Marcus Aurelius on Discipline Quotes

"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."

"At dawn, when you have trouble getting out of bed, tell yourself: 'I have to go to work—as a human being.'"

"The soul becomes dyed with the color of its thoughts."

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

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

"Think of yourself as dead. You have lived your life. Now, take what's left and live it properly."

"How much time he gains who does not look to see what his neighbor says or does or thinks, but only at what he does himself, to make it just and holy."

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

"To live a good life: We have the potential for it. If we can learn to be indifferent to what makes no difference."

"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."

"Confine yourself to the present."

"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."

"From Rusticus I received the impression that my character required improvement and discipline."

"I have to thank the gods that I wasn't brought up at my grandfather's concubine's, that I preserved the flower of my youth, and that I didn't prove my virility before the proper time."

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

"Choose not to be harmed—and you won’t feel harmed. Don’t feel harmed—and you haven’t been."

"Receive without conceit, release without struggle."

"It is the duty of a man to be the helper of all men, and to look upon the whole human race as one city."

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

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

"Let not your mind run on what you lack as much as on what you have already."

"Stop debating what a good man should be. Be one."

"Be tolerant with others and strict with yourself."

"Don’t be overheard complaining… Not even to yourself."

"The mind without passions is a fortress. No place is more secure."

"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."

"Dig within. Within is the wellspring of Good; and it is always ready to bubble up, if you just dig."

"Do every act of your life as if it were the last."

"Ambition means tying your well-being to what other people say or do. Self-indulgence means tying it to the things that happen to you. Sanity means tying it to your own actions."

"Get a move on, then. Not just because you’re moving closer to death, but because your intellect and judgment can die before you do."

"Stick to what's in front of you—idea, action, utterance."

"No random actions, none not based on underlying principles."