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A noble man compares and estimates himself by an idea which is higher than himself and a mean man, by one lower than himself. The one produces aspiration the other ambition, which is the way in which a vulgar man aspires.

Marcus Aurelius

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Marcus Aurelius
Philosopher
Politician
Roman Emperor
Writer
The Eternal City
Emperor of Rome Marcus Aurelius
Caesar Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus
Emperor of Rome Marcus Aurelius Antoninus
Marcus Annius Verus
Marcus Aurelius Antoninus
Ideas
Lower
Self
Compare
Estimates
Noble
Compares
Mean
Ambition
Aspires
Way
Produce
Vulgar
Men
Higher
Aspire
Idea
Produces
Inspirational
Aspiration

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When you are offended at anyone's fault, turn to yourself and study your own failings. By attending to them, you will forget your anger and learn to live wisely.
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Short is the little which remains to thee of life. Live as on a mountain.
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Never let the future disturb you. You will meet it, if you have to, with the same weapons of reason which today arm you against the present.
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Men exist for the sake of one another.
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The inner master, when confronted with an obstacle, uses it as fuel, like a fire which consumes things that are thrown into it. A small lamp would be snuffed out, but a big fire will engulf what is thrown at it and burn hotter it consumes the obstacle and uses it to reach a higher level.
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When jarred, unavoidably, by circumstance revert at once to yourself and don't lose the rhythm more than you can help. You'll have a better grasp of harmony if you keep going back to it.
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Frequently consider the connection of all things in the universe.
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Let not your mind run on what you lack as much as on what you have already.
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Both happiness and unhappiness depend on perception
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All things of the body stream away like a river, all things of the mind are dreams and delusion life is warfare, and a visit to a strange land the only lasting fame is oblivion.
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Which is recorded of Socrates, that he was able both to abstain from, and to enjoy, those things which many are too weak to abstain from, and cannot enjoy without excess. But to be strong enough both to bear the one and to be sober in the other is the mark of a man who has a perfect and invincible soul.
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How very near us stand the two vast gulfs of time, the past and the future, in which all things disappear.
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Treat with utmost respect your power of forming opinions, for this power alone guards you against making assumptions that are contrary to nature and judgments that overthrow the rule of reason.
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The greatest part of what we say and do is really unnecessary. If a man takes this to heart, he will have more leisure and less uneasiness.
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To refrain from imitation is the best revenge.
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Remember that neither the future nor the past pains thee, but only the present. But this is reduced to a very little, if thou only circumscribest it, and chidest thy mind, if it is unable to hold out against even this.
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In an expression of true gratitude, sadness is conspicuous only by its absence
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Take care that you entertain no notions unsuitable to virtue and reasonable nature.
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That which makes the man no worse than he was makes his life no worse: it has no power to harm, without or within.
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As for literature, thefts cannot harm it, while the lapse of ages augments its value
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