Marcus Aurelius Mind Quotations

To understand the true quality of people, you must look into their minds, and examine their pursuits and aversions.

So great is the modesty of your mind and face, Sophronius that I wonder you should ever have become a father

Your legs and breast bristle with shaggy hair but your mind, Pannicus, shows no signs of manliness

You are making an inopportune rejection of what Nature has given you today, if all your mind is set on what men will say of you tomorrow.

By a tranquil mind, I mean nothing else than a mind well ordered.

If mind is common to us, then also the reason, whereby we are reasoning beings, is common.' If this be so, then also the reason which enjoins what is to be done or left undone is common. If this be so, law also is common; if this be so, we are citizens; if this be so, we are partakers in one constitution; if this be so, the Universe is a kind of Commonwealth.

Every soul, the philosopher says, is involuntarily deprived of truth; consequently in the same way it is deprived of justice and temperance and benevolence and everything of the kind. It is most necessary to keep this in mind, for thus thou wilt be more gentle towards all.

If you do everything as if it were the last thing you were doing in your life, and stop being aimless, stop letting your emotions override what your mind tells you, stop being hypocritical, self-centered, irritable.

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.

Observe the movements of the stars as if you were running their courses with them, and let your mind constantly dwell on the changes of the elements into each other. Such imaginings wash away the filth of life on the ground.

Tranquility is nothing else than the good ordering of the mind.

Remember that neither the future nor the past pains thee, but only the present. But this is reduced to a very little, if thou only circumscribest it, and chidest thy mind, if it is unable to hold out against even this.

Purge your mind of all aimless and idle thoughts, especially those that pry into the affairs of others or wish them ill.

God sees the inner spirit stripped of flesh, skin, and all debris. For his own mind only touches the spirit that he has allowed to flow from himself into our bodies. And if you can act the same way, you will rid yourself of all suffering. For surely if you are not preoccupied with the body that encloses you, you will not trouble yourself about clothes, houses, fame, and other showy trappings.

Let thy chief fort and place of defense be a mind free from passions. A stronger place and better fortified than this, hath no man.

Remember that to change your mind and follow him who sets you right is to be none the less free than you were before.

The mind in itself wants nothing, unless it creates a want for itself; therefore it is both free from perturbation and unimpeded, if it does not perturb and impede itself.

One whose chief regard is for his own mind, and for the divinity within him and the service of its goodness, will strike no poses, utter no complaints, and crave neither for solitude nor yet for a crowd. Best of all, his life will be free from continual pursuing and avoiding.

It is possible to depart from life at this moment. Have this thought in mind whenever you act, speak, or think.

It will suffice thee to remember as concerning pain ... that the mind may, by stopping all manner of commerce and sympathy with the body, still retain its own tranquility.

This thou must always bear in mind, what is the nature of the whole, and what is my nature, and how this is related to that, and what kind of a part it is of what kind of a whole; and that there is no one who hinders thee from always doing and saying the things which are according to the nature of which thou art a part.

Your mind will take on the character of your most frequent thoughts: souls are dyed by thoughts.

Practice really hearing what people say. Do your best to get inside their mind.

Keep in mind how fast things pass by and are gone - those that are now, and those to come. Existence flows past us like a river; the "what" is in constant flux, the "why" has a thousand variations. Nothing is stable, not even what's right here. The infinity of past and future gapes before us - a chasm whose depths we cannot see.

Enter others' minds and let them enter yours.

People find pressure in different ways. I find it in keeping my mind clear. In not turning away from people or the things that happen to them. In accepting and welcoming everything I see. In treating each thing as it deserves.

Whoever values peace of mind and the health of the soul will live the best of all possible lives.

Have I done something for the general interest? Well then I have had my reward. Let this always be present to thy mind, and never stop doing such good.

Do not disturb yourself by picturing your life as a whole; do not assemble in your mind the many and varied troubles which have come to you in the past and will come again in the future, but ask yourself with regard to every present difficulty: 'What is there in this that is unbearable and beyond endurance?'

In the case of most pains let this remark of Epicurus aid thee, that the pain is neither intolerable nor everlasting, if thou bear in mind that it has its limits, and if thou addest nothing to it in imagination...

It is a base thing for the countenance to be obedient and to regulate and compose itself as the mind commands, and for the mind not to be regulated and composed by itself.

Nothing that goes on in anyone else's mind can harm you.

Let your one delight and refreshment be to pass from one service to the community to another, with God ever in mind.

This thou must always bear in mind, what is the nature of the whole...

Body. Soul. Mind. Sensations: the body. Desires: the soul. Reasoning: the mind.

Bear in mind that the measure of a man is the worth of the things he cares about.

It is in your power to withdraw yourself whenever you desire. Perfect tranquility within consists in the good ordering of the mind, the realm of your own.

Always bear this in mind, that very little indeed is necessary for living a happy life.

Happiness is no other than soundness and perfection of mind.

The world is a living being - one nature, one soul. Keep that in mind.

Accustom yourself not to be disregarding of what someone else has to say: as far as possible enter into the mind of the speaker.

Failing to understand the workings of one's own mind is bound to lead to unhappiness.