Quotes from Marcus Aurelius

Disturbance comes only from within- from our own perceptions. Everything you see will soon alter and cease to exist

To the world: Your harmony is mine. Whatever time you choose is the right time. Not late, not early.

Learn to ask of all actions, "Why are they doing that?" Starting with your own.

It is a shame for the soul to be first to give way in this life, when thy body does not give way.

Menjalani kehidupan setiap harinya seolah - olah hari itu adalah hari terakhir, tidak pernah mengalami kebingungan, tidak pernah bersikap apatis, tidak pernah latah untuk ikut - ikutan, itu semua adalah karakter sempurna

lowly; but a man's true greatness lies in the consciousness of an honest purpose in life, founded on a just estimate of himself and everything else, on frequent self-examination, and a steady obedience to the rule which he knows to be right, without troubling himself, as the emperor says he should not, about what others may think or say, or whether they do or do not do that which he thinks and says and does.

Stir up thy mind, and recall thy wits again from thy natural dreams, and visions, and when thou art perfectly awoken, and canst perceive that they were but dreams that troubled thee, as one newly awakened out of another kind of sleep look upon these worldly things with the same mind as thou didst upon those, that thou sawest in thy sleep.

If you seek tranquillity, do less." Or (more accurately) do what's essential—what the logos of a social being requires, and in the requisite way. Which brings a double satisfaction: to do less, better. Because most of what we say and do is not essential. If you can eliminate it, you'll have more time, and more tranquillity. Ask yourself at every moment, "Is this necessary?

Show by a cheerful look that you don't need the help or comfort of others. Standing up - not propped up.

Everything has come into being for a purpose - a horse, say, a vine. Does this surprise you? Even the sun will say, 'I came into being for a purpose': likewise the other gods. For what purpose, then, were you created? For your pleasure? Just see whether this idea can be entertained.

If thou workest at that which is before thee, following right reason seriously, vigorously, calmly, without allowing anything else to distract thee, but keeping thy divine part pure, as if thou shouldst be bound to give it back immediately; if thou holdest to this, expecting nothing, fearing nothing, but satisfied with thy present activity according to nature, and with heroic truth in every word and sound which thou utterest, thou wilt live happy.

If within the power of another, whom do you blame—atoms or gods? To do either is folly.

The thing itself was no misfortune at all; to endure it and prevail is great good fortune.

What a tiny part of the boundless abyss of time has been allotted to each of us – and this is soon vanished in eternity; what a tiny part of the universal substance and the universal soul; how tiny in the whole earth the mere clod on which you creep. Reflecting on all this, this nothing important other than active pursuit where your own nature leads and passive acceptance of what universal nature brings.

BEGIN the morning by saying to thyself, I shall meet with the busy-body, the ungrateful, arrogant, deceitful, envious, unsocial.

External things are not the problem. It's your assessment of them. Which you can erase right now. If the problem is something in your own character, who's stopping you from setting your mind straight?

Practice even what seems impossible. The left hand is useless at almost everything, for lack of practice. But it guides the reins better than the right. From practice.  7.

Confine desire and aversions to things in one's power.

The things which are ex­ternal to my mind have no re­la­tion at all to my mind.

I am unhappy, because this has happened to me." Not so: say, "I am happy, though this has happened to me, because I continue free from pain, neither crushed by the present nor fearing the future.

I learned endurance of labour, and to want little, and to work with my own hands, and not to meddle with other people's affairs, and not to be ready to listen to slander.

There is a kind of river of things passing into being and Time is a violent torrent. For no sooner is each seen, than it has been carried away, and another is being carried by, and that, too, will be carried away.

Adapt yourself to the things among which your lot has been cast and love sincerely the fellow creatures with whom destiny has ordained that you shall live.

19. Everything is here for a purpose, from horses to vine shoots. What's surprising about that? Even the sun will tell you, "I have a purpose," and the other gods as well. And why were you born? For pleasure? See if that answer will stand up to questioning.