Quotes
56 Marcus Aurelius Quotes from Meditations to Strengthen Your Mind
Marcus Aurelius was the most powerful man on earth, and yet the notebook he kept for himself is full of reminders to stay humble, stay calm and keep doing the work. Meditations was never meant to be published, which is exactly why it hits so hard: it’s a leader talking himself through stress, setbacks and his own mortality. Here are 56 Marcus Aurelius quotes, taken word for word from George Long’s translation of Meditations, to help you focus on what you control and pair perfectly with these quotes about resilience when life gets heavy.
Control What You Can: The Stoic Mindset:
1. “If thou art pained by any external thing, it is not this thing that disturbs thee, but thy own judgment about it. And it is in thy power to wipe out this judgment now.” – Marcus Aurelius
Source: Meditations, Book VIII, section 47, trans. George Long (1862)
2. “The universe is transformation: life is opinion.” – Marcus Aurelius
Source: Meditations, Book IV, section 3, trans. George Long (1862)
3. “Consider that everything is opinion, and opinion is in thy power.” – Marcus Aurelius
Source: Meditations, Book XII, section 22, trans. George Long (1862)
4. “Take away thy opinion, and then there is taken away the complaint, ‘I have been harmed.’ Take away the complaint, ‘I have been harmed,’ and the harm is taken away.” – Marcus Aurelius
Source: Meditations, Book IV, section 7, trans. George Long (1862)
5. “It is in our power to have no opinion about a thing, and not to be disturbed in our soul; for things themselves have no natural power to form our judgments.” – Marcus Aurelius
Source: Meditations, Book VI, section 52, trans. George Long (1862)
6. “Such as are thy habitual thoughts, such also will be the character of thy mind; for the soul is dyed by the thoughts.” – Marcus Aurelius
Source: Meditations, Book V, section 16, trans. George Long (1862)
7. “I can have that opinion about anything which I ought to have. If I can, why am I disturbed?” – Marcus Aurelius
Source: Meditations, Book VII, section 2, trans. George Long (1862)
8. “It is in thy power whenever thou shalt choose to retire into thyself. For nowhere either with more quiet or more freedom from trouble does a man retire than into his own soul.” – Marcus Aurelius
Source: Meditations, Book IV, section 3, trans. George Long (1862)
9. “Look within. Within is the fountain of good, and it will ever bubble up, if thou wilt ever dig.” – Marcus Aurelius
Source: Meditations, Book VII, section 59, trans. George Long (1862)
10. “The mind which is free from passions is a citadel, for man has nothing more secure to which he can fly for refuge and for the future be inexpugnable.” – Marcus Aurelius
Source: Meditations, Book VIII, section 48, trans. George Long (1862)
11. “It is in thy power to live free from all compulsion in the greatest tranquillity of mind, even if all the world cry out against thee as much as they choose.” – Marcus Aurelius
Source: Meditations, Book VII, section 68, trans. George Long (1862)
12. “How much trouble he avoids who does not look to see what his neighbor says or does or thinks, but only to what he does himself, that it may be just and pure.” – Marcus Aurelius
Source: Meditations, Book IV, section 18, trans. George Long (1862)
13. “I have often wondered how it is that every man loves himself more than all the rest of men, but yet sets less value on his own opinion of himself than on the opinion of others.” – Marcus Aurelius
Source: Meditations, Book XII, section 4, trans. George Long (1862)
Turning Adversity and Obstacles into Fuel:
14. “The mind converts and changes every hindrance to its activity into an aid; and so that which is a hindrance is made a furtherance to an act; and that which is an obstacle on the road helps us on this road.” – Marcus Aurelius
Source: Meditations, Book V, section 20, trans. George Long (1862)
15. “Be like the promontory against which the waves continually break, but it stands firm and tames the fury of the water around it.” – Marcus Aurelius
Source: Meditations, Book IV, section 49, trans. George Long (1862)
16. “Unhappy am I because this has happened to me? Not so, but happy am I, though this has happened to me, because I continue free from pain, neither crushed by the present nor fearing the future.” – Marcus Aurelius
Source: Meditations, Book IV, section 49, trans. George Long (1862)
17. “Nothing happens to any man which he is not formed by nature to bear.” – Marcus Aurelius
Source: Meditations, Book V, section 18, trans. George Long (1862)
18. “It makes a material for itself out of that which opposes it, as fire lays hold of what falls into it, by which a small light would have been extinguished; but when the fire is strong, it soon appropriates to itself the matter which is heaped on it, and consumes it, and rises higher by means of this very material.” – Marcus Aurelius
