Great quotes from Marcus Aurelius part 1
Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (26 April 121 – 17 March 180) was Roman emperor from 161 to 180 AD and a Stoic philosopher. He was the last of the rulers known as the Five Good Emperors (a term coined some 13 centuries later by Niccolò Machiavelli), and the last emperor of the Pax Romana, an age of relative peace, calmness and stability for the Roman Empire lasting from 27 BC to 180 AD. He served as Roman consul in 140, 145, and 161.
“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.”
“The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts.”
“Look well into thyself; there is a source of strength which will always spring up if thou wilt always look.”
“Do not indulge in dreams of having what you have not, but I reckon up the chief of the blessings you do possess, and then thankfully remember how you would crave them if they were not yours.”
“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.”
“Here is a rule to remember in future, when anything tempts you to feel bitter; not this is misfortune, but to bear this worthily is good fortune.”
“Accept whatever comes to you woven in the pattern of your destiny, for what could more aptly fit your needs?”
“You don’t have to turn this into something. it doesn’t have to upset you.”
“To live a good life: We have the potential for it. if we learn to be indifferent to what makes no difference.”
“Think of yourself as dead. You have lived your life. Now take what’s left and live it properly.”
“Death smiles at us all, but all a man can do is smile back.”
“The best revenge is not to be like your enemy.”
“Your mind will take the shape of what you frequently hold in thought, for the human spirit is colored by such impressions.”
“The impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way.”
“You have power of your mind – not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.”
“It is not death that a man should fear, but he should fear never beginning to live.”
“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.”
“Very little is needed to make a happy life; it is all within yourself in your way of thinking.”
“Loss is nothing else but change, and change is nature’s delight.”
“A mans true delight is to do the things he was made for.”
