MARCUS AURELIUS

"The time is at hand when you will have forgotten everything; and the time is at hand when all will have forgotten you. Always reflect that soon you will be no one, and nowhere."

"The soul becomes dyed with the colour of its thoughts."

"The memory of everything is very soon overwhelmed in time."

"Adapt yourself to the life you have been given; and truly love the people with whom destiny has surrounded you."

"Look back over the past, with its changing empires that rose and fell, and you can foresee the future too."

"Perfection of character is this: to live each day as if it were your last, without frenzy, without apathy, without pretence."

"Do every act of your life as though it were the very last act of your life.”"

"Waste no time on jealousy. Sometimes you're ahead, sometimes you're behind."

"All things of the body stream away like a river, all things of the mind are dreams and delusion; life is warfare, and a visit to a strange land; the only lasting fame is oblivion."

"For outward show is a wonderful perverter of the reason."

"The impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way."

"Never esteem anything as of advantage to you that will make you break your word or lose your self-respect."

"When you arise in the morning think of what a privilege it is to be alive, to think, to enjoy, to love."

"What we cannot bear removes us from life; what remains can be borne."

"It’s the truth I’m after, and the truth never harmed anyone. What harms us is to persist in self-deceit and ignorance."

"You have power over your mind, not outside events. Realize this and you will find strength."

"You always own the option of having no opinion."

"A noble man compares and estimates himself by an idea which is higher than himself; and a mean man, by one lower than himself."

"Anger cannot be dishonest."

"The first rule is to keep an untroubled spirit. The second is to look things in the face and know them for what they are."

"Just that you do the right thing. The rest doesn't matter. Cold or warm."

"Life is neither good or evil, but only a place for good and evil."

"Our life is what our thoughts make it."

"A man must stand erect, not be kept erect by others."

"Confine yourself to the present."

"What we do now echoes in eternity."

"The best revenge is to be unlike him who performed the injury."

"Everything that happens, happens as it should, and if you observe carefully, you will find this to be so."

"Neither worse then or better is a thing made by being praised."

"How much more grievous are the consequences of anger than the causes of it."

"All men are made one for another: either then teach them better or bear with them."

"For it is in your power to retire into yourself whenever you choose."

"Be like the cliff against which the waves continually break; but it stands firm and tames the fury of the water around it."

"Look to nothing, not even for a moment except to reason."

"When you arise in the moring, think of what a precious privelege it is to be alive - to breathe, to think, to enjoy, to love."

"Everything that exists is in a manner the seed of that which will be."

"It never ceases to amaze me: we all love ourselves more than other people, but care more about their opinion than our own."

"Whatever anyone does or says, I must be emerald and keep my colour."

"How ridiculous and how strange to be surprised at anything which happens in life."

"Death smiles at us all; all we can do is smile back."

"Accept the things to which fate binds you, and love the people with whom fate brings you together,but do so with all your heart."

"You have control over your mind, not outside events."

"Look well into thyself; there is a source of strength which will always spring up if thou wilt always look."

"Never let the future disturb you. You will meet it, if you have to, with the same weapons of reason which today arm you against the present."

"If any man despises me, that is his problem. My only concern is not doing or saying anything deserving of contempt."

"Don't go on discussing what a good person should be. Just be one."