Quotes from Marcus Aurelius

Never esteem anything as of advantage to thee that shall make thee break thy word or lose thy self-respect.

Be content to seem what you really are

People are always blaming their circumstances for what they are. Never esteem anything as of advantage to you that will make you break your word or lose your self-respect.

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

Here is the rule to remember in the future, When anything tempts you to be bitter: not, 'This is a misfortune' but 'To bear this worthily is good fortune.'

It is not the weight of the future or the past that is pressing upon you, but ever that of the present alone. Even this burden, too, can be lessened if you confine it strictly to its own limits.

Unhappy am I because this has happened to me.- Not so, but happy am I, though this has happened to me, because I continue free from pain, neither crushed by the present nor fearing the future.

There are three classes into which all the women past seventy that ever I knew were to be divided: 1. That dear old soul; 2. That old woman; 3. That old witch.

Who persuaded you to cut off the nose of your wife's lover? Wretched husband, that was not the part which outraged you! Fool, what have you done? Your wife has lost nothing by the operation

The spiritual meaning of love is measured by what it can do. Love is meant to heal. Love is meant to renew. Love is meant to bring us closer to God.

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.