CONSIDER well whether magnanimity rather, and true liberty, and true simplicity, and equanimity, and holiness; whether these be not most kind and natural.
MARCUS AURELIUS. MEDITATIONS. Book v. 9.
WHAT is the use that now at this present I make of my soul? Thus from time to time and upon all occasions thou must put this question to thyself, what is now that part of mine which they call the rational mistress part, employed about; Whose soul do I now properly possess? a child's? or a youth's? a woman's? or a tyrant's? some brute, or some wild beast's soul?
MARCUS AURELIUS. MEDITATIONS. Book v. 11.
SUCH as thy thoughts and ordinary cogitations are, such will thy mind be in time. For the soul doth as it were receive its tincture from the fancies, and imaginations. Dye it therefore and thoroughly soak it with the assiduity of these cogitations.
MARCUS AURELIUS. MEDITATIONS. Book v. 15.
The character of your mind will be the character of the things you fill it with every day. Fill it, therefore, with the very best thoughts, the most beautiful things, and the love of the people around you. Then you can heal the hurting because you know what joy looks like, feed the hungry because you know what goodness is, and be a friend because you know how to love and be loved. - lessons from Marcus Aurelius
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