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Marcus Aurelius quotes
Marcus Aurelius (121 to 180) was Roman emperor from 161 until his death, through plague and long wars on the Danube frontier. He wrote the Meditations in Greek, as private notes to himself. Quill quotes George Long's translation.
Knowing they were private changes how they read. Nobody is being lectured except the author. He repeats himself constantly, because he's practising, and he's often tired, irritated by people, and telling himself to get out of bed. Every line here is checked against a public-domain edition, and the repetition is his.
All 49 of the lines in Quill. Only lines checked against a public-domain text appear on this page.
Meditations
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If a man is mistaken, instruct him kindly and show him his error.
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If a man is mistaken, instruct him kindly and show him his error. But if thou art not able, blame thyself, or blame not even thyself.
If thou art pained by any external thing, it is not this thing that disturbs thee, but thy own judgment about it.
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If thou art pained by any external thing, it is not this thing that disturbs thee, but thy own judgment about it. And it is in thy power to wipe out this judgment now. But if anything in thy own disposition gives thee pain, who hinders thee from correcting thy opinion? And even if thou art pained because thou art not doing some particular thing which seems to thee to be right, why dost …
Give thyself time to learn something new and good, and cease to be whirled around.
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Do the things external which fall upon thee distract thee? Give thyself time to learn something new and good, and cease to be whirled around. But then thou must also avoid being carried about the other way; for those too are triflers who have wearied themselves in life by their activity, and yet have no object to which to direct every movement, and, in a word, all their thoughts.
Accustom thyself to attend carefully to what is said by another, and as much as it is possible, be in the speaker's mind.
To recover thy life is in thy power.
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How can our principles become dead, unless the impressions [thoughts] which correspond to them are extinguished? But it is in thy power continuously to fan these thoughts into a flame. I can have that opinion about anything which I ought to have. If I can, why am I disturbed? The things which are external to my mind have no relation at all to my mind.—Let this be the state of thy affects, and thou standest erect. To recover thy life is in thy power. Look at things again as thou didst use to look at them; for in this consists the recovery of thy life.
A cucumber is bitter—Throw it away.—There are briers in the road—Turn aside from them.—This is enough.
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A cucumber is bitter—Throw it away.—There are briers in the road—Turn aside from them.—This is enough. Do not add, And why were such things made in the world? For thou wilt be ridiculed by a man who is acquainted with nature, as thou wouldst be ridiculed by a carpenter and shoemaker if thou didst find fault because thou seest in their workshop shavings and cuttings from the …
The universe is transformation: life is opinion.
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… external and remain immovable; but our perturbations come only from the opinion which is within. The other is that all these things, which thou seest, change immediately and will no longer be; and constantly bear in mind how many of these changes thou hast already witnessed. The universe is transformation: life is opinion.
Simple and modest is the work of philosophy.
Nothing happens to any man which he is not formed by nature to bear.
Take away the complaint, "I have been harmed," and the harm is taken away.
All things are little, changeable, perishable.
Attend to the matter which is before thee, whether it is an opinion or an act or a word.
Whatever any one does or says, I must be emerald and keep my color.
Make thyself all simplicity.
How soon will time cover all things, and how many it has covered already.
Do not disturb thyself by thinking of the whole of thy life.
Near is thy forgetfulness of all things; and near the forgetfulness of thee by all.
Cast away opinion: thou art saved.
Say nothing more to thyself than what the first appearances report.
Within is the fountain of good, and it will ever bubble up, if thou wilt ever dig.
Practise thyself even in the things which thou despairest of accomplishing.
In the morning when thou risest unwillingly, let this thought be present,—I am rising to the work of a human being.
Confine thyself to the present.
A little time and I am dead, and all is gone.
Consider that everything is opinion, and opinion is in thy power.
What good will this anger do thee?
Love that only which happens to thee and is spun with the thread of thy destiny.
Be cheerful also, and seek not external help nor the tranquillity which others give.
How ridiculous and what a stranger he is who is surprised at anything which happens in life.
Thou must turn to profit the present by the aid of reason and justice.
Short is the little which remains to thee of life.
Do not act as if thou wert going to live ten thousand years.
A man then must stand erect, not be kept erect by others.
Loss is nothing else than change.
Everything is only for a day, both that which remembers and that which is remembered.
All things are change, yet we need not fear anything new.
Adorn thyself with simplicity and modesty, and with indifference towards the things which lie between virtue and vice.
Life must be reaped like the ripe ears of corn.
Wipe out imagination; check desire: extinguish appetite: keep the ruling faculty in its own power.
How quickly all things disappear,—in the universe the bodies themselves, but in time the remembrance of them.
Do not despise death, but be well content with it, since this too is one of those things which nature wills.
Soon, very soon, thou wilt be ashes, or a skeleton, and either a name or not even a name; but name is sound and echo.
Remember that all is opinion.
Meditations (Thoughts)
Read Meditations (Thoughts) on Project Gutenberg
Thou hast embarked, thou hast made the voyage, thou art come to shore; get out.
Every man’s life is sufficient.
In a word, thy life is short.
Men exist for the sake of one another.
Is any man afraid of change?
First, do nothing inconsiderately, nor without a purpose.
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