Marcus Aurelius quotes for UPSC

On the occasion of every act ask thyself, How is this with respect to me? Shall I repent of it? A little time and I am dead, and all is gone.

Then what should we work for? Only this: proper understanding; unselfish action; truthful speech. A resolve to accept whatever happens as necessary and familiar, flowing like water from that same source and spring. (Hays translation)

A man should be upright, not kept upright.

If it is not right, do not do it, if it is not true, do not say it. For let thy efforts be —

Never esteem anything as of advantage to you that will make you break your word or lose your self-respect.

The only thing that isn't worthless: to live this life out truthfully and rightly. And be patient with those who don't. (Hays translation)

Never regard something as doing you good if it makes you betray a trust or lose your sense of shame or makes you show hatred, suspicion, ill-will or hypocrisy or a desire for things best done behind closed doors.

The best revenge is not to be like your enemy.

Waste no more time arguing what a good man should be. Be one.

No matter what anyone says or does, my task is to be good. (Hays translation)

Thou sufferest justly: for thou choosest rather to become good to-morrow than to be good to-day.

It's silly to try to escape other people's faults. They are inescapable. Just try to escape your own. (Hays translation)

To live each day as though one's last, never flustered, never apathetic, never attitudinizing – here is perfection of character.

But true good fortune is what you make for yourself. Good fortune: good character, good intentions, and good actions. (Hays translation)

Does the light of a lamp shine and keep its glow until its fuel is spent? Why shouldn't your truth, justice, and self-control shine until you are extinguished?

...be tolerant with others and strict with yourself. Remember, nothing belongs to you but your flesh and blood—and nothing else is under your control. (Hays translation)

Whatever is in any way beautiful hath its source of beauty in itself, and is complete in itself; praise forms no part of it. So it is none the worse nor the better for being praised.

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

Think on this doctrine,—that reasoning beings were created for one another's sake; that to be patient is a branch of justice, and that men sin without intending it.

Some people, when they do someone a favor, are always looking for a chance to call it in. And some aren't, but they're still aware of it--still regard it as a debt. But others don't even do that. They're like a vine that produces grapes without looking for anything in return. (Hays translation)

What is not good for the swarm is not good for the bee.

I do what is mine to do; the rest doesn't disturb me. (Hays translation)

He was a man who looked at what ought to be done, not to the reputation which is got by a man's acts.

If a man is mistaken, instruct him kindly and show him his error. But if thou art not able, blame thyself, or blame not even thyself.

From Antisthenes: It is royal to do good and be abused.

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 what nature now requires. Set thyself in motion, if it is in thy power, and do not look about thee to see if any one will observe it; nor yet expect Plato's Republic: but be content if the smallest thing goes on well, and consider such an event to be no small matter.

Often injustice lies in what you aren't doing, not only in what you are doing.

Nothing has such power to broaden the mind as the ability to investigate systematically and truly all that comes under thy observation in life.

If any man can convince me and bring home to me that I do not think or act aright, gladly will I change; for I search after truth, by which man never yet was harmed. But he is harmed who abideth on still in his deception and ignorance.

All those [events in history] were such dramas as we see now, only with different actors.

Be not careless in deeds, nor confused in words, nor rambling in thought.

Understand however that every man is worth just so much as the things are worth about which he busies himself.

Concentrate every minute like a Roman—like a man—on doing what's in front of you with precise and genuine seriousness, tenderly, willingly, with justice. And on freeing yourself from all other distractions. (Hays translation)

Nothing happens to anyone that he can't endure. (Hays translation)

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

The cucumber is bitter? Then throw it out. There are brambles in the path? Then go around them. That's all you need to know. (Hays translation)

So remember this principle when something threatens to cause you pain: the thing itself was no misfortune at all; to endure it and prevail is great good fortune.

The art of life is more like the wrestler's art than the dancer's, in respect of this, that it should stand ready and firm to meet onsets which are sudden and unexpected.

...undefiled by pleasures, invulnerable to any pain, untouched by arrogance, unaffected by meanness, an athlete in the greatest of all contests—the struggle not to be overwhelmed by anything that happens. (Hays translation)

Not to feel exasperated, or defeated, or despondent because your days aren't packed with wise and moral actions. But to get back up when you fail, to celebrate behaving like a human--however imperfectly--and fully embrace the pursuit that you've embarked on. (Hays translation)

Very little is needed to make a happy life.

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.

All is ephemeral — fame and the famous as well.

Each of us lives only now, this brief instant. (Hays translation)

Is any man afraid of change? Why what can take place without change?

There is a limit to the time assigned you, and if you don't use it to free yourself it will be gone and never return. (Hays translation)

Time is a sort of river of passing events, and strong is its current; no sooner is a thing brought to sight than it is swept by and another takes its place, and this too will be swept away.

Look within. Within is the fountain of the good, and it will ever bubble up, if thou wilt ever dig.

To change your mind and to follow him who sets you right is to be nonetheless the free agent that you were before.

The things you think about determine the quality of your mind. Your soul takes on the color of your thoughts. (Hays translation)

How much time he gains who does not look to see what his neighbor says or does or thinks, but only at what he does himself, to make it just and holy.

I have often wondered how it should come to pass, that every man loving himself best, should more regard other men's opinions concerning himself than his own.

If you are distressed by anything external, the pain is not due to the thing itself, but to your estimate of it; and this you have the power to revoke at any moment.

People try to get away from it all—to the country, to the beach, to the mountains. You always wish that you could too. Which is idiotic: you can get away from it anytime you like. By going within. Nowhere you can go is more peaceful—more free of interruptions—than your own soul. (Hays translation)

To accept it without arrogance, to let it go with indifference. (Hays translation)

How much more damage anger and grief do than the things that cause them. (Hays translation)

Not to display anger or other emotions. To be free of passion and yet full of love. (Hays translation)

Choose not to be harmed—and you won't feel harmed. Don't feel harmed—and you haven't been. (Hays translation)

Never let the future disturb you. You will meet it, if you have to, with the same weapons of reason which today arm you against the present.

Someone despises me. That's their problem. Mine: not to do or say anything despicable. Someone hates me. Their problem. Mine: to be patient and cheerful with everyone, including them. (Hays translation)

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...