"This thou must always bear in mind, what is the nature of the whole..."

Marcus Aurelius Philosophy See all quotes by Marcus Aurelius →

React to this quote

More by Marcus Aurelius

“You could leave life right now. Let that determine what you do and say and think. (Hays translation)”

“You see how few things you have to do to live a satisfying and reverent life? If you can manage this, that's all even the gods can ask of you. (Hays translation)”

“Yes, you can--if you do everything as if it were the last thing you were doing in your life, and stop being aimless, stop letting your emotions override what your mind tells you, stop being hypocritical, self-centered, irritable. (Hays translation)”

“Concentrate every minute like a Roman—like a man—on doing what's in front of you with precise and genuine seriousness, tenderly, willingly, with justice. And on freeing yourself from all other distractions. (Hays translation)”

“There is a limit to the time assigned you, and if you don't use it to free yourself it will be gone and never return. (Hays translation)”

“What is divine is full of Providence. Even chance is not divorced from nature, from the inweaving and enfolding of things governed by Providence. Everything proceeds from it. (Hays translation)”

Resonant Thoughts

"Good sites were nearly always occupied, and had to be conquered by stratagem or force; the Greeks, in such matters, recognized no morals loftier than our own. In some cases the conquerors reduced the …"

— Will Durant

Philosophy1885–1981

#freedom

"The young Princess Bolkónskaya had brought some work in a gold-embroidered velvet bag. Her pretty little upper lip, on which a delicate dark down was just perceptible, was too short for her teeth, but…"

— Leo Tolstoy

Literature1828–1910

#writing

"I’m pretty serious about what I’m doing. I’m not as unapproachable as many would say and I’m not as grumpy , a little frustrated sometimes with the lobbyists and bureaucrats, if they’d let us do our j…"

— Ron Richard

Science1947–2023

#justice

"One-sixth, and a little more, of the population of the United States are slaves, looked upon as property, as nothing but property. The cash value of these slaves, at a moderate estimate, is $2,000,000…"

— Abraham Lincoln

Politics1744–1786

#Human Nature