Marcus Aurelius Quotes on Life, Love, and Death

Marcus Aurelius’ quotes remind you that true strength lies in your ability to remain centered, no matter the situation. His quotes emphasize self-discipline, inner peace, and the power of your thoughts.

Marcus Aurelius Quotes

1. “You have power over your mind – not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.” – Marcus Aurelius
2. “Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth.” – Marcus Aurelius
3. “He who lives in harmony with himself lives in harmony with the universe.” – Marcus Aurelius
4. “Our life is what our thoughts make it.” – Marcus Aurelius
5. “The soul becomes dyed with the color of its thoughts.” – Marcus Aurelius
6. “It is not death that a man should fear, but he should fear never beginning to live.” – Marcus Aurelius
7. “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.” – Marcus Aurelius
8. “Waste no more time arguing about what a good man should be. Be one.” – Marcus Aurelius
9. “Accept the things to which fate binds you, and love the people with whom fate brings you together, but do so with all your heart.” – Marcus Aurelius
10. “Reject your sense of injury and the injury itself disappears.” – Marcus Aurelius
11. “Look within. Within is the fountain of good, and it will ever bubble up, if thou wilt ever dig.” – Marcus Aurelius
12. “Very little is needed to make a happy life; it is all within yourself, in your way of thinking.” – Marcus Aurelius
13. “If it is not right do not do it; if it is not true do not say it.” – Marcus Aurelius
14. “The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane.” – Marcus Aurelius
15. “You always own the option of having no opinion. There is never any need to get worked up or to trouble your soul about things you can’t control.” – Marcus Aurelius
16. “To live happily is an inward power of the soul.” – Marcus Aurelius
17. “The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts.” – Marcus Aurelius
18. “Everything that happens happens as it should, and if you observe carefully, you will find this to be so.” – Marcus Aurelius
19. “It is not events that disturb people, it is their judgments concerning them.” – Marcus Aurelius
20. “Death smiles at us all, but all a man can do is smile back.” – Marcus Aurelius
21. “When you are distressed by an external thing, it’s not the thing itself that troubles you, but only your judgment of it.” – Marcus Aurelius
22. “How much time he saves who does not look to see what his neighbor says or does or thinks.” – Marcus Aurelius
23. “The art of living is more like wrestling than dancing.” – Marcus Aurelius
24. “Do every act of your life as if it were your last.” – Marcus Aurelius
25. “Never let the future disturb you. You will meet it, if you have to, with the same weapons of reason which today arm you against the present.” – Marcus Aurelius
26. “Confine yourself to the present.” – Marcus Aurelius
27. “Turn your desire to stone. Quench your appetites. Keep your mind centered on itself.” – Marcus Aurelius
28. “Do not act as if you are going to live ten thousand years. Death hangs over you. While you live, while it is in your power, be good.” – Marcus Aurelius
29. “Time is a sort of river of passing events, and strong is its current.” – Marcus Aurelius
30. “The best way of avenging thyself is not to become like the wrongdoer.” – Marcus Aurelius
31. “If you are distressed by anything external, the pain is not due to the thing itself, but to your estimate of it.” – Marcus Aurelius
32. “The only wealth which you will keep forever is the wealth you have given away.” – Marcus Aurelius
33. “Never esteem anything as of advantage to you that will make you break your word or lose your self-respect.” – Marcus Aurelius
34. “Be tolerant with others and strict with yourself.” – Marcus Aurelius
35. “Begin each day by telling yourself: Today I shall be meeting with interference, ingratitude, insolence, disloyalty, ill-will, and selfishness.” – Marcus Aurelius
36. “Life is neither good or evil, but only a place for good and evil.” – Marcus Aurelius
37. “It is in your power to withdraw yourself whenever you desire.” – Marcus Aurelius
38. “Loss is nothing else but change, and change is Nature’s delight.” – Marcus Aurelius
39. “Such as are your habitual thoughts, such also will be the character of your mind; for the soul is dyed by the thoughts.” – Marcus Aurelius
40. “Think of the life you have lived until now as over, and as a dead man, see what’s left as a bonus.” – Marcus Aurelius
41. “A man’s worth is no greater than his ambitions.” – Marcus Aurelius
42. “Because a thing seems difficult for you, do not think it impossible for anyone to accomplish.” – Marcus Aurelius
43. “Death is a release from the impressions of the senses, and from desires that make us their puppets.” – Marcus Aurelius
44. “How ridiculous and how strange to be surprised at anything which happens in life.” – Marcus Aurelius
45. “Remember that man lives only by the help of his fellow man.” – Marcus Aurelius
46. “Soon you will have forgotten the world, and soon the world will have forgotten you.” – Marcus Aurelius
47. “The best revenge is to be unlike him who performed the injustice.” – Marcus Aurelius
48. “The universal order and the personal order are nothing but different expressions of a common principle.” – Marcus Aurelius
49. “When you have assumed these names – good, modest, truthful, rational – take care that you do not change them.” – Marcus Aurelius
50. “Let not your mind run on what you lack as much as on what you have already.” – Marcus Aurelius
51. “What stands in the way becomes the way.” – Marcus Aurelius
52. “We ought to do good to others as simply as a horse runs, or a bee makes honey.” – Marcus Aurelius
53. “Your task is to stand straight; not to be held straight.” – Marcus Aurelius
54. “To understand the true quality of people, you must look into their minds.” – Marcus Aurelius
55. “Remember how long you’ve been putting this off, how many extensions the gods gave you.” – Marcus Aurelius
56. “You could leave life right now. Let that determine what you do and say and think.” – Marcus Aurelius
57. “Don’t go on discussing what a good person should be. Just be one.” – Marcus Aurelius
58. “The memory of everything is very soon overwhelmed in time.” – Marcus Aurelius
59. “When jarred by circumstance, revert at once to yourself.” – Marcus Aurelius
60. “How much more grievous are the consequences of anger than the causes of it.” – Marcus Aurelius
61. “No man is happy who does not think himself so.” – Marcus Aurelius
62. “Remember that very little is needed to make a happy life.” – Marcus Aurelius
63. “Receive wealth or prosperity without arrogance; and be ready to let it go.” – Marcus Aurelius
64. “Execute every act of thy life as though it were thy last.” – Marcus Aurelius
65. “When you have seen the present then you have seen everything.” – Marcus Aurelius
66. “Nowhere can man find a quieter or more untroubled retreat than in his own soul.” – Marcus Aurelius
67. “Each day provides its own gifts.” – Marcus Aurelius
68. “The happiness of those who seek pleasure fluctuates with moods outside their control.” – Marcus Aurelius

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