Marcus Aurelius quotes:

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.

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

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

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.

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.

Nothing has such power to broaden the mind as the ability to investigate systematically and truly all that comes under thy observation in life.

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.

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

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

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.

Adapt yourself to the things among which your lot has been cast and love sincerely the fellow creatures with whom destiny has ordained that you shall live.

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.

Death, like birth, is a secret of Nature.

To the wise, life is a problem; to the fool, a solution.

Natural ability without education has more often raised a man to glory and virtue than education without natural ability.

Our life is what our thoughts make it.

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.

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

What springs from earth dissolves to earth again, and heaven-born things fly to their native seat.

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

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

To refrain from imitation is the best revenge.

The art of living is more like wrestling than dancing.

And thou wilt give thyself relief, if thou doest every act of thy life as if it were the last.

Begin - to begin is half the work, let half still remain; again begin this, and thou wilt have finished.

Men exist for the sake of one another.

Life is neither good or evil, but only a place for good and evil.

The universe is change; our life is what our thoughts make it.

The secret of all victory lies in the organization of the non-obvious.

Be content to seem what you really are.

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.

Look within. Within is the fountain of good, and it will ever bubble up, if thou wilt ever dig.

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

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

Each thing is of like form from everlasting and comes round again in its cycle.

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

There is no man so blessed that some who stand by his deathbed won't hail the occasion with delight.

It is not the actions of others which trouble us (for those actions are controlled by their governing part), but rather it is our own judgments. Therefore remove those judgments and resolve to let go of your anger, and it will already be gone. How do you let go? By realizing that such actions are not shameful to you.

Do not waste what remains of your life in speculating about your neighbors, unless with a view to some mutual benefit. To wonder what so-and-so is doing and why, or what he is saying, or thinking, or scheming -- in a word, anything that distracts you from fidelity to the ruler within you -- means a loss of opportunity for some other task.

Is any man afraid of change? Why what can take place without change? What then is more pleasing or more suitable to the universal nature?

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?

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.

When you are annoyed at someone's mistake, immediately look at yourself and reflect how you also fail; for example, in thinking that good equals money, or pleasure, or a bit of fame. By being mindful of this you'll quickly forget your anger, especially if you realize that the person was under stress, and could do little else. And, if you can, find a way to alleviate that stress.

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.

He that lives alone lives in danger; society avoids many dangers.

How many together with whom I came into the world are already gone out of it.

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.

Our anger and annoyance are more detrimental to us than the things themselves which anger or annoy us.

Aptitude found in the understanding and is often inherited. Genius coming from reason and imagination, rarely.

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

Art thou angry with him whose armpits stink? Art thou angry with him whose mouth smells foul?

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.

A little flesh, a little breath, and a Reason to rule all - that is myself.

The best way of avenging thyself is not to become like the wrong-doer.

To understand the true quality of people, you must look into their minds, and examine their pursuits and aversions.

If this is neither my own badness, nor an effect of my own badness, and the common weal is not injured, why am I troubled about it? And what is the harm to the common weal?

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

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

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.

Look beneath the surface; let not the several quality of a thing nor its worth escape thee.

All that is not eternal is eternally out of date. C. S. LEWIS, The Four Loves Life is short. Eternity is long. BENTLEY LITTLE, His Father's Son What we do now echoes in eternity.

The best revenge is not to be like your enemy.

One man is proud when he has caught a poor hare, and another when he has taken a little fish in a net, and another when he has taken wild boars, and another when he has taken bears ... Are these not robbers?

To no man make yourself a boon companion: Your joy will be less but less will be your grief

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

Is your cucumber bitter? Throw it away. Are there briars in your path? Turn aside. That is enough. Do not go on and ay, 'Why were things of this sort ever brought into the world?'

How much more grievous are the consequences of anger than the causes of it.

Change your attitude to the things that bother you and you will be aware of them.

Cinna wishes to seem poor, and is poor

Things can never touch the soul, but stand inert outside it, so that disquiet can arise only from fancies within.

Nature in no case cometh short of art, for the arts are copiers of natural forms.

