Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (26 April 121 – 17 March 180) was a Roman emperor who ruled the Roman Empire for nearly two decades from 161 until his death in 180. He is one of the most respected Roman emperors and is well known for his intellectual interest in Stoicism. Stoicism is a philosophy that teaches the development of self-restraint, self-control, and fortitude as a means of overcoming negative emotions.
Below you’ll discover 50 of the best Marcus Aurelius quotes to inspire you on how to live your best life. Incredibly, these Marcus Aurelius quotes are as relevant today as they were when written nearly 2000 years ago.
Marcus Aurelius Quotes
“When you arise in the morning, think of what a privilege it is to be alive – to think, to enjoy, to love.”
“The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts.”
“It is not death that a man should fear, but he should fear never beginning to live.”
“We live only now. Everything else is either passed or is unknown.”
“The best answer to anger is silence.”
“If it is not right do not do it, if it is not true do not say it.”
“Stay calm and serene regardless of what life throws at you.”
“Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth.”
“Each day provides its own gifts.”
“The art of living is more like wrestling than dancing.”
“Do every act of your life as though it were the very last act of your life.”
“Reject your sense of injury and the injury itself disappears.”
“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.”
“How ridiculous and how strange to be surprised at anything which happens in life.”
“Do not act as if you were going to live ten thousand years. Death hangs over you. While you live, while it is in your power, be good.”
“You can commit injustice by doing nothing.”
“The soul becomes dyed with the color of its thoughts.”
“Someone despises me. That’s their problem.”
“Think of yourself as dead. You have lived your life. Now, take what’s left, and live it properly.”
“That which isn’t good for the hive, isn’t good for the bee.”
“To do harm is to do yourself harm. To do an injustice is to do yourself an injustice.”
“To live a good life: We have the potential for it. If we can learn to be indifferent to what makes no difference.”
“The best revenge is not to be like your enemy.”
“Nothing should be done without a purpose.”
“Very little is needed to make a happy life; it is all within yourself, in your way of thinking.”
“If you are distressed by anything external, the pain is not due to the thing itself, but to your estimate of it; and this you have the power to revoke at any moment.”
“What we do now echoes in eternity.”
“A person’s worth is measured by the worth of what he values.”
“You have power over your mind – not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.”
“Because a thing seems difficult for you, do not think it impossible for anyone to accomplish.”
“So I look for the best and am prepared for the opposite.”
“Dwell on the beauty of life. Watch the stars, and see yourself running with them.”
“To love only what happens, what was destined. No greater harmony.”
“Be tolerant with others and strict with yourself.”
“Let not your mind run on what you lack as much as on what you have already.”
“Be content with what you are, and wish not change; nor dread your last day, nor long for it.”
“Stop wishing for something else to happen, for a different fate. That is to live a false life.”
“Consider that as the heaps of sand piled on one another hide the former sands, so in life the events that go before are soon covered by those that come after.”
“Life is neither good or evil, but only a place for good and evil.”
“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.”
“Everything that happens, happens as it should, and if you observe carefully you will find this to be so.”
“The best revenge is to be unlike him who performed the injury.”
“No man can escape his destiny, the next inquiry being how he may best live the time that he has to live.”
“Let each thing you would do, say, or intend, be like that of a dying person.”
“Accept whatever comes to you woven in the pattern of your destiny, for what could more aptly fit your needs?”
“Waste no more time arguing about what a good man should be. Be one.”
“Today I escaped from the crush of circumstances, or better put, I threw them out, for the crush wasn’t from outside me but in my own assumptions.”
“The first rule is to keep an untroubled spirit. The second is to look things in the face and know them for what they are.”
“How much more grievous are the consequences of anger than the causes of it.”
“Do not indulge in dreams of having what you have not, but reckon up the chief of the blessings you do possess, and then thankfully remember how you would crave for them if they were not yours.”
“Look well into thyself; there is a source of strength which will always spring up if thou wilt always look.”
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