Marcus Aurelius on Failure Quotes

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

"Suppose that men kill thee, cut thee in pieces, curse thee. What can these things do to prevent thy mind from remaining pure, wise, sober, just?"

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

"The impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way."

"What is not good for the beehive cannot be good for the bee."

"A man should stand erect, not be kept erect by others."

"If any man is able to convince me and show me that I do not think or act right, I will gladly change."

"Receive without pride, let go without attachment."

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

"Do not be ashamed of help."

"Nowhere can man find a quieter or more untroubled retreat than in his own soul."

"Treat what you don't have as nonexistent. Look at what you have, the things you value most, and think of how much you'd crave them if you didn't have them."

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

"Because a thing is difficult for you, do not therefore suppose it to be beyond mortal power."

"The mind adapts and converts to its own purposes the obstacle to our acting."

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

"Whatever anyone does or says, I must be good, just as if the gold, or the emerald, or the purple were always saying this."

"The art of living is more like wrestling than dancing."

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

"That which does not make a man worse than he was, also does not make his life worse, nor does it harm him from without or from within."

"Do not 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."

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

"Does what has happened keep you from acting with justice, generosity, self-control, sanity, prudence, honesty, humility, straightforwardness?"

"To continue to be the same man as you have been up to now... is to be senseless."

"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?"

"It’s unfortunate that this has happened. No. It’s fortunate that this has happened and I’ve remained unharmed by it."

"If you are pained by any external thing, it is not this thing that disturbs you, but your own judgment about it."

"Discard your misperceptions. Stop being jerked like a puppet. Limit yourself to the present."

"How easy it is to repel and to wipe away every impression which is troublesome or unsuitable, and immediately to be in all tranquility."

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

"External things are not the problem. It’s your assessment of them. Which you can erase right now."

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

"Be like the promontory against which the waves continually break, but it stands firm and tames the fury of the water around it."