Marcus Aurelius

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

Which is recorded of Socrates, that he was able both to abstain from, and to enjoy, those things which many are too weak to abstain from, and cannot enjoy without excess. But to be strong enough both to bear the one and to be sober in the other is the mark of a man who has a perfect and invincible soul.

From Apollonius I learned freedom of will and undeviating steadiness of purpose; and to look to nothing else, not even for a moment, except to reason; and to be always the same, in sharp pains, on the occasion of the loss of a child, and in long illness.

Do not waste what remains of your life in speculating about your neighbors, unless with a view to some mutual benefit. To wonder what so-and-so is doing and why, or what he is saying, or thinking, or scheming -- in a word, anything that distracts you from fidelity to the ruler within you -- means a loss of opportunity for some other task.

Not to waste time on nonsense. Not to be taken in by conjurors and hoodoo artists with their talk about incantations and exorcism and all the rest of it. Not to be obsessed with quail-fighting or other crazes like that.

When thou art above measure angry, bethink thee how momentary is man's life.

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

You must become an old man in good time if you wish to be an old man long.

Perhaps there are none more lazy, or more truly ignorant, than your everlasting readers.

Death, like birth, is a secret of Nature.

And thou wilt give thyself relief, if thou doest every act of thy life as if it were the last.

Begin - to begin is half the work, let half still remain; again begin this, and thou wilt have finished.

Men exist for the sake of one another.

To refrain from imitation is the best revenge.

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.

Be content to seem what you really are.

Nothing happens to any man that he is not formed by nature to bear.

To understand the true quality of people, you must look into their minds, and examine their pursuits and aversions.

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

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

Look within. Within is the fountain of good, and it will ever bubble up, if thou wilt ever dig.