Marcus Valerius Martial Quotes

Be content with what you are, and wish not change; nor dread your last day, nor long for it.

I am sensible of the velocity of the moments, and entering that part of my head alert to the motion of the world I am aware that life was never perfect, never absolute. This bestows contentment, even a fearlessness.

I think if you don't expect anything from the world, you'll have a lovely time.

Who is the wisest man? He who neither knows or wishes for anything else than what happens.

Persuade thyself that imperfection and inconvenience are the natural lot of mortals, and there will be no room for discontent, neither for despair.

Welcome anything that comes to you, but do not long for anything else.

Enjoy doing nothing, and you can enjoy doing anything. Enjoy having nothing, and you can enjoy whatever you have.

For if there is a sin against life, it consists perhaps not so much in despairing of life as in hoping for another life and in eluding the implacable grandeur of this life.

To sit and contemplate - to remember the faces of women without desire, to be pleased by the great deeds of men without envy, to be everything and everywhere in sympathy and yet content to remain where and what you are.

Inner peace begins when we stop saying of things, 'I have lost it' and instead say, 'It has been returned to where it came from.' Why should it be any concern of yours who gives your things back to the world that gave them to you? The important thing is to take great care with what you have while the world lets you have it.

When you learn not to want things so badly, life comes to you.

Without desire there is stillness, and the world settles by itself.

I can't be smug, because I know that you can lose anything at any point. And I can't be angry, because I haven't lost it.

One should not confuse the craving for life with endorsement of it.

I get it now; I didn't get it then. That life is about losing and about doing it as gracefully as possible... and enjoying everything in between.

To remember non-attachment is to remember what freedom is all about. If we get attached, even to a beautiful state of being, we are caught, and ultimately we will suffer. We work to observe anything that comes our way, experience it while it is here, and be able to let go of it.

No man enjoys the true taste of life, but he who is ready and willing to quit it.

Most people ask for happiness on condition. Happiness can only be felt if you don't set any condition.

Joy of living is sustainable; fear of dying is not.

Unending joy is actually closer to us than our own skin, and there is nothing we have to do or get or be to experience it. All we have to do is stop driving it away.

If it is, it is, If it's not, it's not.

With a warm drink, in a rocking chair and family and friends around, I am working on finding peace and joy in the moments we have been given. It doesn't have to all make sense. I don't have all the answers.

I have no projects on the horizon. I don't feel frustrated. It's a great life lesson for me.

I don't regret the passing of time. I try to live in the present, which should mean my life's full.

To live in this world, you must be able to do three things: to love what is mortal; to hold it against your bones knowing your own life depends on it; and, when the time comes to let it go, to let it go.