Quotes from Marcus Aurelius

Borra los desvaríos de tus fantasías, repitiéndote sin cesar: pende de mi en este momento el que no haya en mi alma el menor vicio, deseo ni absolutamente ninguna agitación. Antes bien, veo todas las cosas como son y uso de cada una según su merito, No olvides esa facultad que te otorgo la naturaleza.

El arrepentimiento es cierto reproche de si mismo, por haber omitido hacer algo provechoso, dado que el bien es necesariamente una cosa útil y acreedora a que el hombre honesto la ambicione. Por otro lado jamás un hombre recto se arrepentirá de haber desdeñado algún placer, ya que el placer ni es cosa útil ni es bien alguno.

When a guide meets up with someone who is lost, ordinarily his reaction is to direct him on the right path, not mock or malign him, then turn on his heel and walk away. As for you, lead someone to the truth and you will find that he can follow.

For if a man fix his mind upon certain things as really and unquestionably good, such as wisdom, temperance, justice, manliness, with this preconception in his mind he could no longer bear to listen to the poet's, By reason of his wealth of goods; for it would not apply. But, if a man first fix his mind upon the things which appear good to the multitude, he will listen and readily accept as aptly added the quotation from the Comic Poet.

The only wealth which you will keep forever is the wealth you have given away.

Many such things will strike him, things not credible to the many, but which come to him alone who is truly familiar with the works of Nature and near to her own heart.

What is not harmful to the city does not harm the citizen either. Whenever you imagine you have been harmed, apply this criterion: if the city is not harmed by this, then I have not been harmed either. If on the other hand harm is done to the city, you should not be angry, but demonstrate to the doer of this harm what he has failed to see himself. p42

If the choice rests with thee, why do the thing? if with another, whom dost thou blame? Atoms or Gods? To do either would be crazy folly. No one is to blame. For if thou canst, set the offender right. Failing that, at least set the thing itself right. If that too be impracticable, what purpose is served by imputing blame? For without a purpose nothing should be done.

The best way of avenging yourself is not to become like the wrongdoer.

A rock thrown in the air gains nothing by going up and nothing by falling down

Just as the Nature of rational things has given each rational being almost all his other powers, so also have we received this one from it; that, as this Nature moulds to its purpose what ever interference or opposition it meets, and gives it a place in the destined order of things, and makes it a part of itself, so also can the rational creature convert every hindrance into material for itself and utilize it for its own purposes.

Harbour no such opinions as he holds who does thee violence, or as he would have thee hold. See things in all their naked reality.

Pentru cei înÅ£elepÅ£i viaÅ£a este o problem?, iar pentru cei obiÅŸnuiÅ£i o soluÅ£ie.

Dwell on thoughts that are in harmony with nature and her laws, and act accordingly. Don't let yourself be pulled off course by the insults or injuries of others. Let them go their way and you go yours, continuing on the path of reason. This is not selfish or antisocial on your part—far from it. Your individual reason is not opposed to the common good, but in harmony with it.

Why all the guesswork? You can see what needs to be done. If you can see the road follow it. Cheerfully, without turning back.

Be like a headland of rock on which the waves break incessantly; but it stands fast and around it the seething of the waters sinks to rest. Ah, unlucky am I, that this has befallen me! No, but rather, lucky am I, that though this has befallen me, yet am I still unhurt, neither crushed by the present nor dreading the future.

we must not think as all men think, but only as those who live a life accordant with nature. As for those who live otherwise, he remembers always how they act at home and abroad, by night and by day, and how and with whom they are found in company. And so he cannot esteem the praise of such, for they enjoy not their own approbation.

I can control my thoughts as necessary; then how can I be troubled? What is outside my mind means nothing to it. Absorb that lesson and your feet stand firm. You can return to life. Look at things as you did before. And life returns.

Accustom yourself to attend closely to what is said by others, and as far as possible to penetrate into the mind of the speaker.

Forget not in future, when anything would lead you to feel hurt, to take your stand upon this axiom: This is no misfortune, but to bear it nobly is good fortune.

When another blames you or hates you, or when men say anything injurious about you, approach their poor souls, penetrate within, and see what kind of men they are. You will discover that there is no reason to be concerned that these men have this or that opinion about you.

Contempla il corso degli astri52 immaginando di ruotare con loro e pensa come gli elementi si trasformano continuamente gli uni negli altri. Il pensiero di queste cose, infatti, purifica dalle brutture della vita terrena.

Everything by which people set so much store in life is emptiness, putrefaction, pettiness; little dogs nipping at one another; little children who laugh as they fight, and then suddenly burst into tears.

Think not so much of what thou hast not as of what thou hast: but of the things which thou hast select the best, and then reflect how eagerly they would have been sought, if thou hadst them not.