Marcus Aurelius

Labor not unwillingly, nor without regard to the common interest, nor without due consideration, nor with distraction; nor let studied ornament set off thy thoughts, and be not either a man of many words, or busy about too many things.

Be cheerful also, and seek not external help nor the tranquillity which others give.

A man then must stand erect, not be kept erect by others.

Thou must turn to profit the present by the aid of reason and justice.

One is that things do not touch the soul, for they are external and remain immovable; but our perturbations come only from the opinion which is within.

Always run to the short way; and the short way is the natural: accordingly say and do everything in conformity with the soundest reason.

In the morning when thou risest unwillingly, let this thought be present,--I am rising to the work of a human being.

As thou intendest to live when them art gone out, ... so it is in thy power to live here.

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

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

Enough of this wretched life and murmuring and apish tricks.

It is the same whether we examine these things for a hundred years or three.

For he who yields to pain and he who yields to anger, both are wounded and both submit.

In the application of thy principles thou must be like the pancratiast, not like the gladiator; for the gladiator lets fall the sword which he uses and is killed; but the other always has his hand, and needs to do nothing else than use it.

What a power man has to do nothing except what God will approve, and to accept all that God may give him.

With respect to that which happens conformably to nature, we ought to blame neither gods, for they do nothing wrong either voluntarily or involuntarily, nor men, for they do nothing wrong except involuntarily.

How ridiculous and what a stranger he is who is surprised at anything which happens in life.

Either there is a fatal necessity and invincible order, or a kind providence, or a confusion without a purpose and without a director (iv. 27).

If then there is an invincible necessity, why dost thou resist?

But if there is a providence which allows itself to be propitiated, make thyself worthy of the help of the divinity.

He was accustomed to do acts of beneficence, and was ready to forgive, and was free from all falsehood; and he presented the appearance of a man who could not be diverted from right, rather than of a man who had been improved.

I observed, too, that no man could ever think that he was despised by Maximus, or ever venture to think himself a better man.

And the things which conduce in any way to the commodity of life, and of which fortune gives an abundant supply, he used without arrogance and without excusing himself; so that when he had them, he enjoyed them without affectation, and…

All that is from the gods is full of providence.