Marcus Aurelius Quotes

16th Roman Emperor from 161 to 180 and Stoic philosopher

Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (26 April 121 – 17 March 180) was Roman emperor from 161 to 180 and a Stoic philosopher. He was the last of the rulers known as the Five Good Emperors (a term coined some 13 centuries later by Niccolò Machiavelli), and the last emperor of the Pax Romana (27 BC to 180), an age of relative peace and stability for the Roman Empire. He served as Roman consul in 140, 145, and 161.

From: Wikiquote (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Native Name: Marcus Aurelius Antoninus

Alternative Names: Caesar Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus • Marcus Annius Verus • Marcus Catilius Severus Annius Verus • Verissimus • Marcus Aurelius Verus • Antoninus

From Wikidata (CC0)

Be satisfied with even the smallest progress, and treat the outcome of it all as unimportant.

Just that you do the right thing. The rest doesn’t matter.

The impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way.

Questions to ask yourself every day:
- Is this essential?
- Am I progressing?
- Why am I taking this so seriously?
- Am I making a positive contribution?
- What would less look like? -@tferriss
- "Do I fear death because I won’t be able to do this anymore?

Choose not to be harmed—and you won’t feel harmed. Don’t feel harmed—and you haven’t been.

If they've made a mistake, correct them gently and show them where they went wrong.

Dwell on the beauty of life. Watch the stars, and see yourself running with them.

Mastery of reading and writing requires a master.

There is a limit to the time assigned you, and if you don't use it to free yourself it will be gone and will never return.

An infected mind is a far more dangerous pestilence than any plague—one only threatens your life, the other destroys your character.

Concentrate on what you're doing, and what you're doing it with.

I can control my thoughts as necessary; then how can I be troubled? What is outside my mind means nothing to it.

Meditate often on the interconnectedness and mutual interdependence of all things in the universe.

Endless suffering—all from not allowing the mind to do its job. Enough.

Love the hand that fate deals you and play it as your own, for what could be more fitting?