Quotes from Marcus Aurelius

Our life is what our thoughts make of it.

A man should be upright, not be kept upright.

Do not be overheard companining. Not even to yourself.

If it's in your control, why do you do it? If it's in someone else's control, then who are you blaming? Atoms? The gods? Stupid either way. Blame no one.

Be like a promontory against which the waves are always breaking. It stands fast, and stills the waters that rage around it.

Be not dilatory in doing, nor confused in conversation, nor vague in thought; let not thy soul be wholly concentred in itself nor uncontrollably agitated; leave thyself leisure in thy life.

Suppress the thought; and the cry I am hurt! is gone. Suppress I am hurt! and you suppress the injury.

Qui una sola cosa ha valore: trascorrere tutta la vita nella verità e nella giustizia pur trattando con indulgenza i bugiardi e gli ingiusti.

Short then is the time which every man lives, and small the nook of the earth where he lives; and short too the longest posthumous fame...

When you start to lose your temper, remember: There's nothing manly about rage. It's courtesy and kindness that define a human being- and a man. That's who possesses strength and nerves and guts, not the angry whiners.

25. So other people hurt me? That's their problem. Their character and actions are not mine. What is done to me is ordained by nature, what I do by my own.

Waste no more time arguing what a good man should be. Be one.

Train thyself to pay careful attention to what is being said by another and as far as possible enter into his soul.

That which is not in the interests of the hive cannot be in the interests of the bee.

Y entonces amigo mío? haz lo que exige de ti la naturaleza, manos a la obra mientras haya lugar, y no te preocupes por si te imitan. No sueñes en ver establecida la republica de Platón, antes bien, conténtate con tal que progreses un poco, considerando que no es poco fruto este pequeño resultado

justice in thought, in act unselfishness and a tongue that cannot lie and a disposition ready to welcome all that befalls as unavoidable, as familiar, as issuing from a like origin and fountain-head.

But by reverencing and prizing thine own mind, thou shalt make thyself pleasing in thine own sight, in accord with mankind, and in harmony with the Gods, that is, grateful to them for all that they dispense and have ordained.

Auf die Dauer der Zeit nimmt die Seele die Farbe der Gedanken an.

No te limites en adelante a respirar el aire que te rodea, sino participa dese ahora en la sabiduría de la inteligencia que lo abarca todo, por que esta facultad intelectiva no menos se difundió por todas partes ni menos se introdujo en cada ser capaz de atraerla, que el aire en el ser capaz de respirarlo.

By not being content with thy ruling Reason doing the work for which it was constituted, thou hast borne unnumbered ills. Nay, 'tis enough!

El libre albedrio de mi prójimo es igualmente indiferente a mi libre albedrio como su soplo y su carne. Puesto que, aunque en realidad unos nacimos para los otros, la recta razón de cada uno posee su propia independencia; de no ser así la maldad del prójimo vendría a ser un mal para mi. Pero Dios no lo ha decretado así, por que de lo contrario estaría en manos de otro el que yo fuera desgraciado.

Keep in mind how fast things pass by and are gone—those that are now, and those to come. Existence flows past us like a river: the "what" is in constant flux, the "why" has a thousand variations. Nothing is stable, not even what's right here

If any one can prove and bring home to me that a conception or act of mine is wrong, I will amend it, and be thankful. For I seek the truth, whereby no one was ever harmed. But he is harmed who persists in his own self-deception and ignorance.

Si esta el Hombre dotado de sensibilidad e inteligencia y es capaz de fijar altamente la consideración en cuanto pasa en el mundo, no encontrará acaso nada ni aun en lo que acontece como adición natural, qué no suponga una gracia característica.