The Meditations

“You take things you don't control and define them as 'good' or 'bad.' And so of course when the 'bad' things happen, or the 'good' ones don't, you blame the gods and feel hatred for the people responsible–or those you decide to make responsible. Much of our bad behavior stems from trying to applying…”

— Marcus Aurelius, amazon.com

“The cucumber is bitter? Then throw it out. There are branches in the path? Then go around them. That's all you need to know. Nothing more. Don't demand to know 'why something exists.'”

— Marcus Aurelius, amazon.com

“Does what's happened keep you from acting with justice, generosity, self-control, sanity, prudence, honesty, humility, straight-fowardness, and all the other qualities that allow a person's nature to fulfill itself? So remember this principle when something threatens to cause you pain: the thing its…”

— Marcus Aurelius, amazon.com

“External things are not the problem. It's your assessment of them. Which you can erase right now. If the problem is something in your own character, who's stopping you from setting your mind straight?”

— Marcus Aurelius, amazon.com

“Nothing but what you get from first impressions. That someone has invited you, for instance. That–but not that it's done you any harm. The fact that my son is sick–that I can see. But 'that he might die of it,' no. Stick with first impressions. Don't extrapolate. And nothing can happen to you.”

— Marcus Aurelius, amazon.com

“It's unfortunate this happened. No. It's fortunate...and I have remained unharmed.”

— Marcus Aurelius, amazon.com

“...greet that which does not depend on us serenely and without regrets, and use this obstacle to practice another virtue.”

— Marcus Aurelius, amazon.com

“The wonderful thing about [nature's] workmanship is how, faced with that limitation, it takes everything within it that seems broken, old, and useless, transforms it into itself and makes new things from it. So that it doesn't need material from any outside source, or anywhere to dispose of what's l…”

— Marcus Aurelius, amazon.com

“Nature is pliable, obedient.”

— Marcus Aurelius, amazon.com

“To have that. Not a cistern but a perpetual spring. How? By working to win your freedom. Hour by hour. Through patience, honesty, humility.”

— Marcus Aurelius, amazon.com

“No carelessness in your actions. No confusion in your words. No impression in your thoughts. No retreating into your own soul or try to escape it. No overactivity.”

— Marcus Aurelius, amazon.com

“To be like the rock that the waves keep crashing over. It stands, unmoved and the raging of the sea still around it.”

— Marcus Aurelius, amazon.com

“'Remember that our efforts are subject to circumstances; you weren't aiming to do the impossible.' 'Aiming to do what, then?' 'To try. And you succeeded. What you set out to do is accomplished.'”

— Marcus Aurelius, amazon.com