Marcus Aurelius on Gratitude Quotes

"When you arise in the morning, think of what a precious privilege it is to be alive - to breathe, to think, to enjoy, to love."

"Everything harmonizes with me, which is harmonious to thee, O Universe. Nothing for me is too early or too late, which is in due time for thee."

"Think not so much of what thou hast not as of what thou hast: but of the things which thou hast select the best, and then reflect how eagerly they would have been sought, if thou hadst them not."

"Pass through this little space of time conformably to nature, and end thy journey in content, just as an olive falls off when it is ripe, blessing nature who produced it, and thanking the tree on which it grew."

"To the gods I am indebted for having good grandfathers, good parents, a good sister, good teachers, good associates, good kinsmen and friends, nearly everything good."

"Receive without pride, let go without attachment."

"Is it not enough that you have done something according to your nature? Do you seek a reward for it?"

"Convince yourself that everything is the gift of the gods, that things are good and always will be."

"Treat what you don't have as nonexistent. Look at what you have, the things you value most, and think of how much you'd crave them if you didn't have them."

"All that is from the gods is full of providence. That which is from fortune is not separated from nature or without an interweaving and involution with the things which are ordered by providence."

"I have to thank the gods that I wasn't brought up at my grandfather's concubine's, that I preserved the flower of my youth, and that I didn't prove my virility before the proper time."

"Love the humble art you have learned, and take rest in it."

"Adapt yourself to the things among which your lot has been cast and love the men among whom you have your portion."

"It is in your power to live free from all compulsion in the greatest tranquility of mind, even if all the world cries out against you."

"He who is content with his lot and the portion assigned to him is a happy man."

"From my mother, I learned piety and beneficence, and abstinence, not only from evil deeds, but even from evil thoughts."

"Accept the things to which fate binds you, and love the people with whom fate brings you together, but do so with all your heart."

"From my tutor, to be neither of the green nor of the blue party at the games in the Circus, nor a partizan either of the Parmularius or the Scutarius at the gladiators' fights."

"From Diognetus, not to busy myself about trifling things, and not to give credit to what was said by miracle-workers and jugglers."

"From Rusticus I received the impression that my character required improvement and discipline."

"From Apollonius I learned freedom of will and undeviating steadiness of purpose."

"From Sextus, a benevolent disposition, and the example of a family governed in a fatherly manner."

"From Alexander the grammarian, to refrain from fault-finding."

"From Fronto I learned to observe what envy, and duplicity, and hypocrisy are in a tyrant."

"From Alexander the Platonic, not frequently nor without necessity to say to any one, or to write in a letter, that I have no leisure."

"From Catulus, not to be indifferent when a friend finds fault, even if he should find fault without reason, but to try to restore him to his usual disposition."

"From my brother Severus, to love my kin, and to love truth, and to love justice."

"From Maximus I learned self-government, and not to be led aside by anything; and cheerfulness in all circumstances, as well as in illness."

"That I received clear and frequent impressions about living according to nature, and what kind of a life that is, so that as far as depended on the gods, nothing hindered me."

"That though it was my mother's fate to die young, she spent the last years of her life with me."

"That whenever I wished to help any man in his need, or on any other occasion, I was never told that I had not the means of doing it."

"That I have such a wife, so obedient, and so affectionate, and so simple."

"That I had abundance of good masters for my children."