A noble man compares and estimates himself by an idea which is higher than himself; and a mean man, by one lower than himself. The one produces aspiration; the other ambition, which is the way in which a vulgar man aspires.
— Marcus Aurelius
Nowhere can man find a quieter or more untroubled retreat than in his own soul.
How much more grievous are the consequences of anger than the causes of it.
To live happily is an inward power of the soul.
A man should be upright, not be kept upright.
Very little is needed to make a happy life; it is all within yourself, in your way of thinking.
The only wealth which you will keep forever is the wealth you have given away.
Begin - to begin is half the work, let half still remain; again begin this, and thou wilt have finished.
Time is a sort of river of passing events, and strong is its current; no sooner is a thing brought to sight than it is swept by and another takes its place, and this too will be swept away.
When you arise in the morning, think of what a precious privilege it is to be alive - to breathe, to think, to enjoy, to love.
Because your own strength is unequal to the task, do not assume that it is beyond the powers of man; but if anything is within the powers and province of man, believe that it is within your own compass also.
The art of living is more like wrestling than dancing.
I have often wondered how it is that every man loves himself more than all the rest of men, but yet sets less value on his own opinions of himself than on the opinions of others.
Adapt yourself to the things among which your lot has been cast and love sincerely the fellow creatures with whom destiny has ordained that you shall live.
The act of dying is one of the acts of life.
We ought to do good to others as simply as a horse runs, or a bee makes honey, or a vine bears grapes season after season without thinking of the grapes it has borne.
Reject your sense of injury and the injury itself disappears.
What springs from earth dissolves to earth again, and heaven-born things fly to their native seat.
Nothing has such power to broaden the mind as the ability to investigate systematically and truly all that comes under thy observation in life.
The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts: therefore, guard accordingly, and take care that you entertain no notions unsuitable to virtue and reasonable nature.
The universal order and the personal order are nothing but different expressions and manifestations of a common underlying principle.
Poverty is the mother of crime.
To the wise, life is a problem; to the fool, a solution.
Here is the rule to remember in the future, When anything tempts you to be bitter: not, 'This is a misfortune' but 'To bear this worthily is good fortune.'
The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane.
It is not death that a man should fear, but he should fear never beginning to live.
Never let the future disturb you. You will meet it, if you have to, with the same weapons of reason which today arm you against the present.
You have power over your mind - not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.
We are too much accustomed to attribute to a single cause that which is the product of several, and the majority of our controversies come from that.