Source: Meditations, Book IV, section 1, trans. George Long (1862)
19. “The art of life is more like the wrestler’s art than the dancer’s, in respect of this, that it should stand ready and firm to meet onsets which are sudden and unexpected.” – Marcus Aurelius
Source: Meditations, Book VII, section 61, trans. George Long (1862)
20. “If a thing is difficult to be accomplished by thyself, do not think that it is impossible for man: but if anything is possible for man and conformable to his nature, think that this can be attained by thyself too.” – Marcus Aurelius
Source: Meditations, Book VI, section 19, trans. George Long (1862)
21. “Do not disturb thyself by thinking of the whole of thy life. Let not thy thoughts at once embrace all the various troubles which thou mayest expect to befall thee: but on every occasion ask thyself, What is there in this which is intolerable and past bearing?” – Marcus Aurelius
Source: Meditations, Book VIII, section 36, trans. George Long (1862)
22. “Let not future things disturb thee, for thou wilt come to them, if it shall be necessary, having with thee the same reason which now thou usest for present things.” – Marcus Aurelius
Source: Meditations, Book VII, section 8, trans. George Long (1862)
23. “Suppose that men kill thee, cut thee in pieces, curse thee. What then can these things do to prevent thy mind from remaining pure, wise, sober, just?” – Marcus Aurelius
Source: Meditations, Book VIII, section 51, trans. George Long (1862)
24. “Consider how much more pain is brought on us by the anger and vexation caused by such acts than by the acts themselves, at which we are angry and vexed.” – Marcus Aurelius
Source: Meditations, Book XI, section 18, trans. George Long (1862)
25. “The best way of avenging thyself is not to become like [the wrong-doer].” – Marcus Aurelius
Source: Meditations, Book VI, section 6, trans. George Long (1862)
26. “Loss is nothing else than change.” – Marcus Aurelius
Source: Meditations, Book IX, section 35, trans. George Long (1862)
27. “How ridiculous and what a stranger he is who is surprised at anything which happens in life.” – Marcus Aurelius
Source: Meditations, Book XII, section 13, trans. George Long (1862)
Mortality, Time and the Present Moment:
28. “Do not act as if thou wert going to live ten thousand years. Death hangs over thee. While thou livest, while it is in thy power, be good.” – Marcus Aurelius
Source: Meditations, Book IV, section 17, trans. George Long (1862)
29. “Since it is possible that thou mayest depart from life this very moment, regulate every act and thought accordingly.” – Marcus Aurelius
Source: Meditations, Book II, section 11, trans. George Long (1862)
30. “The perfection of moral character consists in this, in passing every day as the last, and in being neither violently excited nor torpid nor playing the hypocrite.” – Marcus Aurelius
Source: Meditations, Book VII, section 69, trans. George Long (1862)
31. “A limit of time is fixed for thee, which if thou dost not use for clearing away the clouds from thy mind, it will go and thou wilt go, and it will never return.” – Marcus Aurelius
Source: Meditations, Book II, section 4, trans. George Long (1862)
32. “Remember that no man loses any other life than this which he now lives, nor lives any other than this which he now loses.” – Marcus Aurelius
Source: Meditations, Book II, section 14, trans. George Long (1862)
33. “The present is the only thing of which a man can be deprived, if it is true that this is the only thing which he has, and that a man cannot lose a thing if he has it not.” – Marcus Aurelius
Source: Meditations, Book II, section 14, trans. George Long (1862)
34. “Bear in mind that every man lives only this present time, which is an indivisible point, and that all the rest of his life is either past or it is uncertain. Short then is the time which every man lives.” – Marcus Aurelius
Source: Meditations, Book III, section 10, trans. George Long (1862)
35. “Confine thyself to the present.” – Marcus Aurelius
Source: Meditations, Book VII, section 29, trans. George Long (1862)
36. “In a word, thy life is short. Thou must turn to profit the present by the aid of reason and justice.” – Marcus Aurelius
Source: Meditations, Book IV, section 26, trans. George Long (1862)
37. “Time is like a river made up of the events which happen, and a violent stream; for as soon as a thing has been seen, it is carried away, and another comes in its place, and this will be carried away too.” – Marcus Aurelius
Source: Meditations, Book IV, section 43, trans. George Long (1862)
38. “Hasten then to the end which thou hast before thee, and, throwing away idle hopes, come to thy own aid, if thou carest at all for thyself, while it is in thy power.” – Marcus Aurelius
Source: Meditations, Book III, section 14, trans. George Long (1862)
