You may know Marcus Aurelius from history books. Or from the first part of the classic movie Gladiator.
He lived and ruled the Roman Empire almost 2000 years ago so it’s kind of unlikely that we would know so much about him and his innermost thoughts today.
But he wrote in a private journal called Meditations. Just to help himself with his own life, like many of us have done. After his death this journal was published and read and so his honest, unedited and practical view on life has lived on for thousands of years.
And in today’s post I want to share 101 of the best Marcus Aurelius quotes on leadership, stoicism, success and life.
I hope you’ll find something here to give you strength, clarity and a simpler and more joyful life.
The Best Marcus Aurelius Quotes on Life and Stoicism
“You have power over your mind – not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.”
“We live only now. Everything else is either passed or is unknown.”
“The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts.”
“Dwell on the beauty of life. Watch the stars, and see yourself running with them.”
“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.”
“Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth.”
“The soul becomes dyed with the color of its thoughts.”
“Very little is needed to make a happy life; it is all within yourself, in your way of thinking.”
“The universe is transformation; our life is what our thoughts make it.”
“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.”
“Live a good life. If there are gods and they are just, then they will not care how devout you have been, but will welcome you based on the virtues you have lived by. If there are gods, but unjust, then you should not want to worship them. If there are no gods, then you will be gone, but will have lived a noble life that will live on in the memories of your loved ones.”
“Wherever a person can live, there one can also live well.”
“Life is short. That’s all there is to say. Get what you can from the present – thoughtfully, justly.”
“To live happily is an inward power of the soul.”
“Every living organism is fulfilled when it follows the right path for its own nature.”
“Life is neither good nor evil, but only a place for good and evil.”
“Almost nothing material is needed for a happy life, for he who has understood existence.”
“Today I escaped anxiety. Or no, I discarded it, because it was within me, in my own perceptions – not outside.”
“The things you think about determine the quality of your mind. Your soul takes on the color of your thoughts.”
“He who follows reason in all things is both tranquil and active at the same time, and also cheerful and collected.”
Famous Marcus Aurelius Quotes on Success and Leadership
“Begin – to begin is half the work, let half still remain; again begin this, and thou wilt have finished.”
“Waste no more time arguing about what a good man should be. Be one.”
“It is the responsibility of leadership to work intelligently with what is given, and not waste time fantasizing about a world of flawless people and perfect choices.”
“How much time he gains who does not look to see what his neighbor says or does or thinks, but only at what he does himself, to make it just and holy.”
“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. It is the person who continues in his self-deception and ignorance who is harmed.”
“A man’s worth is no greater than the worth of his ambitions.”
“Do not be wise in words – be wise in deeds.”
“The art of living is more like wrestling than dancing, because an artful life requires being prepared to meet and withstand sudden and unexpected attacks.”
“No random actions, none not based on underlying principles.”
“Think of all the years passed by in which you said to yourself ‘I’ll do it tomorrow,’ and how the gods have again and again granted you periods of grace of which you have not availed yourself. It is time to realize that you are a member of the Universe, that you are born of Nature itself, and to know that a limit has been set to your time.”
“This is the mark of perfection of character – to spend each day as if it were your last, without frenzy, laziness, or any pretending.”
“The opinion of 10,000 men is of no value if none of them know anything about the subject.”
“Let men see, let them know, a real man, who lives as he was meant to live.”
“Take the shortest route, the one that nature planned – to speak and act in the healthiest way. Do that, and be free of pain and stress, free of all calculation and pretension.”
“Nothing should be done without a purpose.”
“Even the smallest thing should be done with reference to an end.”
“A man should be upright, not be kept upright.”
“Do every act of your life as if it were your last.”
“What is your art? To be good.”
“It is essential for you to remember that the attention you give to any action should be in due proportion to its worth, for then you won’t tire and give up, if you aren’t busying yourself with lesser things beyond what should be allowed.”
Marcus Aurelius Quotes on Obstacles, Resilience and Difficult People
“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.”
“The best revenge is not to be like your enemy.”
“The more we value things outside our control, the less control we have.”
“Whenever someone has done wrong by you, immediately consider what notion of good or evil they had in doing it. For when you see that, you’ll feel compassion, instead of astonishment or rage.”
