Marcus Aurelius on Purpose Quotes

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

"A man's true delight is to do the things he was made for."

"The other reason is that what happens to the individual is a cause of well-being in what directs the world--of its well-being, its fulfillment, or its very existence, even. Because the whole is damaged if you cut away anything--anything at all--from its continuity and its coherence. Not only its parts, but its purposes. And that's what you're doing when you complain: hacking and destroying. (Hays translation) V, 7"

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

"Do not act as if thou wert going to live ten thousand years. Death hangs over thee. While thou livest, while it is in thy power, be good."

"Your days are numbered. Use them to throw open the windows of your soul to the sun."

"What is my ruling faculty now to me? and of what nature am I now making it? and for what purpose am I now using it? is it void of understanding? is it loosed and rent asunder from social life? is it melted and mixed with the poor flesh so as to move together with it? X, 24"

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

"As the nature of the universal has given to every rational being all the powers that it has, so we have received from it this power also. For as the universal nature converts and fixes in its predestined place everything which stands in the way and opposes it, and makes such things a part of itself, so also the rational animal is able to make every hindrance its own material, and to use it for such purpose as it may have designed. VIII, 35"

"Our own worth is measured by what we devote our energy to."

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

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

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

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

"Stop wandering about! You aren't likely to read your own notebooks, or ancient history, or the anthologies you've collected to enjoy in your old age. Get busy with life's purpose."

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

"Let no act be done without a purpose, nor otherwise than according to the perfect principles of art."

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

"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."

"A person who doesn't know what the universe is doesn't know who they are. A person who doesn't know their purpose in life doesn't know who they are or what the universe is. A person who doesn't know any of these things doesn't know why they are here. So what to make of people who seek or avoid the praise of those who have no knowledge of where or who they are? VIII. 52[2]:14"

"Art thy not content that thou hast done something conformable to thy nature, and dost thou seek to be paid for it? Just as if the eye demanded recompense for seeing, or the feet for walking. For as these members are formed for a particular purpose... so also is man formed by nature to acts of benevolence. IX, 42"