39. “If thou shalt be afraid not because thou must some time cease to live, but if thou shalt fear never to have begun to live according to nature – then thou wilt be a man worthy of the universe which has produced thee.” – Marcus Aurelius
Source: Meditations, Book XII, section 1, trans. George Long (1862)
40. “Do not despise death, but be well content with it, since this too is one of those things which nature wills.” – Marcus Aurelius
Source: Meditations, Book IX, section 3, trans. George Long (1862)
41. “Pass then through this little space of time conformably to nature, and end thy journey in content, as an olive falls off when it is ripe, blessing nature who produced it, and thanking the tree on which it grew.” – Marcus Aurelius
Source: Meditations, Book IV, section 48, trans. George Long (1862)
Duty and Character: Doing Good Work:
42. “No longer talk at all about the kind of man that a good man ought to be, but be such.” – Marcus Aurelius
Source: Meditations, Book X, section 16, trans. George Long (1862)
43. “In the morning when thou risest unwillingly, let this thought be present – I am rising to the work of a human being.” – Marcus Aurelius
Source: Meditations, Book V, section 1, trans. George Long (1862)
44. “Every moment think steadily as a Roman and a man to do what thou hast in hand with perfect and simple dignity, and feeling of affection, and freedom, and justice.” – Marcus Aurelius
Source: Meditations, Book II, section 5, trans. George Long (1862)
45. “Whatever any one does or says, I must be good; just as if the gold, or the emerald, or the purple, were always saying this.” – Marcus Aurelius
Source: Meditations, Book VII, section 15, trans. George Long (1862)
46. “If it is not right, do not do it: if it is not true, do not say it.” – Marcus Aurelius
Source: Meditations, Book XII, section 17, trans. George Long (1862)
47. “That which is not good for the swarm, neither is it good for the bee.” – Marcus Aurelius
Source: Meditations, Book VI, section 54, trans. George Long (1862)
48. “Men exist for the sake of one another. Teach them then, or bear with them.” – Marcus Aurelius
Source: Meditations, Book VIII, section 59, trans. George Long (1862)
49. “Strive to continue to be such as philosophy wished to make thee. Reverence the gods, and help men. Short is life.” – Marcus Aurelius
Source: Meditations, Book VI, section 30, trans. George Long (1862)
50. “When thou hast done a good act and another has received it, why dost thou still look for a third thing besides these, as fools do, either to have the reputation of having done a good act or to obtain a return?” – Marcus Aurelius
Source: Meditations, Book VII, section 73, trans. George Long (1862)
51. “If any man is able to convince me and show me that I do not think or act right, I will gladly change; for I seek the truth, by which no man was ever injured.” – Marcus Aurelius
Source: Meditations, Book VI, section 21, trans. George Long (1862)
52. “He often acts unjustly who does not do a certain thing; not only he who does a certain thing.” – Marcus Aurelius
Source: Meditations, Book IX, section 5, trans. George Long (1862)
53. “It is peculiar to man to love even those who do wrong.” – Marcus Aurelius
Source: Meditations, Book VII, section 22, trans. George Long (1862)
54. “Let it make no difference to thee whether thou art cold or warm, if thou art doing thy duty.” – Marcus Aurelius
Source: Meditations, Book VI, section 2, trans. George Long (1862)
55. “Be not ashamed to be helped; for it is thy business to do thy duty like a soldier in the assault on a town.” – Marcus Aurelius
Source: Meditations, Book VII, section 7, trans. George Long (1862)
56. “Do what nature now requires. Set thyself in motion, if it is in thy power, and do not look about thee to see if any one will observe it.” – Marcus Aurelius
Source: Meditations, Book IX, section 29, trans. George Long (1862)
Sources & How to Cite:
All 56 quotes are taken from George Long’s 1862 English translation of Meditations, which is in the public domain. Each quote above lists its book and section number, so you can find the full passage and read it in context. Several lines are short excerpts from longer sections.
• Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, trans. George Long (1862), Project Gutenberg eBook #15877
Cite this page: Brown, J. (2026). 56 Marcus Aurelius Quotes from Meditations to Strengthen Your Mind. Addicted2Success. https://addicted2success.com/quotes/56-marcus-aurelius-quotes-meditations/
Don’t just read these and nod. Pick one line from Marcus Aurelius, write it somewhere you’ll see it, and practice it today, the next time something outside your control tries to rattle you. If ancient wisdom fires you up, keep going with Aristotle’s most profound quotes and see how another great mind thought about living well.