Marcus Aurelius, the Stoic philosopher-king and Roman Emperor, remains one of history’s most profound thinkers. His reflections, captured in his personal writings known as “Meditations,” offer timeless wisdom on virtue, leadership, and the human condition. As a ruler, Marcus Aurelius navigated the complexities of an empire with remarkable integrity and resilience. As a philosopher, his insights transcend time, providing guidance and solace to those seeking a life of purpose and tranquility. In this blog, we explore 100 of Marcus Aurelius’ most impactful quotes, delving into the depth of his thoughts and the enduring relevance of his teachings.
If you are interested, we also have a collection of 100 Best Quotes from Seneca as well as 100 Best Stoicism Quotes.
"You could leave life right now. Let that determine what you do and say and think."
"If it doesn’t harm your character, how can it harm your life? "
"Don’t waste the rest of your time here worrying about other people— unless it affects the common good."
"When you wake up in the morning, tell yourself: The people I deal with today will be meddling, ungrateful, arrogant, dishonest, jealous, and surly. They are like this because they can’t tell good from evil."
"Whatever the nature of the whole does, and whatever serves to maintain it, is good for every part of nature."
" At some point you have to recognize what world it is that you belong to; that 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."
"Concentrate every minute like a Roman—like a man—on doing what’s in front of you… Yes, you can—if you do everything as if it were the last thing you were doing in your life, and stop being aimless."
"Everyone gets one life. Yours is almost used up and instead of treating yourself with respect, you have entrusted your own happiness to the souls of others."
"Do external things distract you? Then make time for yourself to learn something worthwhile;stop letting yourself be pulled in all directions."
"That the longest-lived and those who will die soonest lose the same thing. The present is all that they can give up, since that is all you have, and what you do not have, you cannot lose… for you can't lose either the past or the future"
"Then what can guide us? Only philosophy. Which means making sure that the power within stays safe and free from assault, superior to pleasure and pain."
"Nothing natural is evil."
"That everyday more of our life is used up and less and less of it is left."
"We should remember than even Nature's inadvertence has its own charm and attractiveness."
"You need to avoid certain things in your train of thought: everything random, everything irrelevant. And certainly everything self-important or malicious."
"How to act: Never under compulsion, out of selfishness, without forethought, with misgivings."
"The applause of the crowd, high office, wealth, or self-indulgence. All of them might seem to be compatible with it—for a while. But suddenly they control us and sweep us away."
"Never regard something as doing you good if it makes you betray a trust, or lose your sense of shame."
"If it’s time for you to go, leave willingly—as you would to accomplish anything that can be done with grace and honor."
"Your ability to control your thoughts—treat it with respect. It’s all that protects your mind from false perceptions—false to your nature."
"Forget everything else. Keep hold of this alone and remember it: Each of us lives only now, this brief instant."
"The span we live is small—small as the corner of the earth in which we live it."
"Always define whatever it is we perceive—to trace its outline—so we can see what it really is: its substance. Stripped bare. As a whole. Unmodified."
"If you do the job in a principled way, with diligence, energy and patience, if you keep yourself free of distractions, and keep the spirit inside you undamaged… then your life will be happy."
"Doctors keep their scalpels and other instruments handy, for emergencies. Keep your philosophy ready too—ready to understand heaven and earth."
"In everything you do, even the smallest thing, remember the chain that links them."
"What is unique to the good man? To welcome with affection what is sent by fate."
"Our inward power: reacts to events by accommodating itself to what it faces—to what is possible ; it turns obstacles into fuel."
"No random actions, none not based on underlying principles."
"Nowhere you can go is more peaceful—more free of interruptions— than your own soul."
"But take into consideration: that rational beings exist for one another."
"Is it your reputation that’s bothering you? But look at how soon we’re all forgotten. is it your reputation that’s bothering you? But look at how soon we’re all forgotten"
"But take into consideration: that doing what’s right sometimes requires patience."
"That things have no hold on the soul...Disturbance comes only from within—from our own perceptions."
"That everything you see will soon alter and cease to exist. Think of how many changes you’ve already seen"
"The world is nothing but change. Our life is only perception."
"Even the smallest things ought to be directed toward a goal.'
"Choose not to be harmed—and you won’t feel harmed. Don’t feel harmed—and you haven’t been."
"It can ruin your life only if it ruins your character. Otherwise it cannot harm you—inside or out."
"It was for the best. So Nature had no choice but to do it."
"That every event is the right one. Look closely and you’ll see. Not just the right one overall, but right."
"Always rest on a conviction that it’s right, or benefits others—nothing else. Not because it’s more appealing or more popular."
"Not to live as if you had endless years ahead of you. Death overshadows you. While you’re alive and able—be good.."
"The tranquillity that comes when you stop caring what they say. Or think, or do. Only what you do."
"Beautiful things of any kind are beautiful in themselves and sufficient to themselves. Praise is extraneous."
"Not to be driven this way and that, but always to behave with justice and see things as they are."
