, I shall meet with the busy-body, the ungrateful, arrogant, deceitful, envious, unsocial" ~ Marcus Aurelius
"When you find an unwillingness to rise early in the morning, make this short speech to yourself: I am getting up now to do the business of a man; and am I out of humour for going about that I was made for, and for the sake of which I was sent into the world? Was I then designed for nothing but to doze and keep warm beneath the counterpane? Well! but this is a comfortable way of living." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"To expect an impossibility is madness." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"We are born for synergy, just like the feet, just like the hands, just like the eyes, just like the rows of upper and lower teeth. Working against each other is unnatural, and being annoyed and turning one's back is counterproductive." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"Live not one's life as though one had a thousand years, but live each day as the last." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"Life is a warfare and a stranger's sojourn, and after fame is oblivion." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"I seek the truth...it is only persistence in self-delusion and ignorance that does harm." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"The blazing fire makes flames and brightness out of everything thrown into it." ~ 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
"Just as nature takes every obstacle, every impediment, and works around it--turns it to its purposes, incorporates it into itself, so, too, a rational being can turn each setback into raw material and use it to achieve its goal." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"...the infallible man does not exist." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"Begin each day by telling yourself: Today I shall be meeting with interference, ingratitude, insolence, disloyalty, ill-will, and selfishness – all of them due to the offenders’ ignorance of what is good or evil." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"Take away the complaint, 'I have been harmed,' and the harm is taken away." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"It is in your power to withdraw yourself whenever you desire. Perfect tranquility within consists in the good ordering of the mind, the realm of your own." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"A wrongdoer is often a man who has left something undone, not always one who has done something." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"When force of circumstance upsets your equanimity lose no time in recovering your self-control, and do not remain out of tune longer than you can help. Habitual recurrence to the harmony will increase your mastery of it." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"Be not careless in deeds, nor confused in words, nor rambling in thought." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"He who eats my bread, does my will." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"It's time you realized that you have something in you more powerful and miraculous than the things that affect you and make you dance like a puppet." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"Cultivate these, then, for they are wholly within your power: sincerity and dignity; industriousness; and sobriety. Avoid grumbling, be frugal, considerate, and frank; be temperate in manner and speech; carry yourself with authority." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"Do not disturb yourself by picturing your life as a whole; do not assemble in your mind the many and varied troubles which have come to you in the past and will come again in the future, but ask yourself with regard to every present difficulty: 'What is there in this that is unbearable and beyond endurance?'" ~ Marcus Aurelius
"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 ever was truly harmed. Harmed is the person who continues in his self-deception and ignorance." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"That which is not good for the bee-hive cannot be good for the bees." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"There is no man so blessed that some who stand by his deathbed won't hail the occasion with delight." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"Nothing has such power to broaden the mind as the ability to investigate systematically and truly all that comes under thy observation in life." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"The noblest kind of retribution is not to become like your enemy." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"Never act without purpose and resolve, or without the means to finish the job." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"Let men see, let them know, a real man, who lives as he was meant to live." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"Give thyself time to learn something new and good, and cease to be whirled around." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"All that is harmony for you, my Universe, is in harmony with me as well. Nothing that comes at the right time for you is too early or too late for me. Everything is fruit to me that your seasons bring, Nature. All things come of you, have their being in you, and return to you." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"A good man does not spy around for the black spots in others, but presses unswervingly on towards his mark." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"This is moral perfection: to live each day as though it were the last; to be tranquil, sincere, yet not indifferent to one's fate." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"Why do you hunger for length of days? The point of life is to follow reason and the divine spirit and to accept whatever nature sends you. To live in this way is not to fear death, but to hold it in contempt. Death is only a thing of terror for those unable to live in the present. Pass on your way, then, with a smiling face, under the smile of him who bids you go" ~ Marcus Aurelius
"It is possible to depart from life at this moment. Have this thought in mind whenever you act, speak, or think." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"Accustom yourself not to be disregarding of what someone else has to say: as far as possible enter into the mind of the speaker." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"Submit to the fate of your own free will." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"The constant recollection of death is the test of human conduct." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"A man makes no noise over a good deed, but passes on to another as a vine to bear grapes again in season." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"He is a true fugitive who flies from reason." ~ 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
