Quotes from Marcus Aurelius

And he cares nothing for their praise—men who can't even meet their own standards.

Why doth a little thing said or done against thee make thee sorry? It is no new thing; it is not the first, nor shall it be the last, if thou live long. At best suffer patiently, if thou canst not suffer joyously.

Anywhere you can lead your life, you can lead a good one.

Everything that happens is either endurable or not. If it's endurable, then endure it. Stop complaining. If it's unendurable Ãƒ¢Ã¢'¬Ã‚¦ then stop complaining. Your destruction will mean its end as well. Just remember: you can endure anything your mind can make endurable, by treating it as in your interest to do so. In your interest, or in your nature. 4.

It is not fit that I should give myself pain, for I have never intentionally given pain even to another.

Why all this guesswork? You can see what needs to be done. If you can see the road, follow it.

Do your best to convince them. But act on your own, if justice requires it. If met with force, then fall back on acceptance and peaceability. Use the setback to practice other virtues. Remember that our efforts are subject to circumstances; you weren't aiming to do the impossible. —Aiming to do what, then? To try. And you succeeded. What you set out to do is accomplished.

To the best of my judgment, when I look at the human character I see no virtue placed there to counter justice. But I see one to counter pleasure: self-control.

The freedom to do only what God wants, and accept whatever God sends us.

It stares you in the face. No role is so well suited to philosophy as the one you happen to be in right now.

Whatever happens to you has been waiting to happen since the beginning of time. The twining strands of fate wove both of them together: your own existence and the things that happen to you.

The mind is the ruler of the soul. It should remain unstirred by agitations of the flesh—gentle and violent ones alike. Not mingling with them, but fencing itself off and keeping those feelings in their place. When they make their way into your thoughts, through the sympathetic link between mind and body, don't try to resist the sensation. The sensation is natural. But don't let the mind start in with judgments, calling it "good" or "bad.