Marcus Aurelius Quotes
Marcus Aurelius was Roman emperor from 161 to 180 AD and the last of the so-called Five Good Emperors. He is remembered as much for his philosophical writing as for his rule, which spanned wars on the Danube frontier and a devastating plague. The quotes below are attributed to Marcus Aurelius, organized by topic.
Marcus Aurelius on Happiness
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Attributed to Marcus Aurelius:
“The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts.”
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Attributed to Marcus Aurelius:
“Very little is needed to make a happy life; it is all within yourself, in your way of thinking.”
Marcus Aurelius on Life
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Attributed to Marcus Aurelius:
“The universe is change; our life is what our thoughts make it.”
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Attributed to Marcus Aurelius:
“Dwell on the beauty of life. Watch the stars, and see yourself running with them.”
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Attributed to Marcus Aurelius:
“Accept the things to which fate binds you, and love the people with whom fate brings you together, and do so with all your heart.”
Marcus Aurelius on Mind
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Attributed to Marcus Aurelius:
“You have power over your mind — not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.”
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Attributed to Marcus Aurelius:
“Nowhere can man find a quieter or more untroubled retreat than in his own soul.”
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Attributed to Marcus Aurelius:
“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.”
Marcus Aurelius on Nature
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Attributed to Marcus Aurelius:
“Loss is nothing else but change, and change is Nature's delight.”
Marcus Aurelius on Time
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Attributed to Marcus Aurelius:
“Confine yourself to the present.”
Marcus Aurelius on Virtue
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Attributed to Marcus Aurelius:
“Waste no more time arguing what a good man should be. Be one.”
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Attributed to Marcus Aurelius:
“Begin each day by telling yourself: today I shall be meeting with interference, ingratitude, insolence, disloyalty, ill-will, and selfishness — all of them due to the offenders' ignorance of what is good or evil.”
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Attributed to Marcus Aurelius:
“If it is not right, do not do it; if it is not true, do not say it.”
Things actually not said by Marcus Aurelius
A number of widely-shared lines are circulated as Marcus Aurelius but are in fact from someone else. Did Marcus Aurelius say these? No. Each entry below pairs the line with the person who actually wrote it.
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Did Marcus Aurelius say this? No.
“Death smiles at us all; all a man can do is smile back.”
This line is from the screenplay of the 2000 film Gladiator, in which the character of Marcus Aurelius is fictionalised. It does not appear in the historical Meditations or in any other surviving writing by Marcus Aurelius.
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Did Marcus Aurelius say this? No.
“When you arise in the morning, think of what a precious privilege it is to be alive — to breathe, to think, to enjoy, to love.”
Although widely circulated online as Marcus Aurelius, this passage has not been located in any standard translation of the Meditations. Its earliest verifiable appearances are in 20th-century English-language compilations and the actual author is unknown.