Marcus Aurelius

Glory arrives too late when it comes only to one's ashes

Glory paid to our ashes comes too late

There is no glory in outstripping donkeys

Zoilus, why do you delight in using a whole pound weight of gold for the setting of a stone, and thus burying your poor sardonyx Such rings are more suited to your legs the weight is too great for fingers

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

Take full account of what excellencies which you possess, and in gratitude remember how you would hanker after them, if you had them not.

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

Though you break your heart, men will go on as before

The man who has a house everywhere has a home nowhere

Light may earth's crumbling sand be laid on thee, that dogs may dig thy bones up easily

There is nothing happens to any person but what was in his power to go through with.

The best revenge is to be unlike him who performed the injury.

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.

I have often wondered how it is that every man loves himself more than all the rest of men, but yet sets less value on his own opinions of himself than on the opinions of others.

Each thing is of like form from everlasting and comes round again in its cycle.

Men exist for the sake of one another.

As the same fire assumes different shapes When it consumes objects differing in shape, So does the one Self take the shape Of every creature in whom he is present.

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

Nowhere can man find a quieter or more untroubled retreat than in his own soul.

Life is neither good or evil, but only a place for good and evil.

Confine yourself to the present.

Here is the rule to remember in the future, When anything tempts you to be bitter not, ''This is a misfortune'' but ''To bear this worthily is good fortune.''

Because a thing seems difficult for you, do not think it impossible for anyone to accomplish.

Dig within. Within is the wellspring of Good and it is always ready to bubble up, if you just dig.

That which is not good for the bee-hive cannot be good for the bees.