"Look deeply. Don't miss the inherent quality and value of everything." ~ 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
"In an expression of true gratitude, sadness is conspicuous only by its absence" ~ Marcus Aurelius
"Regain your senses, call yourself back, and once again wake up. Now that you realize that only dreams were troubling you, view this 'reality' as you view your dreams." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"Be cheerful, also, and seek not external help, nor the peace which others give. A man must stand straight, and not be kept straight by others." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"Do not think that what is hard for you to master is humanly impossible; but if a thing is humanly possible, consider it to be within your reach." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"Everything is only for a day, both that which remembers and that which is remembered. 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. For everything that exists is in a manner the seed of that which will be." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"How very near us stand the two vast gulfs of time, the past and the future, in which all things disappear." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"Receive without conceit, release without struggle." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"Snow endures but for a season, and joy comes with the morning." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"It is not the body, nor the personality that is the true self. The true self is eternal. Even on the point of death we can say to ourselves, "my true self is free. I cannot be contained."" ~ Marcus Aurelius
"Dress not thy thoughts in too fine a raiment. And be not a man of superfluous words or superfluous deeds." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"He who fears death either fears to lose all sensation or fears new sensations. In reality, you will either feel nothing at all, and therefore nothing evil, or else, if you can feel any sensations, you will be a new creature, and so will not have ceased to have life." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"Live out your life in truth and justice, tolerant of those who are neither true nor just." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"Do not fear death, but welcome it, since it too comes from nature. For just as we are young and grow old, and flourish and reach maturity, have teeth and a beard and grey hairs, conceive, become pregnant, and bring forth new life, and all the other natural processes that follow the seasons of our existence, so also do we have death. A thoughtful person will never take death lightly, impatiently, or scornfully, but will wait for it as one of life's natural processes." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"Consider, for example, and you will find that almost all the transactions in the time of Vespasian differed little from those of the present day. You there find marrying and giving in marriage, educating children, sickness, death, war, joyous holidays, traffic, agriculture, flatterers, insolent pride, suspicions, laying of plots, longing for the death of others, newsmongers, lovers, misers, men canvassing far the consulship and for the kingdom; yet all these passed away, and are nowhere." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"There is no misfortune, but to bear it nobly is good fortune." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"Always run to the short way; and the short way is the natural: accordingly say and do everything in conformity with the soundest reason. For such a purpose frees a man from trouble, and warfare, and all artifice and ostentatious display." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"Let every action aim solely at the common good." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"The intelligence of the universe is social." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"Are you distracted by outward cares? Then allow yourself a space of quiet wherein you can add to your knowledge of the Good and learn to curb your restlessness. Nowhere can a man find a quieter or more untroubled retreat than in his own soul. Avail yourself often, then, of this retirement, and so continually renew yourself." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"Run down the list of those who felt intense anger at something: the most famous, the most unfortunate, the most hated, the most whatever: Where is all that now? Smoke, dust, legend...or not even a legend. Think of all the examples. And how trivial the things we want so passionately are." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"The healthy eye ought to see all visible things and not to say, I wish for green things; for this is the condition of a diseased eye." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"Everything is banal in experience, fleeting in duration, sordid in content; in all respects the same today as generations now dead and buried have found it to be." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"Life is short. That's all there is to say. Get what you can from the present - thoughtfully, justly." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"Is your cucumber bitter? Throw it away. Are there briars in your path? Turn aside. That is enough. Do not go on and say, "Why were things of this sort ever brought into this world?" neither intolerable nor everlasting - if thou bearest in mind that it has its limits, and if thou addest nothing to it in imagination. Pain is either an evil to the body (then let the body say what it thinks of it!)-or to the soul. But it is in the power of the soul to maintain its own serenity and tranquility. . . ." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"All things are the same, familiar in enterprise, momentary in endurance, coarse in substance. All things now are as they were in the day of those whom we have buried." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"Man must be arched and buttressed from within, else the temple wavers to the dust." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"He does not write at all whose poems no man reads" ~ Marcus Aurelius
"The greatest part of what we say and do is really unnecessary. If a man takes this to heart, he will have more leisure and less uneasiness." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"Take me and cast me where you will; I shall still be possessor of the divinity within me, serene and content." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"Nothing can come out of nothing, any more than a thing can go back to nothing." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"While you live, while it is in your power, be good." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"Put it out of the power of truth to give you an ill character. If anybody reports you not to be an honest man let your practice give him the lie." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"Think of yourself as dead. You have lived your life. Now, take what's left and live it properly. What doesn't transmit light creates its own darkness." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"The offender needs pity, not wrath; those who must needs be corrected, should be treated with tact and gentleness; and one must be always ready to learn better. 'The best kind of revenge is, not to become like unto them.'" ~ Marcus Aurelius
