Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, a Roman emperor, Stoic philosopher, and one of history’s most significant leaders, was born on April 26th, 121 AD. Marcus was regarded as one of the “Five Good Emperors” of the last peaceful era of the Roman empire before its division in 395 AD and subsequent decline. Marcus is now most famous for his Meditations, a collection of notes, thoughts, and journal entries on Stoic philosophy. If you’re looking for the best Marcus Aurelius Quotes about stoicism and what it means to live a good life, you’ve come to the right place.
Here is a comprehensive biography of Marcus Aurelius and 7 noteworthy facts to know about him.
Here are some of Best Marcus Aurelius’ quotes:
1. “The art of living is more like wrestling than dancing because an artful life requires being prepared to meet and withstand sudden and unexpected attacks.”
2. “Waste no more time arguing about what a good man should be. Be one.”
3. “When you arise in the morning, think of what a privilege it is to be alive, to think, to enjoy, to love…”
4. “Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth.”
5. “When you first rise in the morning tell yourself: I will encounter busybodies, ingrates, egomaniacs, liars, the jealous and cranks. They are all stricken with these afflictions because they don’t know the difference between good and evil. Because I have understood the beauty of good and the ugliness of evil, I know that these wrong-doers are still akin to me . . . and that none can do me harm, or implicate me in ugliness—nor can I be angry at my relatives or hate them. For we are made for cooperation.”
6. “The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts.”
7. “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.”
8. “Dwell on the beauty of life. Watch the stars, and see yourself running with them. Think constantly on the changes of the elements into each other, for such thoughts wash away the dust of earthly life.”
9. “The best revenge is to be unlike him who performed the injury.”
10. “The soul becomes dyed with the colour of its thoughts.”
Best Marcus Aurelius Quotes
11. “Don’t return to philosophy as a task-master, but as patients seek out relief in a treatment of sore eyes, or a dressing for a burn, or from an ointment. Regarding it this way, you’ll obey reason without putting it on display and rest easy in its care.”
12. “Whenever someone has done wrong by you, immediately consider what notion of good or evil they had in doing it. For when you see that, you’ll feel compassion, instead of astonishment or rage.”
13. “Think of the life you have lived until now as over and, as a dead man, see what’s left as a bonus and live it according to Nature. Love the hand that fate deals you and play it as your own, for what could be more fitting?”
14. “You have power over your mind — not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.”
15. “While it’s true that someone can impede our actions, they can’t impede our intentions and our attitudes, which have the power of being conditional and adaptable. For the mind adapts and converts any obstacle to its action into a means of achieving it. That which is an impediment to action is turned to advance action. The obstacle on the path becomes the way.”
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16. “It isn’t manly to be enraged. Rather, gentleness and civility are more human and therefore manlier. The nearer a man comes to a calm mind, the closer he is to strength.”
17. “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.”
18. “Keep a list before your mind of those who burned with anger and resentment about something, or even the most renowned for success, misfortune, evil deeds, or any special distinction. Then ask yourself, how did that work out? Smoke and dust, the stuff of simple myth trying to be legend…”
19. “Understand at last that you have something in you more powerful and divine than what causes the bodily passions and pulls you like a mere puppet. What thoughts now occupy my mind? Is it not fear, suspicion, desire, or something like that?”
20. “We are like many pellets of incense falling on the same altar. Some collapse sooner, others later, but it makes no difference.”
Marcus Aurelius Meditations Quotes
21. “Wherever a person can live, there one can also live well.”
22. “Try praying differently, and see what happens: Instead of asking for ‘a way to sleep with her,’ try asking for ‘a way to stop desiring to sleep with her.’ Instead of ‘a way to get rid of him,’ try asking for ‘a way to not crave his demise.’ Instead of ‘a way to not lose my child,’ try asking for ‘a way to lose my fear of it.’”
23. “You shouldn’t give circumstances the power to rouse anger, for they don’t care at all.”
24. “That cucumber is bitter, so toss it out! There are thorns on the path, then keep away! Enough said. Why ponder the existence of nuisance?”
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25. “Kindness is invincible, but only when it’s sincere, with no hypocrisy or faking. For what can even the most malicious person do if you keep showing kindness and, if given the chance, you gently point out where they went wrong—right as they are trying to harm you?”
26. “You must build up your life action by action, and be content if each one achieves its goal as far as possible—and no one can keep you from this.”
27. “Dig deep within yourself, for there is a fountain of goodness ever ready to flow if you will keep digging.”
28. “The universe is change. Life is opinion.”
29. “The mind freed from passions is an impenetrable fortress—a person has no more secure place of refuge for all time.”
30. “If anyone can prove and show to me that I think and act in error, I will gladly change it—for I seek the truth, by which no one has ever been harmed. The one who is harmed is the one who abides in deceit and ignorance.”
31. “It is essential for you to remember that the attention you give to any action should be in due proportion to its worth, for then you won’t tire and give up if you aren’t busying yourself with lesser things beyond what should be allowed.”
32. “If you find something very difficult to
achieve yourself, don’t imagine it impossible — for anything possible and proper for another person can be achieved as easily by you.”
33. “How easily we love ourselves above all others, yet we put more stock in the opinions of others than in our own estimation of self…”
34. “That which isn’t good for the hive, isn’t good for the bee.”
35. “Joy for human beings lies in proper human work. And proper human work consists in: acts of kindness to other human beings, disdain for the stirrings of the senses, identifying trustworthy impressions, and contemplating the natural order and all that happens in keeping with it.”
36. “Receive without pride, let go without attachment.”
37. “You have been formed of three parts—body, breath, and mind. Of these, the first two are yours insofar as they are only in your care. The third alone is truly yours.”
38. “Often injustice lies in what you aren’t doing, not only in what you are doing.”
39. “Don’t be ashamed of needing help. You have a duty to fulfill just like a soldier on the wall of battle. So what if you are injured and can’t climb up without another soldier’s help?”
40. “In your actions, don’t procrastinate. In your conversations, don’t confuse. In your thoughts, don’t wander. In your soul, don’t be passive or aggressive. In your life, don’t be all about business.”
41. “This is the mark of perfection of character—to spend each day as if it were your last, without frenzy, laziness, or any pretending.”
42. “When you’ve done well and another has benefited from it, why like a fool do you look for a third thing on top—credit for the good deed or a favour in return?”
43. “Whatever anyone does or says, for my part, I’m bound to the good. In the same way an emerald or gold or purple might always proclaim: ‘Whatever anyone does or says, I must be what I am and show my true colours.’”
