Marcus Aurelius
Marcus Aurelius
Marcus Aureliuswas Roman Emperor from 161 to 180. He ruled with Lucius Verus as co-emperor from 161 until Verus' death in 169. Marcus Aurelius was the last of the so-called Five Good Emperors. He was a practitioner of Stoicism, and his untitled writing, commonly known as the Meditations of Marcus Aurelius, is the most significant source of our modern understanding of ancient Stoic philosophy...
NationalityRoman
ProfessionPolitician
Date of Birth26 April 121
CityRome, Italy
Marcus Aurelius quotes about
revenge injury revenue
The best sort of revenue is not to be like him who did the injury.
solitude danger alone-life
He that lives alone lives in danger; society avoids many dangers.
life-is persons
A person's life is what their thoughts make it.
reason vain appetite
Blot out vain pomp; check impulse; quench appetite; keep reason under its own control.
death men names
Can we wonder that men perish and are forgotten, when their noblest and most enduring works decay? Death comes even to monumental structures, and oblivion rests on the most illustrious names.
death if-there-is-a-god wells
It were well to die if there be gods, and sad to live if there be none.
vanity fame posthumous
And yet, after all, what is posthumous fame? Altogether vanity.
fate law purpose
God overrules all mutinous accidents, brings them under His laws of fate, and makes them all serviceable to His purpose.
pride reluctance fortune
Receive the gifts of fortune without pride, and part with them without reluctance.
color emeralds doe
Whatever any one does or says, I must be good; just as if the emerald were always saying this: "Whatever any one does or says, I must still be emerald, and keep my color.
happiness perfection mind
Happiness is no other than soundness and perfection of mind.
opinion mere
Everything is mere opinion.
time action unnecessary
Most of what we say and do is unnecessary: remove the superfluity, and you will have more time and less bother. So in every case one should prompt oneself: 'Is this, or is it not, something necessary?' And the removal of the unnecessary should apply not only to actions but to thoughts also: then no redundant actions either will follow.
earth impossible instant
Each of us lives only now, this brief instant. The rest been lived already, or is impossible to see. The span we live is small - small as the corner of the earth in which we live it.