105+ Best Marcus Aurelius Quotes on Life & Stoicism

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Marcus Aurelius, the Stoic Roman emperor, left behind a legacy of wisdom that continues to inspire and guide people across generations. Through his thought-provoking words, he shared insights on life, death, leadership, love, and more.

This blog post will spotlight some of the most impactful Marcus Aurelius quotes, shining a light on the profound understanding he had of the human spirit and the universe. Ready to be inspired?

What Are Marcus Aurelius Quotes?

Marcus Aurelius quotes are profound snippets of wisdom from one of history's most revered emperors. His words encapsulate Stoic philosophy, emphasizing the importance of inner peace, resilience, and virtue.

These quotes aren't just historical remnants; they are timeless lessons that resonate with modern souls. From tackling life's challenges to understanding the essence of existence, Marcus Aurelius offers guidance for every facet of life.

This collection will provide you with a deeper understanding of Stoicism and the profound observations Marcus Aurelius made about the world around him.

1. Top 10 Marcus Aurelius Quotes

1. "Accept the things to which fate binds you, and love the people with whom fate brings you together, but do so with all your heart." - Marcus Aurelius
2. "Dwell on the beauty of life. Watch the stars, and see yourself running with them." - Marcus Aurelius
3. "It is not death that a man should fear, but he should fear never beginning to live." - Marcus Aurelius
4. "The best revenge is to be unlike him who performed the injury." - Marcus Aurelius
5. "The soul becomes dyed with the color of its thoughts." - Marcus Aurelius
6. "Very little is needed to make a happy life; it is all within yourself in your way of thinking." - Marcus Aurelius
7. "Waste no more time arguing about what a good man should be. Be one." - Marcus Aurelius
8. "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." - Marcus Aurelius
9. “If it is not right do not do it; if it is not true do not say it.” - Marcus Aurelius
10. “Look well into thyself; there is a source of strength which will always spring up if thou wilt always look.” - Marcus Aurelius

2. Other Famous Marcus Aurelius Quotes

1. "Do not indulge in dreams of having what you have not, but reckon up the chief of the blessings you do possess, and then thankfully remember how you would crave for them if they were not yours." - Marcus Aurelius
2. "Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth." - Marcus Aurelius
3. "The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts." - Marcus Aurelius
4. “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 opinion of himself than on the opinion of others.” - Marcus Aurelius
5. “The best revenge is not to be like your enemy.” - Marcus Aurelius

3. Marcus Aurelius Stoic Quotes

1. "Be tolerant with others and strict with yourself.” - Marcus Aurelius
2. "Everything that happens, happens as it should, and if you observe carefully you will find this to be so." - Marcus Aurelius
3. "How much more grievous are the consequences of anger than the causes of it." - Marcus Aurelius
4. "If you are distressed by anything external, the pain is not due to the thing itself, but to your estimate of it; and this you have the power to revoke at any moment." - Marcus Aurelius
5. "It is not the actions of others which trouble us (for those actions are controlled by their governing part), but rather it is our own judgments. Therefore remove those judgments and resolve to let go of your anger, and it will already be gone. How do you let go of your anger? By realizing that such actions are not shameful to you." - Marcus Aurelius
6. "It’s not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters." - Marcus Aurelius
7. "Objective judgment, now, at this very moment. Unselfish action, now, at this very moment. Willing acceptance—now, at this very moment—of all external events." - Marcus Aurelius
8. "Stay calm and serene regardless of what life throws at you." - Marcus Aurelius
9. "Such as are your habitual thoughts, such also will be the character of your mind; for the soul is dyed by the thoughts." - Marcus Aurelius
10. "That which is not good for the bee-hive cannot be good for the bees." - Marcus Aurelius
11. "To live a good life: We have the potential for it if we can learn to be indifferent to what makes no difference." - Marcus Aurelius
12. "To live the good life: We have the potential for it. If we can learn to be indifferent to what makes no difference." - Marcus Aurelius
13. "When another blames you or hates you, or people voice similar criticisms, go to their souls, penetrate inside and see what sort of people they are. You will realize that there is no need to be racked with anxiety that they should hold any particular opinion about you." - Marcus Aurelius
14. "You have power over your mind — not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength." - Marcus Aurelius
15. "You shouldn’t give circumstances the power to rouse anger, for they don’t care at all." - Marcus Aurelius
16. “Because most of what we say and do is not essential. Ask yourself at every moment, “Is this necessary?”” - Marcus Aurelius
17. “Dig deep within yourself, for there is a fountain of goodness ever ready to flow if you will keep digging.” - Marcus Aurelius
18. “If it is not right, do not do it, if it is not true, do not say it.” - Marcus Aurelius
19. “If someone is able to show me that what I think or do is not right, I will happily change, for I seek the truth, by which no one was ever truly harmed.” - Marcus Aurelius
20. “It isn’t manly to be enraged. Rather, gentleness and civility are more human, and therefore manlier. The nearer a man comes to a calm mind, the closer he is to strength.” - Marcus Aurelius
21. “It’s all in how you perceive it. You’re in control. You can dispense with misperception at will, like rounding the point.” - Marcus Aurelius
22. “It’s silly to try to escape other people’s faults. They are inescapable. Just try to escape your own.” - Marcus Aurelius
23. “It’s unfortunate that this has happened. No. It’s fortunate that this has happened and I’ve remained unharmed.” - Marcus Aurelius
24. “Just that you do the right thing. The rest doesn’t matter.” - Marcus Aurelius
25. “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.” - Marcus Aurelius
26. “Reject your sense of injury and the injury itself disappears.” - Marcus Aurelius
27. “The first rule is to keep an untroubled spirit. The second is to look things in the face and know them for what they are.” - Marcus Aurelius
28. “This is the mark of perfection of character—to spend each day as if it were your last, without frenzy, laziness, or any pretending.” - Marcus Aurelius
29. “You don’t have to turn this into something. It doesn’t have to upset you.” - Marcus Aurelius
30. “You’re better off not giving the small things more time than they deserve.” - Marcus Aurelius