It is a base thing for the countenance to be obedient and to regulate and compose itself as the mind commands, and for the mind not to be regulated and composed by itself.

The cucumber is bitter? Then throw it out. There are brambles in the path? Then go around. That's all you need to know.

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.

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

Yet living and dying, honour and dishonour, pain and pleasure, riches and poverty, and so forth are equally the lot of good men and bad. Things like these neither elevate nor degrade; and therefore they are no more good than they are evil.

In the morning when thou risest unwillingly, let this thought be present - I am rising to the work of a human being. Why then am I dissatisfied if I am going to do the things for which I exist and for which I was brought into the world?

Be content with what you are, and wish not change; nor dread your last day, nor long for it.

Whatever any one does or says, I must be good; just as if the emerald were always saying this: "Whatever any one does or says, I must still be emerald, and keep my color.

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

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.

All is Ephemeral, fame and the famous as well.

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.

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.

Perhaps there are none more lazy, or more truly ignorant, than your everlasting readers.

Everything that happens happens as it should, and if you observe carefully, you will find this to be so.

Reject your sense of injury and the injury itself disappears.

We are born for cooperation, as are the feet, the hands, the eyelids, and the upper and lower jaws.

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.

You need to be prepared for firm decisions and action, without losing gentleness towards those who obstruct or abuse you. It's as great a weakness to be angry with them as it is to abandon your plan of action and give up through fear.

In the meantime, cling tooth and nail to the following rule: not to give in to adversity, not to trust prosperity, and always take full note of fortune's habit of behaving just as she pleases.

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.

Constantly contemplate the whole of time and the whole of substance, and consider that all individual things as to substance are a grain of a fig, and as to time the turning of a gimlet .

Gluttony and drunkenness have two evils attendant on them; they make the carcass smart, as well as the pocket.

I was once a fortunate man but at some point fortune abandoned me. But true good fortune is what you make for yourself. Good fortune: good character, good intentions, and good actions.

Here is the rule to remember in the future, When anything tempts you to be bitter: not, 'This is a misfortune' but 'To bear this worthily is good fortune.'

Don't go on discussing what a good person should be. Just be one.

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.

To my great-grandfather I owed the advice to dispense with the education of the schools and have good masters at home instead - and to realize that no expense should be grudged for this purpose.

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.

Death hangs over thee, While thou still live, while thou may, do good.

Remember that very little is needed to make a happy life.

When men hate or blame you, or say hurtful things about you, look deeply into their hearts and see what kind of men they are. You'll see how unnecessary it is to strain after their good opinion. Yet you must still think kindly of them. they are your neighbors. The gods help them as they do you, by dreams and oracles, to win their hearts' desires.

Observe and contemplate on the hidden things of life: how a man's seed is but the beginning, it takes others to bring it to fruition. Think how food undergoes such changes to produce health and strength. See the power of these hidden things which, like the wind cannot been seen, but its effects can be.

Get rid of the judgement ... get rid of the 'I am hurt,' you are rid of the hurt itself.

It were well to die if there be gods, and sad to live if there be none.

In the life of a man, his time is but a moment, his being an incessant flux, his sense a dim rushlight, his body a prey of worms, his soul an unquiet eddy, his fortune dark, his fame doubtful. In short, all that is body is as coursing waters, all that is of the soul as dreams and vapors.

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

To live happily is an inward power of the soul.

They know not how many things are signified by the words stealing, sowing, buying, keeping quiet, seeing what ought to be done; for this is not effected by the eyes, but by another kind of vision.

As surgeons keep their instruments and knives always at hand for cases requiring immediate treatment, so shouldst thou have thy thoughts ready to understand things divine and human, remembering in thy every act, even the smallest, how close is the bond that unites the two.

As for literature, thefts cannot harm it, while the lapse of ages augments its value

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

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

Death smiles at us all, all a man can do is smile back.

Life is short. Do not forget about the most important things in our life, living for other people and doing good for them.

Live each day as if it be your last.

Live not one's life as though one had a thousand years, but live each day as the last.

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.

Always bear this in mind, that very little indeed is necessary for living a happy life.