Marcus Aurelius Quotes

True virtue is life under the direction of reason.

The object of the superior man is truth.

Man may aspire to virtue, but he cannot reasonably aspire to truth.

Without courage there cannot be truth, and without truth there can be no other virtue.

May the Almighty grant that the cause of truth, justice, and humanity, shall in no wise suffer at my hands.

Go on bravely. Do not expect success in a day or a year. Always hold on to the highest. Be steady. Avoid jealousy and selfishness. Be obedient and eternally faithful to the cause of truth, humanity, and your country, and you will move the world.

The good devout man first makes inner preparation for the actions he has later to perform. His outward actions do not draw him into lust and vice; rather it is he who bends them into the shape of reason and right judgement. Who has a stiffer battle to fight than the man who is striving to conquer himself.

An honest man here lies at rest, the friend of man the friend of truth the friend of age and guide of youth. Few hearts like his with virtue warmed, few heads with knowledge so informed. If there's another world, he lives in bliss. If there is none, he made the best of this.

Who then is free? The wise who can command his passions, who fears not want, nor death, nor chains, firmly resisting his appetites and despising the honors of the world, who relies wholly on himself, whose angular points of character have all been rounded off and polished.

Do what is right, and you'll have no lasting regrets. Do what is right, and put yourself on the side of truth, goodness, and the best of life.

The man who wears the yellow-dyed robe but is not free from stains himself, without self-restraint and integrity, is unworthy of the robe.

Modesty, that perennial flower planted instinctively in the human breast, blooms therein only as continence guards and virtue keeps.

Holiness is the sum of a million little things — the avoidance of little evils and little foibles, the setting aside of little bits of worldliness and little acts of compromise, the putting to death of little inconsistencies and little indiscretions, the attention to little duties and little dealings, the hard work of little self-denials and little self-restraints, the cultivation of little benevolences and little forbearances.

It is not enough to be abstinent with other people. You also have to be abstinent alone. The Bible says that lust in your heart is committing adultery. So you can't - a word that rhymes with congratulate - without lust.

Fair, kind, and true, have often lived alone.

Ignorance is a virus. Once it starts spreading it can only be cured by reason. For the sake of humanity, we must be that cure.

His words are bonds, his oaths are oracles; his love sincere, his thoughts immaculate; his tears pure messengers sent from his heart; his heart as far from fraud, as heaven from earth

There are two kinds of brave men: those who are brave by the grace of nature, and those who are brave by an act of will.

Tomorrow's character is made out of today's thoughts. Temptation may come suddenly, but sin does not.

More than life, I value vindication. When you are at peace with the truth and you know that you are on the side of the right and God is on your side, you are not afraid of anything, including jail.

Why then be perverted and follow thy flesh? Be it converted and follow thee.

In thy face I see the map of honour, truth and loyalty.

Moral courage is the highest expression of humanity.

The superior man is firm in the right way and not merely firm.