Marcus Aurelius

For though we are made especially for the sake of one another, still the ruling power of each of us has its own office, for otherwise my neighbor's wickedness would be my harm, which God has not willed, in order that my unhappiness may not…

Such then ought to be the outpouring and diffusion of the understanding, and it should in no way be an effusion, but an extension, and it should make no violent or impetuous collision with the obstacles which are in its way; nor yet fall…

He who fears death either fears the loss of sensation or a different kind of sensation.

But if thou shalt have no sensation, neither wilt thou feel any harm; and if thou shalt acquire another kind of sensation, thou wilt be a different kind of living being and thou wilt not cease to live.

The mind indeed, both when it exercises caution and when it is employed about inquiry, moves straight onward not the less, and to its object.

Wipe out imagination; check desire: extinguish appetite: keep the ruling faculty in its own power.

See, then, what now takes place; for only intelligent animals have now forgotten this mutual desire and inclination, and in them alone the property of flowing together is not seen.

Sooner, then, will one find anything earthy which comes in contact with no earthy thing, than a man altogether separated from other men.

On the occasion of every act ask thyself, How is this with respect to me?

A little time and I am dead, and all is gone.

What more do I seek, if what I am now doing is the work of an intelligent living being, and a social being, and one who is under the same law with God?

But as to the others, how many things had they to care for, and to how many things were they slaves!

This is the chief thing: Be not perturbed, for all things are according to the nature of the universal; and in a little time thou wilt be nobody and nowhere, like Hadrianus and Augustus.

The nature of the universal has this work to do,--to remove to that place the things which are in this, to change them, to take, them away hence, and to carry them there.

All things are change, yet we need not fear anything new.

This thing, what is it in itself, in its own constitution?

When thou risest from sleep with reluctance, remember that it is according to thy constitution and according to human nature to perform social acts, but sleeping is common also to irrational animals.

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.

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

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…

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.

That which has died falls not out of the universe.

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

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

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.