Quotes about Reflection

Finally, therefore, remember your retreat into this little domain which is yourself, and above all be not disturbed nor on the rack, but be free and look at things as a man, a human being, a citizen, a creature that must die.

It is no evil for things to undergo change, and no good for things to subsist in consequence of change. 43.

Perfection of character: to live your last day, every day, without frenzy, or sloth, or pretense

Continually, and, if possible, in the case of every mental image, consider its nature, realize its emotional content, and judge it rationally.

But cast away the thirst after books, that thou mayest not die murmuring, but cheerfully, truly, and from thy heart thankful to the gods.

My mind. What is it? What am I making of it? What am I using it for? Is it empty of thought? Isolated and torn loose from those around it? Melted into flesh and blended with it, so that it shares its urges?

But by all means bear this in mind, that within a very short time both thou and he will be dead; and soon not even your names will be left behind.

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

Consider yourself to be dead, and to have completed your life up to the present time; and now live according to nature the remainder which is allowed you.

The next, that all these things, which now thou seest, shall within a very little while be changed, and be no more: and ever call to mind, how many changes and alterations in the world thou thyself hast already been an eyewitness of in thy time. This world is mere change, and this life, opinion.

When people injure you, ask yourself what good or harm they thought would come of it. If you understand that, you'll feel sympathy rather than outrage or anger.

One man after burying another has been laid out dead, and another buries him; and all this in a short time. To conclude, always observe how ephemeral and worthless human things are, and what was yesterday a little mucus, to-morrow will be a mummy or ashes. Pass then 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.