Marcus Aurelius

“When you have done a service to another, what more do you want? Is it not enough that you have acted in conformity with thy nature?”

“The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane.”

“He who has a great purpose, even on the rack, can be at peace.”

“Nothing happens to anyone that he is not fitted by nature to bear.”

“The art of living is more like wrestling than dancing.”

“When you are offended at any man's fault, immediately turn to yourself and reflect in what manner you yourself have erred.”

“If a thing is difficult to be accomplished by thyself, do not think that it is impossible for man.”

“External things are not the problem. It's your assessment of them.”

“If thou workest at that which is before thee, following right reason seriously, vigorously, calmly, without allowing anything else to distract thee... thou wilt live happy.”

“Look back over the past, with its changing empires that rose and fell, and you can foresee the future, too.”

“All is ephemeral — fame and the famous as well.”

“Death and life, success and failure, pain and pleasure, honor and dishonor, all these things equally happen to good men and bad.”

“How much time he saves who does not look to see what his neighbor says or does or thinks.”

“Be like the cliff against which the waves continually break; but it stands firm.”

“And around it the agitated water is laid to rest.”

“Begin — to begin is half the work; let half still remain; again begin this, and thou wilt have finished.”

“What we do now echoes in eternity.”

“Dwell on the beauty of life. Watch the stars, and see yourself running with them.”

“He who lives in conformity with reason and nature is not contained nor limited by anything.”