Quotes about Meditation

Meditate upon what you ought to be in body and soul when death overtakes you; meditate on the brevity of life, and the measureless gulf of eternity behind it and before, and upon the frailty of everything material.

Everything is only for a day, both that which remembers and that which is remembered

It stares you in the face. No role is so well suited to philosophy as the one you happen to be in right now.

things you think about determine the quality of your mind. Your soul takes on the color of your thoughts.

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

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.

Neither must he use himself to cut off actions only, but thoughts and imaginations also, that are unnecessary for so will unnecessary consequent actions the better be prevented and cut off.

It is instructive to compare the Meditations with another famous book, the Imitation of Christ. There is the same ideal of self-control in both. It should be a man's task, says the Imitation, 'to overcome himself, and every day to be stronger than himself.

Then remind yourself that past and future have no power over you. Only the present—and even that can be minimized. Just mark off its limits. And if your mind tries to claim that it can't hold out against that . . . well, then, heap shame upon it.