Marcus Aurelius Quotes

Throw dirt on me, and grow a wild flower

No magic formula can completely prepare us for crises in life. However, each choice we make now will impact how we handle those crises in the future. Make your choice count. Dedicate time each day to developing your character. If you do, courage will be there when you need it most.

It is not so much the being exempt from faults, as having overcome them, that is an advantage to us.

Adversity builds character and character takes you places money can't.

Every problem is a character-building opportunity, and the more difficult it is, the greater the potential for building spiritual muscle and moral fiber.

We are put in situations to build our character... not destroy us.

ADVERSITY CAN HARDEN YOU. OR IT CAN LOOSEN YOU UP AND MAKE YOU BETTER —IF YOU LET IT.

Examine the life of the best and most productive men and nations, and ask yourselves whether a tree which is to grow proudly skywards can dispense with bad weather and storms. Whether misfortune and opposition, or every kind of hatred, jealousy, stubbornness, distrust, severity, greed, and violence do not belong to the favourable conditions without which a great growth even of virtue is hardly possible?

Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet.

Affliction is the school in which great virtues are acquired, in which great characters are formed.

Character is both developed and revealed by tests, and all of life is a test.

Life is a series of experiences, each one of which makes us bigger, even though sometimes it is hard to realize this. For the world was built to develop character, and we must learn that the setbacks and grieves which we endure help us in our marching onward.

Sometimes the adversities you go through help you become a person you are proud of, and instead of hating what you're going through, maybe bless it because for some reason; it is going to build you into that person that you are proud of being.

As we advance in life it becomes more and more difficult, but in fighting the difficulties the inmost strength of the heart is developed.

My journey through life has led me through both light and dark places, and it's because of those experiences that I have learned how to work through my character defects and to help others do the same.

Difficulty creates the opportunity for self-reflection and compassion.

A man of character finds a special attractiveness in difficulty, since it is only by coming to grips with difficulty that he can realize his potentialities

It's all the stuff I've been through in my life. From family struggles, people doubting me, things I went through as a child and going to prison, they all played a factor in who I am today. It really made me a better person. Going through those situations can make or break you as a human being.

Sometimes you have to fall lower than you've ever been to stand taller than you ever could.

It's the trials and tribulations that really test a person, and coming through those difficulties is what shapes a person's character.

I'm the same person. I got a grenade thrown at me. Situation turned out how it did. Now I'm just trying to do good things.

There's challenges in life that present themselves unexpectedly, and if you rise to them, then those challenges will toughen you up.

Man's soul is strengthened by suffering.

No matter what is going on in your life today, remember, it is only preparation. People come and go; situations rise and fall; it's all preparation for better things. You must stretch, reach, grow into your goodness. Without the preparation we receive through adversity, disappointment, confusion, or pain, we could not appreciate the goodness when it arrives.

Hardships can harden even the best person.