Tao Te Ching
Marcus Aurelius
121 – 219 CE
One of the most important Stoic philosophers and last of the "Five Good Emperors,” during a time Gibbon described as, a period when "the Roman Empire was governed… under the guidance of wisdom and virtue.” He was known as a philosopher king and by many as the only Roman emperor who not only spoke and knew wisdom but also lived it. His book, Meditations describes setting up a just government of service and duty and was a favorite of leaders and philosophers from Frederick the Great to John Stuart Mill, from Goethe to Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, and US president Bill Clinton.Eras
Chinese
Eastern Han 漢朝 (25 – 220 CE)Sources
Unlisted Sources
Quotes by Marcus Aurelius (35 quotes)
“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.”
Chapters:
17. True Leaders
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“A person's worth is measured by the worth of what he values.”
Chapters:
57. Wu Wei
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“Dig within. Within is the wellspring of Good; and it is always ready to bubble up, if you just dig.”
Chapters:
62. Basic Goodness
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“Do every act of your life as though it were the very last act of your life.”
Chapters:
59. The Gardening of Spirit
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“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.”
Chapters:
58. Goals Without Means
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“Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth.”
Chapters:
21. Following Empty Heart
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“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.’”
Chapters:
44. Fame and Fortune
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“How much more grievous are the consequences of anger than the causes of it.”
from Meditations Τὰ εἰς ἑαυτόν
Chapters:
68. Joining Heaven & Earth
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“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.”
Chapters:
81. Journey Without Goal
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“Or is it your reputation that's bothering you? But look at how soon we're all forgotten. The abyss of endless time that swallows it all. The emptiness of those applauding hands.”
Chapters:
44. Fame and Fortune
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“Regain your senses, call yourself back, and once again wake up. Now that you realize that only dreams were troubling you, view this 'reality' as you view your dreams.”
Chapters:
40. Returning
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“The object in life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane.”
from Meditations Τὰ εἰς ἑαυτόν
Chapters:
41. Distilled Life
18. The Sick Society
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“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.”
Chapters:
50. Claws and Swords
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“You always own the option of having no opinion.”
Chapters:
9. Know When to Stop
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“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.”
Chapters:
35. The Power of Goodness
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“All things are interwoven, a sacred bond uniting them into the oneness of truth.”
from Meditations Τὰ εἰς ἑαυτόν
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“Do every act of your life as though it were the very last act of your life.”
from Meditations Τὰ εἰς ἑαυτόν
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“See that you are part of a universe in flux and have a very limited time to clear away the clouds in your mind.”
from Meditations Τὰ εἰς ἑαυτόν
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“In this immensity of past and future time, what is the difference between living three days or three generations?”
from Meditations Τὰ εἰς ἑαυτόν
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”
from Meditations Τὰ εἰς ἑαυτόν
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“Time is like a river of events - each arising, carried away, and quickly replaced by something also quickly replaced.”
from Meditations Τὰ εἰς ἑαυτόν
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“Our life is what our thoughts make it.”
from Meditations Τὰ εἰς ἑαυτόν
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“Do everything as a disciple of Antoninus. Remember his constancy in every reasonable act, his evenness in all things, his piety, and the serenity of his countenance, and his disregard of empty fame... with how little he was satisfied, how laborious and patient, how religious without superstition.”
from Meditations Τὰ εἰς ἑαυτόν
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“Nowhere can we find a quieter or more untroubled retreat than in our own soul.”
from Meditations Τὰ εἰς ἑαυτόν
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“A man’s worth is no greater than the worth of his ambitions.”
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“The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts.”
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“Perfection of character is this: to live each day as if it were your last, without frenzy, without apathy, without pretense.”
from Meditations Τὰ εἰς ἑαυτόν
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“Forget everything else. Keep hold of this alone and remember it. Each of us lives only now, this brief instant. The rest has been lived already, or is impossible to see.”
from Meditations Τὰ εἰς ἑαυτόν
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“the life of every man is short and yours is almost finished while you do not respect yourself but allow your happiness to depend upon others”
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“I dream of one world in which all are prosperous and all can take care of their children, and in which there is no war.”
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“Anything in any way beautiful derives its beauty from itself, and asks nothing beyond itself. Praise is no part of it, for nothing is made worse or better by praise.”
from Meditations Τὰ εἰς ἑαυτόν
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“One Universe made up of all that is; and one God in it all, and one principle of Being, and one Law, The Reason, shared by all thinking creatures, and one Truth.”
from Meditations Τὰ εἰς ἑαυτόν
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“Nowhere can man find a quieter or more untroubled retreat than in his own soul.”
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“You can be invincible if you enter into no contest in which it is not in your power to conquer.”
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“do not wish to be a general or a senator or consul, but a free man, and there is only one way to do this, to care not for the things which are not in our power.”
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Quotes about Marcus Aurelius (5 quotes)
“Marcus was too good to be great enough to discipline him or renounce him [his son Commodus]; he kept on hoping that education and responsibility would sober him and make him grow into a king.”
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“If a man were called upon to fix the period in the history of the world during which the condition of the human race was most happy and prosperous, he would without hesitation name that which elapsed from the accession of Nerva to the death of Aurelius. Their united reign are possibly the only period of history in which the happiness of a great people was the sole object of government:”
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“Marcus Aurelius is one of the most noble of the Roman emperors but his importance goes far beyond his role in the policies and history of an empire he knew to be ephemeral... He dreamed of an empire in which individuals were free to live life as they chose and to follow their ambitions.”
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“In Seneca's letters, in the discourses of Epictetus, in Marcus Aurelius' diary, there is an atmosphere of purity, goodness, noble strength, such as pervades few books in all the literature of the world.”
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“Marcus revered the character of his benefactor, loved him as a parent, obeyed his as his sovereign... His life was the noblest commentary of the precepts of Zeno, He was severe to himself indulgent to the imperfections of others, just and beneficent to all mankind... Their united reigns are possibly the only period of history in which the happiness of a great people was the sole object of government.”
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