Marcus Aurelius Quotes on Happiness
Marcus Aurelius was Roman emperor from 161 to 180 AD and the last of the so-called Five Good Emperors. This page collects quotes attributed to Marcus Aurelius on the topic of happiness, drawn from across the philosopher's works.
Quotes
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Attributed to Marcus Aurelius:
“The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts.”
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“Very little is needed to make a happy life; it is all within yourself, in your way of thinking.”
ἐν ὀλιγίστοις κεῖται τὸ εὐδαιμόνως βιῶσαι | VII, 67 -
“Of my grandfather Verus I have learned to be gentle and meek, and to refrain from all anger and passion... I have learned both shamefastness and manlike behaviour. Of my mother I have learned to be religious, and bountiful; and to forbear, not only to do, but to intend any evil; to content myself with a spare diet, and to fly all such excess as is incidental to great wealth.”
I, 1 -
“The happiness and unhappiness of the rational, social animal depends not on what he feels but on what he does; just as his virtue and vice consist not in feeling but in doing.”
Meditations, Book IX | IX, 16 -
“Know the joy of life by piling good deed on good deed until no rift or cranny appears between them.”
Meditations, Book XII | τί λοιπὸν ἢ ἀπολαύειν τοῦ ζῆν συνάπτοντα ἄλλο ἐπ ἄλλῳ ἀγαθόν, ὥστε μηδὲ τὸ βραχύτατον διάστημα ἀπολείπειν; XII, 29