Marc Aurèle citations

Page 6

“Du raisin vert, du raisin mûr et du raisin sec, tout cela est changement, non pour ne plus être mais pour devenir ce qui n'est pas encore.”

“L'homme ambitieux fait consister son bien dans l'action d'un autre; le voluptueux, dans ses propres sensations, l'homme sensé, dans les actions qui lui sont propres.”

“La durée de la vie humaine est un point; la matière, un flux perpétuel; la sensation, un phénomène obscur; la réunion des parties du corps, une masse corruptible; l'âme, un tourbillon; le sort, une énigme; la réputation, une chose sans jugement. Pour le dire en somme, du corps, tout est fleuve qui coule; de l'âme, tout est songe et fumée; la vie, c'est une guerre, une halte de voyageur; la renommée posthume, c'est l'oubli. Qu'est-ce donc qui peut nous servir de guide? Une chose, et une seule, la philosophie.”

“S'il arrive à quelqu'un de manquer envers toi, réfléchis aussitôt à l'opinion qu'il a dû se faire du bien ou du mal pour manquer ainsi.”

“Souviens toi que chacun ne vit que dans le moment présent, dans l'instant. Le reste, c'est le passé ou un obscur avenir. Petite est donc l'étendue de la vie.”

“Accoutume-toi à prêter sans distraction l'oreille aux paroles des autres et entre autant qu'il se peut dans la pensée de celui qui parle.”

“Parce qu'une chose offre une difficulté énorme, ne va pas croire que ce soit une chose impossible aux forces humaines; et si c'est quelque chose de possible et même de naturel à l'homme, pense que toi aussi tu es en état de le faire.”

“Le monde n'est qu'une transformation perpétuelle; la vie n'est qu'une idée et une opinion.”

“Nous devons être droits et non redressés.”

“Chacun vaut ce que valent les objectifs de son effort.”

“No one can lose either the past or the future - how could anyone be deprived of what he does not possess?… It is only the present moment of which either stands to be deprived: and if this is all he has, he cannot lose what he does not have.”

“Everything - a horse, a vine - is created for some duty… For what task, then, were you yourself created?”

“It never ceases to amaze me: we all love ourselves more than other people, but care more about their opinion than our own.”

“The things you think about determine the quality of your mind. Your soul takes on the color of your thoughts.”

“Death,—a stopping of impressions through the senses, and of the pulling of the cords of motion, and of the ways of thought, and of service to the flesh.”

“It loved to happen.”

“A wrongdoer is often a man who has left something undone, not always one who has done something.”

“All things of the body stream away like a river, all things of the mind are dreams and delusion; life is warfare, and a visit to a strange land; the only lasting fame is oblivion.”

“Anger cannot be dishonest.”

“From the philosopher Catulus, never to be dismissive of a friend's accusation, even if it seems unreasonable, but to make every effort to restore the relationship to its normal condition.”

“Look beneath the surface; let not the several quality of a thing nor its worth escape thee.”

“Neither worse then or better is a thing made by being praised.”

“Men exist for the sake of one another. Teach them then or bear with them. (Long translation)”

“The happiness and unhappiness of the rational, social animal depends not on what he feels but on what he does; just as his virtue and vice consist not in feeling but in doing.”

“Choose not to be harmed—and you won’t feel harmed. Don’t feel harmed—and you haven’t been.”

“No one loses any other life than the one he now lives, nor does one live any other life than that which he will lose.”

“Because your own strength is unequal to the task, do not assume that it is beyond the powers of man; but if anything is within the powers and province of man, believe that it is within your own compass also.
Marcus Aurelius”

“As far as you can, get into the habit of asking yourself in relation to any action taken by another: "What is his point of reference here?" But begin with yourself: examine yourself first.”

“Everything that happens, happens as it should, and if you observe carefully, you will find this to be so.”

“When men are inhuman, take care not to feel towards them as they do towards other humans.”

“The man who is honest and good ought to be exactly like a man who smells strong, so that the bystander as soon as he comes near him must smell whether he choose or not.”

“It is within our power not to make a judgement about something, and so not disturb our minds; for nothing in itself possesses the power to form our judgements.”

“Think of the universal substance, of which thou has a very small portion; and of universal time, of which a short and indivisible interval has been assigned to thee; and of that which is fixed by destiny, and how small a part of it thou art”

“Everything is banal in experience, fleeting in duration, sordid in content; in all respects the same today as generations now dead and buried have found it to be.”

“It is a ridiculous thing for a man not to fly from his own badness, which is indeed possible, but to fly from other men's badness, which is impossible.”

“We are the other of the other”

“For outward show is a wonderful perverter of the reason.”

“And in the case of superior things like stars, we discover a kind of unity in separation. The higher we rise on the scale of being, the easier it is to discern a connection even among things separated by vast distances.”

“The time is at hand when you will have forgotten everything; and the time is at hand when all will have forgotten you. Always reflect that soon you will be no one, and nowhere.”