"Anger cannot be dishonest." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"When men are inhuman, take care not to feel towards them as they do towards other humans." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"The wrongdoer is often the person who left something undone, rather than the person who has done something" ~ Marcus Aurelius
"When you have been compelled by circumstances to be disturbed in any manner, quickly return to yourself, and do not continue out of tune longer than the compulsion lasts. You will have increasing control over your own harmony by continually returning to it." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"Change your attitude to the things that bother you and you will be aware of them." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"If anyone can refute me-show me I'm making a mistake or looking at things from the wrong perspective-I'l l gladly change. It's the truth I'm after, and the truth never harmed anyone. What harms us is to persist in self-deceit and ignorance." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"When pain is unbearable it destroys us; when it does not it is bearable." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"For outward show is a wonderful perverter of the reason." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"Find joy in simplicity, self-respect, and indifference to what lies between virtue and vice. Love the human race. Follow the divine." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"You must become an old man in good time if you wish to be an old man long." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"Everything is but what we think it." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"The whole contains nothing that is not for its advantage. By remembering that I am part of such a whole, I shall be content with everything that happens." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"It is not fit that I should give myself pain, for I have never intentionally given pain even to another." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"Look deep into the hearts of men, and see what delights and disgusts the wise." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"It is not right to vex ourselves at things, for they care not about it." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"If thou workest at that which is before thee ... expecting nothing, fearing nothing, but satisfied with thy present activity according to Nature, and with heroic truth in every word and sound which thou utterest, thou wilt live happy. And there is no man who is able to prevent this." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"Observe constantly that all things take place by change." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"Understand however that every man is worth just so much as the things are worth about which he busies himself." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"You are a little soul bearing about a corpse, as Epictetus used to say." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"All is as thinking makes it so" ~ Marcus Aurelius
"Give full attention and devotion to each act." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"Death, like birth, is one of nature's mysteries, the combining of primal elements and dissolving of the same into the same." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"Remember this - that there is a proper dignity and proportion to be observed in the performance of every act of life." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"Look within. Within is the fountain of good, and it will ever bubble up, if thou wilt ever dig." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"Your mind will be like its habitual thoughts; for the soul becomes dyed with the color of its thoughts. Soak it then in such trains of thoughts as, for example: Where life is possible at all, a right life is possible." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"Keep constantly in mind in how many things you yourself have witnessed changes already. The universe is change, life is understanding." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"When pain is unbearable it destroys us; when it does not it is bearable." ~ Marcus Aurelius
and vice. Love the human race. Follow the divine." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"Find joy in simplicity, self-respect, and indifference to what lies between virtue and vice. Love the human race. Follow the divine." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"You must become an old man in good time if you wish to be an old man long." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"Remember that all things are only opinion and that it is in your power to think as you please." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"Everything is but what we think it." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"The whole contains nothing that is not for its advantage. By remembering that I am part of such a whole, I shall be content with everything that happens." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"Love the little trade which thou hast learned, and be content therewith." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"It is not fit that I should give myself pain, for I have never intentionally given pain even to another." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"Your manners will depend very much upon the quality of what you frequently think on; for the soul is as it were tinged with the colour and complexion of thought." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"Look deep into the hearts of men, and see what delights and disgusts the wise." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"It is not right to vex ourselves at things, for they care not about it." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"If thou workest at that which is before thee ... expecting nothing, fearing nothing, but satisfied with thy present activity according to Nature, and with heroic truth in every word and sound which thou utterest, thou wilt live happy. And there is no man who is able to prevent this." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"Socrates used to call the opinions of the many by the name of Lamiae, bugbears to frighten children." ~ Marcus Aurelius
"Observe constantly that all things take place by change." ~ Marcus Aurelius
