Meditations Quotes

“XVI. Whatsoever I am, is either flesh, or life, or that which we commonly call the mistress and overruling part of man; reason. Away with thy books, suffer not thy mind any more to be distracted, and carried to and fro; for it will not be; but as even now ready to die, think little of thy flesh: blood, bones, and a skin; a pretty piece of knit and twisted work, consisting of nerves, veins and arteries; think no more of it, than so. And as for thy life, consider what it is; a wind; not one constant wind neither, but every moment of an hour let out, and sucked in again. The third, is thy ruling part; and here consider; Thou art an old man; suffer not that excellent part to be brought in subjection, and to become slavish: suffer it not to be drawn up and down with unreasonable and unsociable lusts and motions, as it were with wires and nerves; suffer it not any more, either to repine at anything now present, or to fear and fly anything to come, which the destiny hath appointed thee.”
― Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

“XV. In the country of the Quadi at Granua, these. Betimes in the morning say to thyself, This day I shalt have to do with an idle curious man, with an unthankful man, a railer, a crafty, false, or an envious man; an unsociable uncharitable man. All these ill qualities have happened unto them, through ignorance of that which is truly good and truly bad. But I that understand the nature of that which is good, that it only is to be desired, and of that which is bad, that it only is truly odious and shameful: who know moreover, that this transgressor, whosoever he be, is my kinsman, not by the same blood and seed, but by participation of the same reason, and of the same divine particle; How can I either be hurt by any of those, since it is not in their power to make me incur anything that is truly reproachful? or angry, and ill affected towards him, who by nature is so near unto me? for we are all born to be fellow-workers, as the feet, the hands, and the eyelids; as the rows of the upper and under teeth: for such therefore to be in opposition, is against nature; and what is it to chafe at, and to be averse from, but to be in opposition?”
― Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

“All that happens is as habitual and familiar as roses in spring and fruit in the summer. True too of disease, death, defamation, and conspiracy – and all that delights or gives pain to fools.”
― Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

“He took a reasonable care of his body’s health, not as one who was greatly attached to life, nor out of regard to personal appearance, nor yet in a careless way, but so that, through his own attention, he very seldom stood in need of the physician’s art or of medicine or external applications.”
― Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

“Si eso no es bueno, no lo hagas; no es verdad, no lo digas; tú eres quien debes juzgarlo.”
― Marcus Aurelius, Meditaciones

“Racimo verde, racimo maduro, racimo seco; todo eso no es sino una transformación, no en lo que no es, sino en lo que no es todavía.”
― Marcus Aurelius, Meditaciones

“Just that you do the right thing. The rest doesn’t matter. Cold or warm. Tired or well-rested. Despised or honored. Dying … or busy with other assignments.”
― Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

“and to abstain from rhetoric, and poetry, and fine writing;”
― Marcus Aurelius, Meditations: A New Translation

“In your actions, be thoughtful and just, as if embodying justice itself.”
― Marcus Aurelius, Meditations - Marcus Aurelius - A Modern Translation for 2023 & Beyond

“Neither in thy actions be sluggish nor in thy conversation without method, nor wandering in thy thoughts, nor let there be in thy soul inward contention nor external effusion, nor in life be so busy as to have no leisure.”
― Marcus Aurelius, Meditations: A New Translation

“Ni los pies ni las manos hacen un trabajo superior a su naturaleza, mientras desempeñan las funciones que les incumben. Del mismo modo, el hombre no hace un trabajo superior a su naturaleza mientras cumple sus deberes como hombre. Lo que no se halle por encima de su naturaleza no será nunca un mal para él.”
― Marcus Aurelius, Meditaciones

“74. No one objects to what is useful to him. To be of use to others is natural. Then don’t object to what is useful to you—being of use.”
― Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

“Procura hacer, por lo menos, todo lo que dependa de ti. Sé sincero, formal, laborioso, comedido, resignado con tu suerte, bondadoso, libre, sencillo, enemigo de frivolidades y magnánimo.”
― Marcus Aurelius, Las Meditaciones de Marco Aurelio: Filosofía Romana

“لا تتخبط ولا تخدع نفسك أكثر من ذلك؛ فما أحسبك سوف تقرأ مدوناتك، ولا تواريخك عن قدماء الإغريق، ولا مختاراتك من الأدب التي أعددتها لزمن شيخوختك. أسرع إذن إلى النهاية، وأقلِع عن الآمال الزائفة. أنقذ نفسك إن كان لنفسك عندك أدنى اعتبار، قبل أن يفوت الأوان”
― Marcus Aurelius, تاملات مارکوس اورلیوس

“For a corruption of the mind is far more a plague than any pestilential distemper or change in the surrounding air we breathe. The one is pestilence to animals as animals: but the other to men as men.”
― Marcus Aurelius, The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius

“Nie należy się gniewać na bieg wypadków. Nic ich to bowiem nie obchodzi.”
― Marcus Aurelius, Rozmyślania. Do siebie samego

“Universe, your harmony is my harmony: Nothing in your good time is too early or too late for me. Nature, all that your seasons bring is fruit to me: All comes from you, exists in you, returns to you." Book 4,23.”
― Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

“Man’s soul dishonours itself, firstly and chiefly when it does all it can to become an excrescence, and as it were an abscess on the Universe. To fret against any particular event is to revolt against the general law of Nature, which comprehends the order of all events whatsoever. Again it is dishonour for the soul when it has aversion to any man, and opposes him with intention to hurt him, as wrathful men do. Thirdly, it affronts itself when conquered by pleasure or pain; fourthly, when it does or says anything hypocritically, feignedly or falsely; fifthly, when it does not direct to some proper end all its desires and actions, but exerts them inconsiderately and without understanding. For, even the smallest things should be referred to the end, and the end of rational beings is to follow the order and law of the venerable state and polity which comprehends them all.”
― Marcus Aurelius, The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius

“Nothing, says the poet, is more miserable than to range over all things, to spy into the depths of the earth, and search, by conjecture, into the souls of those around us, yet not to perceive that it is enough for a man to devote himself to that divinity which is within him, and to pay it genuine worship.”
― Marcus Aurelius, The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius

“Say this to yourself in the morning: Today I shall have to do with meddlers, with the ungrateful, with the insolent, with the crafty, with the envious and the selfish. All these vices have beset them, because they know not what is good and what is evil.”
― Marcus Aurelius, The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius

“There is one universe out of all things, one god pervading all things, one substance, one law, one common reason in all intelligent beings, and one truth.”
― Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

“Ganhar sem orgulho e perder com abnegação. 34.”
― Marco Aurelio, Meditações