Marcus Aurelius on Stoicism Quotes

"The happiness and unhappiness of the rational, social animal depends not on what he feels but on what he does; just as his virtue and vice consist not in feeling but in doing. IX, 16"

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

"What is not good for the swarm is not good for the bee."

"Reject your sense of injury and the injury itself disappears."

"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."

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

"Dwell on the beauty of life. Watch the stars, and see yourself running with them."

"Whenever you are about to find fault with someone, ask yourself the following question: What fault of mine most nearly resembles the one I am about to criticize?"

"“Those who have forgotten where the road leads.” “They are at odds with what is all around them”—the all-directing logos. And “they find alien what they meet with every day.” (Hays translation) IV, 46"

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

"Look well into thyself; there is a source of strength which will always spring up if thou wilt always look."

"The mind which is free from passions is a fortress, for man has no stronger resort in which to take refuge and be forever invincible."

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

"Concentrate every minute like a Roman—like a man—on doing what's in front of you with precise and genuine seriousness."

"Receive without pride, let go without attachment."

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

"Kindness is invincible, but only when it's sincere, with no hypocrisy or faking."

"If you are pained by any external thing, it is not this thing that disturbs you, but your own judgment about it. And it is in your power to wipe out this judgment now."

"The act of dying is one of the acts of life."

"The soul is dyed by the color of its thoughts."

"Humans have come into being for the sake of each other, so either teach them, or learn to bear them."

"Receive wealth or prosperity without arrogance; and be ready to let it go."

"The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane."

"To live even one day the right way is more than enough."

"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."

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

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

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

"A cucumber is bitter. Throw it away. There are briars in the road. Turn aside from them. This is enough. Do not add, 'And why were such things made in the world?'"

"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."

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

"Whatever anyone does or says, I must be good, just as if the gold, or the emerald, or the purple were always saying this: whatever anyone does or says, I must be emerald and keep my color."

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