"To the world: Your harmony is mine. Whatever time you choose is the right time. Not late, not early."
“If you seek tranquillity, do less. Or (more accurately) do what’s essential...Which brings a double satisfaction: to do less, better."
"Most of what we say and do is not essential...Ask yourself at every moment, 'Is this necessary?' "
"Most of what we say and do is not essential...we need to eliminate unnecessary assumptions as well. "
"What the life of the good man is like— someone satisfied with being just"
"Don’t be disturbed. Uncomplicate yourself."
"Something happens to you. Good. It was meant for you by nature, woven into the pattern from the beginning."
"Life is short. That’s all there is to say. Get what you can from the present—thoughtfully, justly."
"Survey the records of other eras. And see how many others gave their all and soon died and decomposed into the elements that formed them."
"You’re better off not giving the small things more time than they deserve."
"Constant awareness that everything is born from change."
"On the verge of dying and still weighed down...still convinced external things can harm you, still rude to other people, still not acknowledging the truth: that wisdom is justice."
"Nothing that goes on in anyone else’s mind can harm you. Nor can the shifts and changes in the world around you. —Then where is harm to be found? In your capacity to see it."
"Time is a river, glimpsed once and already carried past us, and another follows and is gone."
"What follows coheres with what went before. Not like a random catalogue, but logically connected."
"In short, know this: Human lives are brief and trivial...To pass through this brief life as nature demands. To give it upwithout complaint."
"It’s unfortunate that this has happened. No. It’s fortunate that this has happened and I’ve remained unharmed by it."
"Our lifetime is so brief...Consider the abyss of time past, the infinite future. Three days of life or three generations: what’s the difference?"
"At dawn, when you have trouble getting out of bed, tell yourself: 'I have to go to work—as a human being. What do I have to complain of, if I’m going to do what I was born for' "
"Don’t you see the plants, the birds, the ants and spiders...putting the world in order, as best they can? And you’re not willing to do your job as a human being?"
"To shrug it all off and wipe it clean—every annoyance and distraction —and reach utter stillness."
"Don’t be put off by other people’s comments and criticism. If it’s right to say or do it, then it’s the right thing for you to do or say."
"The others obey their own lead, follow their own impulses. Don’t be distracted. Keep walking."
"What happens to each of us is ordered. It furthers our destiny."
"For there is a single harmony. Just as the world forms a single body comprising all bodies, so fate forms a single purpose."
"For there is a single harmony. Just as the world forms a single body comprising all bodies, so fate forms a single purpose."
"The things you think about determine the quality of your mind."
"Your soul takes on the color of your thoughts."
"Nothing happens to anyone that he can’t endure."
'In a sense, people are our proper occupation. Our job is to do them good and put up with them."
"Our actions may be impeded by them, but there can be no impeding our intentions or our dispositions."
"The impediment to action advances action.What stands in the way becomes the way."
"When you think you’ve been injured, apply this rule: If the community isn’t injured by it, neither am I. "
"Keep in mind how fast things pass by and are gone—those that are now, and those to come."
"Existence flows past us like a river...So it would take an idiot to feel self-importance...Or any indignation, either. As if the things that irritate us lasted."
"Remember: Matter. How tiny your share of it. Time. How brief and fleeting your allotment of it. Fate. How small a role you play in it."
"So other people hurt me? That’s their problem. Their character and actions are not mine."
"The mind is the ruler of the soul. It should remain unstirred by agitations of the flesh—gentle and violent ones alike."
"When they make their way into your thoughts... don’t try to resist the sensation. The sensation is natural. But don’t let the mind start in with judgments, calling it 'good' or 'bad.' "
"The world’s intelligence is not selfish...Look how it subordinates, how it connects, how it assigns each thing what each deserves, and brings the better things into alignment."
"Consider all that you’ve gone through, all that you’ve survived. And that the story of your life is done... How many good things have you seen?"
"Soon you’ll be ashes, or bones. A mere name, at most—and even that is just a sound, an echo."
"Treat human beings as they deserve, be tolerant with others and strict with yourself."
"You can lead an untroubled life provided you can grow, can think and act systematically."
"Not to be overwhelmed by what you imagine, but just do what you can and should."
"Just that you do the right thing. The rest doesn’t matter."
"The best revenge is not to be like that."
"You could leave life right now. Let that determine what you do and say and think."
"The mind is that which is roused and directed by itself. It makes of itself what it chooses. It makes what it chooses of its own experience."
"When jarred, unavoidably, by circumstances, revert at once to yourself."
"Pride is a master of deception: when you think you’re occupied in the weightiest business, that’s when he has you in his spell."
"If you can’t stop prizing a lot of other things? Then you’ll never be free...Because you’ll always be envious and jealous."
"Respect your own mind—to prize it— will leave you satisfied with your own self, well integrated into your community."
"Not to assume it’s impossible because you find it hard. But to recognize that if it’s humanly possible, you can do it too."
