Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, (121 AD - 180 AD),Roman Emperor, Philosopher Quotes

I often marvel how it is that though each man loves himself beyond all else, he should yet value his own opinion of himself less than that of others.

If thou workest at that which is before thee... Expecting nothing, fearing nothing, but satisfied with thy present activity according to Nature, and with heroic truth in every word and sound which thou utterest, thou wilt live happy. And there is no man who is able to prevent this.

It is not the weight of the future or the past that is pressing upon you, but ever that of the present alone. Even this burden, too, can be lessened if you confine it strictly to its own limits.

To live each day as though one's last, never flustered, never apathetic, never attitudinizing, is perfection of character.

The sole life which a man can lose is that which he is living at the moment.

Remember that what pulls the strings is the force hidden within; there lies the power to persuade, there the life, if one must speak out, the real man.

A man's happiness: to do the things proper to man.

Mark how fleeting and paltry is the estate of man -- yesterday in embryo, tomorrow a mummy or ashes. So for the hairsbreadth of time assigned to thee, live rationally, and part with life cheerfully, as drops the ripe olive, extolling the season that bore it and the tree that matured it.

The true worth of a man is to be measured by the objects he pursues.

The one thing worth living for is to keep one's soul pure.