Marcus Aurelius

For if a man reflects on the changes and transformations which follow one another like wave after wave and their rapidity, he will despise everything which is perishable (xii. 21).

Soon will the earth cover us all: then the earth, too, will change, and the things also which result from change will continue to change forever, and these again forever.

The periodic movements of the universe are the same, up and down from age to age.

When another blames thee or hates thee, or when men say about thee anything injurious, approach their poor souls, penetrate within, and see what kind of men they are.

Thou hast endured infinite troubles through not being contented with thy ruling faculty when it does the things which it is constituted by nature to do.

Whatever act of thine then has no reference either immediately or remotely to a social end, this tears asunder thy life, and does not allow it to be one, and it is of the nature of a mutiny, just as when in a popular assembly a man acting…

As thou thyself art a component part of a social system, so let every act of thine be a component part of social life.

Termination of activity, cessation from movement and opinion, and in a sense their death, is no evil.

It is thy duty to leave another man's wrongful act there where it is (vii. 29; ix. 38).

All things are changing: and thou thyself art in continuous mutation and in a manner in continuous destruction, and the whole universe too.

Penetrate inwards into men's leading principles, and thou wilt see what judges thou art afraid of, and what kind of judges they are of themselves.

For the stone which has been thrown up it is no evil to come down, nor indeed any good to have been carried up (viii. 20).

Things stand outside of us, themselves by themselves, neither knowing aught of themselves, nor expressing any judgment.

Everything now is just as it was in the time of those whom we have buried.

All things are the same, familiar in experience, and ephemeral in time, and worthless in the matter.

To-day I have got out of all trouble, or rather I have cast out all trouble, for it was not outside, but within and in my opinions.

Labor not as one who is wretched, nor yet as one who would be pitied or admired; but direct thy will to one thing only--to put thyself in motion and to check thyself, as the social reason requires.

And it is in thy power also; or say, who hinders thee?

If thou art able, correct by teaching those who do wrong; but if thou canst not, remember that indulgence is given to thee for this purpose.

Reason produces fruit both for all and for itself, and there are produced from it other things of the same kind as reason itself.

Both man and God and the universe produce fruit; at the proper seasons each produces it.

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

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.

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

Thy present opinion founded on understanding, and thy present conduct directed to social good, and thy present disposition of contentment with everything which happens+--that is enough.