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.
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: Life
Life is the broadest theme in any collection of quotations and therefore the most uneven. The same heading holds Seneca's letter on the shortness of time and a sentence from a greetings card. The difference usually comes down to whether a line asks something of the reader or flatters them.
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 Life
- The unexamined life is not worth living.— Socrates
- It is not the length of life, but the depth of life.— Ralph Waldo Emerson
- True life is lived when tiny changes occur.— Leo Tolstoy
- Dwell on the beauty of life. Watch the stars, and see yourself running with them.— Marcus Aurelius
- To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all.— Oscar Wilde