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A noble man compares and estimates himself by an idea which is higher than himself; and a mean man, by one lower than himself. The one produces aspiration; the other ambition, which is the way in which a vulgar man aspires.

Marcus Aurelius
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Adapt yourself to the things among which your lot has been cast and love sincerely the fellow creatures with whom destiny has ordained that you shall live.
Marcus Aurelius
Anger cannot be dishonest.
Marcus Aurelius
Reject your sense of injury and the injury itself disappears.
Marcus Aurelius
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.
Marcus Aurelius
Everything that happens happens as it should, and if you observe carefully, you will find this to be so.
Marcus Aurelius
He who lives in harmony with himself lives in harmony with the universe.
Marcus Aurelius
The universal order and the personal order are nothing but different expressions and manifestations of a common underlying principle.
Marcus Aurelius
Observe constantly that all things take place by change, and accustom thyself to consider that the nature of the Universe loves nothing so much as to change the things which are, and to make new things like them.
Marcus Aurelius
Let not your mind run on what you lack as much as on what you have already.
Marcus Aurelius
Natural ability without education has more often raised a man to glory and virtue than education without natural ability.
Marcus Aurelius
Because a thing seems difficult for you, do not think it impossible for anyone to accomplish.
Marcus Aurelius
A man should be upright, not be kept upright.
Marcus Aurelius
Tomorrow is nothing, today is too late; the good lived yesterday.
Marcus Aurelius
Nothing has such power to broaden the mind as the ability to investigate systematically and truly all that comes under thy observation in life.
Marcus Aurelius
Look back over the past, with its changing empires that rose and fell, and you can foresee the future, too.
Marcus Aurelius
We are too much accustomed to attribute to a single cause that which is the product of several, and the majority of our controversies come from that.
Marcus Aurelius
Execute every act of thy life as though it were thy last.
Marcus Aurelius
Dig within. Within is the wellspring of Good; and it is always ready to bubble up, if you just dig.
Marcus Aurelius
Nothing happens to any man that he is not formed by nature to bear.
Marcus Aurelius
Death is a release from the impressions of the senses, and from desires that make us their puppets, and from the vagaries of the mind, and from the hard service of the flesh.
Marcus Aurelius
Despise not death, but welcome it, for nature wills it like all else.
Marcus Aurelius
Aptitude found in the understanding and is often inherited. Genius coming from reason and imagination, rarely.
Marcus Aurelius
A noble man compares and estimates himself by an idea which is higher than himself; and a mean man, by one lower than himself. The one produces aspiration; the other ambition, which is the way in which a vulgar man aspires.
Marcus Aurelius
Everything that exists is in a manner the seed of that which will be.
Marcus Aurelius
The art of living is more like wrestling than dancing.
Marcus Aurelius
Here is the rule to remember in the future, When anything tempts you to be bitter: not, "This is a misfortune" but "To bear this worthily is good fortune."
Marcus Aurelius
Do every act of your life as if it were your last.
Marcus Aurelius
How much time he saves who does not look to see what his neighbor says or does or thinks.
Marcus Aurelius
Perhaps there are none more lazy, or more truly ignorant, than your everlasting readers.
Marcus Aurelius
Confine yourself to the present.
Marcus Aurelius
Forward, as occasion offers. Never look round to see whether any shall note it... Be satisfied with success in even the smallest matter, and think that even such a result is no trifle.
Marcus Aurelius
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.
Marcus Aurelius
And thou wilt give thyself relief, if thou doest every act of thy life as if it were the last.
Marcus Aurelius
What springs from earth dissolves to earth again, and heaven-born things fly to their native seat.
Marcus Aurelius
To understand the true quality of people, you must look into their minds, and examine their pursuits and aversions.
Marcus Aurelius
Nowhere can man find a quieter or more untroubled retreat than in his own soul.
Marcus Aurelius
If it is not right do not do it; if it is not true do not say it.
Marcus Aurelius
There is nothing happens to any person but what was in his power to go through with.
Marcus Aurelius
The best revenge is to be unlike him who performed the injury.
Marcus Aurelius
Where a man can live, he can also live well.
Marcus Aurelius
To live happily is an inward power of the soul.
Marcus Aurelius
The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts: therefore, guard accordingly, and take care that you entertain no notions unsuitable to virtue and reasonable nature.
Marcus Aurelius
The secret of all victory lies in the organization of the non-obvious.
Marcus Aurelius
Life is neither good or evil, but only a place for good and evil.
Marcus Aurelius
Let men see, let them know, a real man, who lives as he was meant to live.
Marcus Aurelius
Waste no more time arguing about what a good man should be. Be one.
Marcus Aurelius
To the wise, life is a problem; to the fool, a solution.
Marcus Aurelius
The soul becomes dyed with the color of its thoughts.
Marcus Aurelius