“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.’”
“It never ceases to amaze me: we all love ourselves more than other people, but care more about their opinions than our own.”
“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?”
“Choose not to be harmed, and you won’t feel harmed. Don’t feel harmed, and you haven’t been.”
“How much more grievous are the consequences of anger than the causes of it.”
“The best answer to anger is silence.”
“Reject your sense of injury and the injury itself disappears.”
“You always own the option of having no opinion. There is never any need to get worked up or to trouble your soul about things you can’t control. These things are not asking to be judged by you. Leave them alone.”
“Say to yourself in the early morning: I shall meet today ungrateful, violent, treacherous, envious, uncharitable men. All of these things have come upon them through ignorance of real good and ill. I can neither be harmed by any of them, for no man will involve me in wrong, nor can I be angry with my kinsman or hate him; for we have come into the world to work together.”
“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.”
“You shouldn’t give circumstances the power to rouse anger, for they don’t care at all.”
“The mind freed from passions is an impenetrable fortress – a person has no more secure place of refuge for all time.”
“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.”
“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?”
“Nothing happens to anyone that he can’t endure.”
“Because a thing seems difficult for you, do not think it impossible.”
Marcus Aurelius Quotes on Love and Death
“It is not death that a man should fear, but he should fear never beginning to live.”
“Life is short. Do not forget about the most important things in our life, living for other people and doing good for them.”
“Death smiles at us all; all a man can do is smile back.”
“What we do now echoes in eternity.”
“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.”
“Your days are numbered. Use them to throw open the windows of your soul to the sun. If you do not, the sun will soon set, and you with it.”
“Adapt yourself to the life you have been given; and truly love the people with whom destiny has surrounded you.”
“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.”
“Think of yourself as dead. You have lived your life. Now, take what’s left and live it properly. What doesn’t transmit light creates its own darkness.”
“To love only what happens, what was destined. No greater harmony.”
“Let each thing you would do, say, or intend be like that of a dying person.”
“Pass through this brief patch of time in harmony with nature, and come to your final resting place gracefully, just as a ripened olive might drop, praising the earth that nourished it and grateful to the tree that gave it growth.”
“The memory of everything is very soon overwhelmed in time.”
“Death, like birth, is a secret of Nature.”
“Loss is nothing else but change, and change is Nature’s delight.”
“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.”
“He who has a vehement desire for posthumous fame does not consider that every one of those who remember him will himself also die very soon.”
“How soon will time cover all things, and how many it has covered already.”
“The only wealth which you will keep forever is the wealth you have given away.”
“Be content with what you are, and wish not change; nor dread your last day, nor long for it.”
Short and Powerful Marcus Aurelius Quotes
“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.”
“Don’t give the small things more time than they deserve.”
“Doing what’s right sometimes requires patience.”
“If it is not right, do not do it; if it is not true, do not say it.”
“Stay calm and serene regardless of what life throws at you.”
“Give yourself a gift: the present moment.”
“Be tolerant with others and strict with yourself.”
“Receive without conceit, release without struggle.”
“Dig deep within yourself, for there is a fountain of goodness ever ready to flow if you will keep digging.”
“Someone despises me. That’s their problem.”
“Confine yourself to the present.”
“The first step: Don’t be anxious. Nature controls it all.”
“Straight, not straightened.”
“Each day provides its own gifts.”
“There is but one thing of real value – to cultivate truth and justice, and to live without anger in the midst of lying and unjust men.”
“That which isn’t good for the hive, isn’t good for the bee.”
“How ridiculous and how strange to be surprised at anything which happens in life.”
“It’s time you realized that you have something in you more powerful and miraculous than the things that affect you and make you dance like a puppet.”
“Frightened of change? But what can exist without it? What’s closer to nature’s heart?”
“Often, injustice lies in what you aren’t doing, not only in what you are doing.”
“Look well into thyself; there is a source of strength which will always spring up if thou wilt always look.”
Want more timeless wisdom? Then have a look at these Maya Angelou quotes, the Winnie the Pooh quotes in this post and also this one with the best Dolly Parton quotes.