4. Marcus Aurelius Quotes About Death

1. "Death is the cessation of all the functions by which we judge of matter or body." - Marcus Aurelius
2. "Death, like birth, is a secret of Nature." - Marcus Aurelius
3. "Do every act of your life as though it were the very last act of your life." - Marcus Aurelius
4. "Do not act as if you were going to live ten thousand years. Death hangs over you. While you live, while it is in your power, be good." - Marcus Aurelius
5. "The memory of everything is very soon overwhelmed in time." - Marcus Aurelius
6. "Think of the life you have lived until now as over and, as a dead man, see what’s left as a bonus and live it according to Nature." - Marcus Aurelius
7. "Think of yourself as dead. You have lived your life. Now, take what’s left, and live it properly." - Marcus Aurelius
8. “It’s a disgrace in this life when the soul surrenders first while the body refuses to.” - Marcus Aurelius

5. Marcus Aurelius Quotes On Life

1. "A man's worth is no greater than his ambitions." - Marcus Aurelius
2. "Be content to seem what you really are." - Marcus Aurelius
3. "Confine yourself to the present." - Marcus Aurelius
4. "Each day provides its own gifts." - Marcus Aurelius
5. "Everything that happens happens as it should, and if you observe carefully, you will find this to be so." - Marcus Aurelius
6. "He who lives in harmony with himself lives in harmony with the universe." - Marcus Aurelius
7. "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.'" - Marcus Aurelius
8. "How ridiculous and how strange to be surprised at anything which happens in life." - Marcus Aurelius
9. "It is in the power of the soul to maintain its own serenity and tranquility and not to think that pain is an evil." - Marcus Aurelius
10. "Life is neither good or evil, but only a place for good and evil." - Marcus Aurelius
11. "Life is short — the fruit of this life is a good character and acts for the common good." - Marcus Aurelius
12. "Look back over the past, with its changing empires that rose and fell, and you can foresee the future, too." - Marcus Aurelius
13. "Look within. Within is the fountain of good, and it will ever bubble up, if thou wilt ever dig." - Marcus Aurelius
14. "Loss is nothing else but change, and change is Nature's delight." - Marcus Aurelius
15. "Natural ability without education has more often raised a man to glory and virtue than education without natural ability." - Marcus Aurelius
16. "Nothing happens to any man that he is not formed by nature to bear." - Marcus Aurelius
17. "Nothing has such power to broaden the mind as the ability to investigate systematically and truly all that comes under thy observation in life." - Marcus Aurelius
18. "Nowhere can man find a quieter or more untroubled retreat than in his own soul." - Marcus Aurelius
19. "Our life is what our thoughts make it." - Marcus Aurelius
20. "Poverty is the mother of crime." - Marcus Aurelius
21. "The art of living is more like wrestling than dancing." - Marcus Aurelius
22. "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." - Marcus Aurelius
23. "The only wealth which you will keep forever is the wealth you have given away." - Marcus Aurelius
24. "The universe is transformation: life is opinion." - Marcus Aurelius
25. "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." - Marcus Aurelius
26. "To live happily is an inward power of the soul." - Marcus Aurelius
27. "To the wise, life is a problem; to the fool, a solution." - Marcus Aurelius
28. "To understand the true quality of people, you must look into their minds, and examine their pursuits and aversions." - Marcus Aurelius
29. "Tomorrow is nothing, today is too late; the good lived yesterday." - Marcus Aurelius
30. "We live only now. Everything else is either passed or is unknown." - Marcus Aurelius
31. “Here is a rule to remember in future, when anything tempts you to feel bitter: not "This is misfortune," but "To bear this worthily is good fortune.” - Marcus Aurelius
32. “Wherever a person can live, there one can also live well.” - Marcus Aurelius
33. “Your mind will take the shape of what you frequently hold in thought, for the human spirit is colored by such impressions.” - Marcus Aurelius

