Marcus Aurelius was a roman emperor from 161 to 180AD but that is not why we’ve dedicated an entire post to his quotes. The reason he is a source of so many inspirational quotes is that he became a leader of the Stoic philosophy. His book, Meditations, is an international bestseller almost 2,000 years after it was written and is a source of great insight. He wrote it while he was emperor and it offers a range of spiritual reflections developed as the leader struggled to understand himself and the universe.
Marcus Aurelius covers topics as diverse as the question of virtue, human rationality, the nature of the gods, and his own emotions, spanning from doubt and despair to conviction and exaltation.
From the many inspirational quotes in the book, we’ve selected the best 10, as voted by readers of Goodreads.
10 Inspirational Quotes by the Emperor Marcus Aurelius
1. “Dwell on the beauty of life. Watch the stars, and see yourself running with them.”
― Marcus Aurelius, Meditations
2. “You have power over your mind – not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.”
― Marcus Aurelius, Meditations
3. “Live a good life. If there are gods and they are just, then they will not care how devout you have been, but will welcome you based on the virtues you have lived by. If there are gods, but unjust, then you should not want to worship them. If there are no gods, then you will be gone, but will have lived a noble life that will live on in the memories of your loved ones.”
― Marcus Aurelius, Meditations
4. “The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts.”
― Marcus Aurelius, Meditations
5. “Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth.”
― Marcus Aurelius, Meditations
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6. “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.”
― Marcus Aurelius, Meditations
7. “Waste no more time arguing about what a good man should be. Be one.”
― Marcus Aurelius, Meditations
8. “When you arise in the morning think of what a privilege it is to be alive, to think, to enjoy, to love …”
― Marcus Aurelius, Meditations
9. “The best revenge is to be unlike him who performed the injury.”
― Marcus Aurelius, Meditations
10. “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, Meditations
