Accept the things to which fate binds you, and love the people with whom fate brings you together.
Marcus Aurelius (121–180) was a Roman emperor and the last of the so-called Five Good Emperors. His Meditations began as private notes, written in Greek during military campaigns and never meant for publication — which gives them a tone rarely found elsewhere in ancient literature. He wrote them largely as reminders to himself.
About this theme: Love
The Greeks had several words for what we cover with one: eros for desire, philia for the affection between friends, storge for family attachment, agape for the kind that asks nothing back. Translate all of that into a single word and the distinctions vanish — yet the distinctions are what most quotes about love are actually about.
More by Marcus Aurelius
- You have power over your mind — not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.
- The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts.
- Waste no more time arguing about what a good man should be. Be one.
- Very little is needed to make a happy life; it is all within yourself.
- The best revenge is to be unlike him who performed the injury.
More on Love
- No one is useless in this world who lightens the burdens of another.— Charles Dickens
- A friend is someone who knows all about you and still loves you.— Elbert Hubbard
- The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched — they must be felt with the heart.— Helen Keller
- One word frees us of all the weight and pain of life: that word is love.— Sophocles
- Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love.— Mother Teresa