Marcus Aurelius

But consider the kindness by which he has distinguished man, for he has put it in his power not to be separated at all from the universal; and when he has been separated, he has allowed him to return and to be united and to resume his…

Suppose that thou hast detached thyself from the natural unity,--for thou wast made by nature a part, but now thou hast cut thyself off,--yet here there is this beautiful provision, that it is in thy power again to unite thyself.

If thou didst ever see a hand cut off, or a foot, or a head, lying anywhere apart from the rest of the body, such does a man make himself, as far as he can, who is not content with what happens, and separates himself from others, or does…

Speak both in the senate and to every man, whoever he may be, appropriately, not with any affectation: use plain discourse.

Wipe out thy imaginations by often saying to thyself: Now it is in my power to let no badness be in this soul, nor desire, nor any perturbation at all; but looking at all things I see what is their nature, and I use each according to its…

For every judgment and movement and desire and aversion is within, and no evil ascends so high.

Pain is either an evil to the body--then let the body say what it thinks of it--or to the soul; but it is in the power of the soul to maintain its own serenity and tranquillity, and not to think that pain is an evil.

It is satisfaction to a man to do the proper works of a man.

Remember this then, that this little compound, thyself, must either be dissolved, or thy poor breath must be extinguished, or be removed and placed elsewhere.

Some indeed have not been remembered even for a short time, and others have become the heroes of fables, and again others have disappeared even from fables.

Such as bathing appears to thee,--oil, sweat, dirt, filthy water, all things disgusting,--so is every part of life and everything.

I receive it and refer it to the gods, and the source of all things, from which all that happens is derived.

I do it with reference to the good of mankind.

Thou sufferest this justly: for thou choosest rather to become good to-morrow than to be good to-day.

Attend to the matter which is before thee, whether it is an opinion or an act or a word.

Short lived are both the praiser and the praised, and the rememberer and the remembered: and all this in a nook of this part of the world; and not even here do all agree, no, not any one with himself: and the whole earth too is a point.

What good is it then for the ball to be thrown up, or harm for it to come down, or even to have fallen? and what good is it to the bubble while it holds together, or what harm when it is burst?

Nature has had regard in everything no less to the end than to the beginning and the continuance, just like the man who throws up a ball.

For what purpose then art thou,--to enjoy pleasure?

Everything exists for some end,--a horse, a vine.

That which has died falls not out of the universe.

Remember that to change thy opinion and to follow him who corrects thy error is as consistent with freedom as it is to persist in thy error.

Remember that as it is a shame to be surprised if the fig-tree produces figs, so it is to be surprised if the world produces such and such things of which it is productive; and for the physician and the helmsman it is a shame to be…

Whatever man thou meetest with, immediately say to thyself: What opinions has this man about good and bad?

Constantly, and, if it be possible, on the occasion of every impression on the soul, apply to it the principles of Physic, of Ethic, and of Dialectic.