Marcus Aurelius Quotes

The idea of service leads to community.

The most important responsibility we have on this planet is to take care of one another.

I am sensible that he who means to do mankind a real service must set down with the determination of putting up, and bearing with all their faults, follies, prejudices and mistakes until he can convince them that he is right.

I'm a big believer in human nature.

In truth, we are all part of the team of humanity. And as such, we are all obligated to share ourselves, and our talents, for the sake of the team.

Are we truly being our sisters' keepers? Initially, that dog-eat-dog mentality within us may bark and say that we aren't responsible for other people, but if that was truly the case, then why are we even here? We have so much to offer and give to this world.

We cannot live only for ourselves. A thousand fibers connect us with our fellow men.

We all, as engineers, doctors, have a big responsibility to bring smiles on the faces of suffering humanity.

Seek always to do some good, somewhere. Every man has to seek in his own way to realize his true worth. You must give some time to your fellow man. For remember, you don't live in a world all your own. Your brothers are here too.

I believe people are wonderful. The vast majority of people have never hurt anybody in their lives.

People are nicer than economists give us credit for. The economists cannot understand why people would work long and hard to clean up a community after a hurricane. … Most economists don’t have any interest in or understanding of psychology.

As a society, we come up lacking in many of the marks of compassion and wisdom by which we measure ourselves as civilized.

Fraternity and compassion are written into nature's DNA.

I am a humanist.

If a hiker gets lost in the mountains, people will coordinate a search. If a train crashes, people will line up to give blood. If an earthquake levels a city, people all over the world will send emergency supplies. This is so fundamentally human that it's found in every culture without exception. Yes, there are assholes who just don't care, but they're massively outnumbered by the people who do.

We are all here on earth to help others.

I don't want to live in the kind of world where we don't look out for each other. Not just the people that are close to us, but anybody who needs a helping hand. I cant change the way anybody else thinks, or what they choose to do, but I can do my bit.

The truest state of humanity is that you're living for other people.

I was deeply interested in conveying what is a deeply felt conviction of my own. This is simply to suggest that human beings must involve themselves in the anguish of other human beings. This, I submit to you, is not a political thesis at all. It is simply an expression of what I would hope might be ultimately a simple humanity for humanity's sake.

Kindness, quite simply, is the rent we must pay for the space we occupy on this planet.

Whether we love humanity or not, we must realize that we are part of it. My future depends entirely on the future of humanity, and so I am compelled to take care of humanity. That is why being compassionate is actually in my own best interest. And a symptom of my own peace of mind is that I can share comfort with others around me.

The thing that lies at the foundation of positive change, the way I see it, is service to a fellow human being.

A calling is you feel - you look out and see the need - maybe it's the need for the poor, to help poor people. Maybe it's the need to get involved in the race problem, as Martin Luther King was - felt called.

Men exist for the sake of one another.