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Marcus Aurelius

54 quotes

Marcus Aurelius (121–180 AD) was a Roman emperor and Stoic philosopher whose personal journal, known as *Meditations*, has become one of the most enduring works of practical philosophy ever written. Composed during military campaigns, his reflections on duty, resilience, and inner peace continue to guide readers seeking wisdom in turbulent times.

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

— Marcus Aurelius

Power

All Quotes by Marcus Aurelius

“To refrain from imitation is the best revenge.”

— Marcus Aurelius

Best

“Tomorrow is nothing, today is too late the good lived yesterday.”

— Marcus Aurelius

Good

“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

Love

“You must become an old man in good time if you wish to be an old man long.”

— Marcus Aurelius

Good

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

— Marcus Aurelius

Future

“Anything in any way beautiful derives its beauty from itself and asks nothing beyond itself. Praise is no part of it, for nothing is made worse or better by praise.”

— Marcus Aurelius

Beauty

“How much time he saves who does not look to see what his neighbor says or does or thinks.”

— Marcus Aurelius

Time

“The art of living is more like wrestling than dancing.”

— Marcus Aurelius

Art

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

— Marcus Aurelius

Good

“The universe is change our life is what our thoughts make it.”

— Marcus Aurelius

Change

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

— Marcus Aurelius

Great

“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

Strength

“Death is a release from the impressions of the senses, and from desires that make us their puppets, and from the vagaries of the mind, and from the hard service of the flesh.”

— Marcus Aurelius

Death

“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.”

— Marcus Aurelius

Change

“Whatever the universal nature assigns to any man at any time is for the good of that man at that time.”

— Marcus Aurelius

Good

“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

Men

“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

Good

“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.”

— Marcus Aurelius

Love

“The sexual embrace can only be compared with music and with prayer.”

— Marcus Aurelius

Music

“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

Time