Quotes from Marcus Aurelius

Time is a sort of river of passing events, and strong is its current; no sooner is a thing brought to sight than it is swept by and another takes its place, and this too will be swept away.

The wise man sees in the misfortune of others what he should avoid.

I seek the truth...it is only persistence in self-delusion and ignorance that does harm.

Change your attitude to the things that bother you and you will be aware of them.

The noblest kind of retribution is not to become like your enemy.

A lucky chance is constant in nothing but inconstancy.

I cannot comprehend how any man can want anything but the truth.

A wrongdoer is often a man who has left something undone, not always one who has done something.

To no man make yourself a boon companion: Your joy will be less but less will be your grief

...if a man comes to his fortieth year, and has any understanding at all, he has virtually seen - thanks to their similarity - all possible happenings, both past and to come.

The soul is dyed by the thoughts. Dye it then, with a continuous series of such thoughts as these - that where a man can live, there - if he will - he can also live well.

I was once a fortunate man but at some point fortune abandoned me. But true good fortune is what you make for yourself. Good fortune: good character, good intentions, and good actions.

To understand the true quality of people, you must look into their minds, and examine their pursuits and aversions.

Aptitude found in the understanding and is often inherited. Genius coming from reason and imagination, rarely.

...the sole thing of which any man can be deprived is the present; since this is all he owns, and nobody can lose what is not his.

Think on this doctrine, - that reasoning beings were created for one another's sake; that to be patient is a branch of justice, and that men sin without intending it.

There is but one thing of real value - to cultivate truth and justice, and to live without anger in the midst of lying and unjust men.

The man who has a house everywhere has a home nowhere

Men are born for each other's sake, so either teach people or endure them

Men despise one another and flatter one another; and men wish to raise themselves above one another, and crouch before one another.

Do you see what little is required of a man to live a well-tempered and god-fearing life? Obey these precepts, and the gods will ask nothing more.

Nothing befalls any man which he is not fitted to endure.

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

...the infallible man does not exist.