Marcus Aurelius: Quotes about nature

“Consider thyself to be dead, and to have completed thy life up to the present time; and live according to nature the remainder which is allowed thee.”

Marcus Aurelius book Meditations

VII, 56
Meditations (c. 121–180 AD), Book VII

Life , Nature , Time , Dead

“Stir up thy mind, and recall thy wits again from thy natural dreams, and visions, and when thou art perfectly awoken, and canst perceive that they were but dreams that troubled thee, as one newly awakened out of another kind of sleep look upon these worldly things with the same mind as thou didst upon those, that thou sawest in thy sleep.”

Marcus Aurelius book Meditations

VI, 29
Meditations (c. 121–180 AD), Book VI

Nature , Dreams , Sleep , Art

“Suppose that thou hast detached thyself from the natural unity.”

Marcus Aurelius book Meditations

VIII, 34
Meditations (c. 121–180 AD), Book VIII
Context: Suppose that thou hast detached thyself from the natural unity... yet here there is this beautiful provision, that it is in thy power again to unite thyself. God has allowed this to no other part, after it has been separated and cut asunder, to come together again.... he has distinguished man, for he has put it in his power not to be separated at all from the universal... he has allowed him to be returned and to be united and to resume his place as a part.

Nature

“The universal nature has no external space”

Marcus Aurelius book Meditations

VIII, 50
Meditations (c. 121–180 AD), Book VIII
Context: The universal nature has no external space; but the wondrous part of her art is that though she has circumscribed herself, everything which is within her which appears to decay and to grow old and to be useless she changes into herself, and again makes other new things from these very same, so that she requires neither substance from without nor wants a place into which she may cast that which decays. She is content then with her own space, and her own matter, and her own art.

Nature , Universe

“To her who gives and takes back all, to nature, the man who is instructed and modest says, Give what thou wilt; take back what thou wilt.”

Marcus Aurelius book Meditations

And he says this not proudly, but obediently and well pleased with her.
X, 14
Meditations (c. 121–180 AD), Book X

Nature

“There is one soul, though it is distributed among several natures and individual limitations. There is one intelligent soul, though it seems to be divided.”

Marcus Aurelius book Meditations

XII, 30
Meditations (c. 121–180 AD), Book XII
Context: Everything harmonizes with me, which is harmonious to thee, O Universe. Nothing for me is too early or too late, which is in due time for thee. There is one light of the sun, though it is interrupted by walls, mountains and infinite other things. There is one common substance, though it is distributed among countless bodies which have their several qualities. There is one soul, though it is distributed among several natures and individual limitations. There is one intelligent soul, though it seems to be divided.

Soul , Intelligence , Nature

“Nothing happens to anybody which he is not fitted by nature to bear.”

Marcus Aurelius book Meditations

Source: Meditations

Nature

“The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts: therefore, guard accordingly, and take care that you entertain no notions unsuitable to virtue and reasonable nature.”

Marcus Aurelius book Meditations

Source: Meditations

Happy , Good Morning , Life , Nature

“Look at everything that exists, and observe that it is already in dissolution and change, and as it were putrefaction or dispersion, or that everything is so constituted in nature as to die.”

Marcus Aurelius book Meditations

Source: Meditations (c. 121–180 AD), Book X, 18

Nature , Change

“Pass then through this little space of time conformably to nature, and end thy journey in content, just as an olive falls off when it is ripe, blessing nature who produced it, and thanking the tree on which it grew.”

Marcus Aurelius book Meditations

Source: Meditations

Nature , Tree , Time

“Every living organism is fulfilled when it follows the right path for its own nature.”

Marcus Aurelius book Meditations

Source: Meditations

Nature

“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.”

Marcus Aurelius book Meditations

Hays translation
All that is from the gods is full of Providence.
II, 3
Meditations (c. 121–180 AD), Book II

Nature , Chance

“To a rational being it is the same thing to act according to nature and according to reason.”

Marcus Aurelius book Meditations

VII, 11
Meditations (c. 121–180 AD), Book VII

Nature

“No form of Nature is inferior to Art; for the arts merely imitate natural forms.”

Marcus Aurelius book Meditations

Meditations. xi. 10.
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)

Art , Nature

“All that is harmony for you, my Universe, is in harmony with me as well. Nothing that comes at the right time for you is too early or too late for me. Everything is fruit to me that your seasons bring, Nature. All things come of you, have their being in you, and return to you.”

Marcus Aurelius book Meditations

Meditations (c. 121–180 AD), Book IV, 23
Original: Πᾶν μοι συναρμόζει ὃ σοὶ εὐάρμοστόν ἐστιν, ὦ κόσμε· οὐδέν μοι πρόωρον οὐδὲ ὄψιμον ὃ σοὶ εὔκαιρον. πᾶν μοι καρπὸς ὃ φέρουσιν αἱ σαὶ ὧραι, ὦ φύσις· ἐκ σοῦ πάντα, ἐν σοὶ πάντα, εἰς σὲ πάντα. ἐκεῖνος μέν φησιν·

Nature , Universe , Time , Season

“Think not disdainfully of death, but look on it with favor; for even death is one of the things that Nature wills.”

Marcus Aurelius book Meditations

IX, 3
Meditations (c. 121–180 AD), Book IX

Death , Nature , Thinking

“Remember that the term Rational was intended to signify a discriminating attention to every several thing and freedom from negligence; and that Equanimity is the voluntary acceptance of things which are assigned to thee by the common nature; and the Magnanimity is the elevation of the intelligent part above the pleasurable or painful sensations of the flesh, and above that poor thing called fame, and death, and all such things. If then, thou maintainest thyself in the possession of these names, without desiring to be called by these names by others, thou wilt be another person and wilt enter into another life.”

Marcus Aurelius book Meditations

X, 8
Meditations (c. 121–180 AD), Book X

Life , Death , Pain , Pleasure

“You don't love yourself enough. Or you'd love your nature too, and what it demands of you. People who love what they do wear themselves down doing it, they even forget to wash or eat. Do you have less respect for your own nature than the engraver does for engraving, the dancer for the dance, the miser for money or the social climber for status? When they're really possessed by what they do, they'd rather stop eating and sleeping than give up practicing their arts. Is helping others less valuable to you? Not worth your effort?”

Marcus Aurelius book Meditations

Hays translation
V, 1
Meditations (c. 121–180 AD), Book V