6. Marcus Aurelius Leadership Quotes

1. "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
2. "Let men see, let them know, a real man, who lives as he was meant to live." - Marcus Aurelius
3. "Live out your life in truth and justice, tolerant of those who are neither true nor just." - Marcus Aurelius
4. "Make sure you’re not made ‘Emperor,’ avoid that imperial stain..." - Marcus Aurelius
5. "Remind yourself that your task is to be a good human being; remind yourself what nature demands of people..." - Marcus Aurelius
6. "Whenever you are about to find fault with someone, ask yourself the following question: What fault of mine most nearly resembles the one I am about to criticize?" - Marcus Aurelius
7. “Take a good hard look at people’s ruling principle, especially of the wise, what they run away from & what they seek out.” - Marcus Aurelius
8. “The impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way.” - Marcus Aurelius
9. “When you’ve done well and another has benefited by it, why like a fool do you look for a third thing on top—credit for the good deed or a favor in return?” - Marcus Aurelius
10. “While it’s true that someone can impede our actions, they can’t impede our intentions and our attitudes, which have the power of being conditional and adaptable. For the mind adapts and converts any obstacle to its action into a means of achieving it. That which is an impediment to action is turned to advance action. The obstacle on the path becomes the way.” - Marcus Aurelius
11. “You must build up your life action by action, and be content if each one achieves its goal as far as possible—and no one can keep you from this.” - Marcus Aurelius

7. Marcus Aurelius Love Quotes

1. "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." - Marcus Aurelius
2. “Kindness is invincible, but only when it’s sincere, with no hypocrisy or faking. For what can even the most malicious person do if you keep showing kindness and, if given the chance, you gently point out where they went wrong—right as they are trying to harm you?” - Marcus Aurelius

8. Marcus Aurelius Quotes On Family

1. "Our ancestors have left this to us in trust, to preserve and to hand on to our descendants." - Marcus Aurelius
2. "To the best of my judgment, when I look at the human family, I see it composed of beings who are to one another as the parts of some whole..." - Marcus Aurelius
3. "We are made for cooperation, like feet, like hands, like eyelids, like the rows of the upper and lower teeth." - Marcus Aurelius
4. "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." - Marcus Aurelius
5. “That which isn’t good for the hive, isn’t good for the bee.” - Marcus Aurelius
6. “When you first rise in the morning tell yourself: I will encounter busybodies, ingrates, egomaniacs, liars, the jealous and cranks. They are all stricken with these afflictions because they don’t know the difference between good and evil. Because I have understood the beauty of good and the ugliness of evil, I know that these wrong-doers are still akin to me . . . and that none can do me harm, or implicate me in ugliness—nor can I be angry at my relatives or hate them. For we are made for cooperation.” - Marcus Aurelius

9. Marcus Aurelius Quotes On Work

1. "Begin - to begin is half the work, let half still remain; again begin this, and thou wilt have finished." - Marcus Aurelius
2. "Concentrate every minute on doing what's in front of you with precise and genuine seriousness, tenderly, willingly, with justice." - Marcus Aurelius
3. "Do not act as if you had ten thousand years to throw away. Death stands at your elbow. Be good for something while you live and it is in your power." - Marcus Aurelius
4. "I have learned to read with diligence; not to rest satisfied with a light and superficial knowledge." - Marcus Aurelius
5. "Your work is to discover your work and then with all your heart to give yourself to it." - Marcus Aurelius
6. “In your actions, don’t procrastinate. In your conversations, don’t confuse. In your thoughts, don’t wander. In your soul, don’t be passive or aggressive. In your life, don’t be all about business.” - Marcus Aurelius
7. “Joy for human beings lies in proper human work. And proper human work consists in: acts of kindness to other human beings, disdain for the stirrings of the senses, identifying trustworthy impressions, and contemplating the natural order and all that happens in keeping with it.” - Marcus Aurelius