Marcus Aurelius Quotes on Time
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 time, drawn from across the philosopher's works.
Quotes
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“Confine yourself to the present.”
VII, 29 -
“How much time he gains who does not look to see what his neighbor says or does or thinks, but only at what he does himself, to make it just and holy.”
Meditations, Book IV | IV, 18 -
“Consider thyself to be dead , and to have completed thy life up to the present time; and live according to nature the remainder which is allowed thee.”
Meditations, Book VII | Variant: Think of yourself as dead. You have lived your life. Now, take what's left and live it properly. VII, 56 -
“There is a limit to the time assigned you, and if you don't use it to free yourself it will be gone and never return.”
Meditations, Book II | II, 4 -
“Give thyself time to learn something new and good, and cease to be whirled around.”
Meditations, Book II | II, 7 -
“Time is a sort of river of passing events, and strong is its current; no sooner is a thing brought to sight than it is swept by and another takes its place, and this too will be swept away.”
Meditations, Book IV | IV, 43 -
“Deem not life a thing of consequence. For look at the yawning void of the future, and at that other limitless space, the past.”
Meditations, Book IV | IV, 50