Begin - to begin is half the work, let half still remain again begin this, and thou wilt have finished.
Author
Marcus Aurelius
73 quotations
About Marcus Aurelius
Marcus Aurelius Antoninus was Roman emperor from 161 to 180 and a Stoic philosopher. He was a member of the Nerva–Antonine dynasty, the last of the rulers later known as the Five Good Emperors and the last emperor of the Pax Romana, an age of relative peace, calm, and stability for the Roman Empire lasting from 27 BC to 180 AD. He served as Roman consul in 140, 145, and 161.
Read on Wikipedia → Find books by Marcus AureliusEverything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth.
Whatever the universal nature assigns to any man at any time is for the good of that man at that time.
You must become an old man in good time if you wish to be an old man long.
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.
How much time he saves who does not look to see what his neighbor says or does or thinks.
Waste no more time arguing about what a good man should be. Be one.
Forward, as occasion offers. Never look round to see whether any shall note it... Be satisfied with success in even the smallest matter, and think that even such a result is no trifle.
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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 compas…
You have power over your mind - not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.
Nothing has such power to broaden the mind as the ability to investigate systematically and truly all that comes under thy observation in life.
Adapt yourself to the things among which your lot has been cast and love sincerely the fellow creatures with whom destiny has ordained that you shall live.
There is nothing happens to any person but what was in his power to go through with.
To live happily is an inward power of the soul.
Nothing has such power to broaden the mind as the ability to investigate systematically and truly all that comes under thy observation in life.
You have power over your mind - not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.
Whatever the universal nature assigns to any man at any time is for the good of that man at that time.
Death, like birth, is a secret of Nature.
Loss is nothing else but change, and change is Nature's delight.
Observe constantly that all things take place by change, and accustom thyself to consider that the nature of the Universe loves nothing so much as to change the things which are, and to make new thin…
Despise not death, but welcome it, for nature wills it like all else.
Nothing happens to any man that he is not formed by nature to bear.
The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts: therefore, guard accordingly, and take care that you entertain no notions unsuitable to virtue and reasonable nature.
That which is not good for the bee-hive cannot be good for the bees.
The sexual embrace can only be compared with music and with prayer.