Stoic Philosophy Quotes | Famous Stoic Quotes

Stoic Quotes Marcus Aurelius

Marcus Aurelius was a popular Stoic philosopher and one of the most influential individuals in the world during his lifetime. He was the Ruler of Ancient Rome, and he frequently wrote down his thoughts in his now-famous journal, Meditations. This is one of my favourite books of all time, and it provides an intriguing glimpse into Marcus’s mind. His journal was never intended to be published, so what you see here is raw sincerity that includes some of the strongest Stoic quotes.


Stoic Quotes Marcus Aurelius

“Inwardly everything should be different,

but are outward faith should conform with the crowd.”

“Anyone who can make you angry,

 becomes your master.”

“The first rule is to keep an untroubled spirit.

The second is to look things in the face and

know them for what they are.”

“When you arise in the morning,

think of what of privilege it is to be alive,

to think, to enjoy, to love.”

“You have power over your mind – not outside events.

Realize this and you will find strength.”

“He suffers more than necessary,

who suffers before it is necessary.”

Be like the cliff against which the waves

continually break, but it it is stands firm and

tames the fury of the water around it.

Nature hath given men one tongue but two ears,

that we may hear from others twice as much as we speak.

People are frugal in guarding their personal property,

but as soon as it comes to squandering time they are

most wasteful of the one thing in which it is right to be stingy.

“Begin at once to live, and count 

each separate day as a separate life.”

“If you really want to escape the things that has you,

what you are needing is not to be in a different

place but to be a different person.”

Until we have begin to go without them,

we fail to realise how unnecessary many things are.

we have been using them not because 

we needed them but because we had them.”

“If a man knows not which port he sails,

 no wind is favourable.”

“We all have our shelf more than other people,

but care more about their opinion than our own.”

Here is a rule to remember in future,

when anything tempts you to feel bitter:

This is misfortune; but ’To beer this worthily is good fortune.”

“Man conquers the world by conquering himself.”

“Waste no more time arguing what

a good man should be. Be one.”

“The things you think about 

determine the quality of your mind.”

“If it is not right do not do it,

if it is not true, do not say it.”

It’s not what happens to you,

 but how you react to it that matters.”

 Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact.

 Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth.”


Stoic Quotes Seneca

Seneca (4 BC-AD 65) was just another influential Stoic philosopher in Rome, and he held a special position as the newly promoted Ruler Nero’s advisor in 54. Messages from a Stoic is one of my favorite books on stoicism, and it is packed with wisdom and morality tales. “Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.”


“Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.”


“It is not the man who has too little,

but the man who craves more, that is poor.”

“Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom.”

“Difficulty shows what men are.”

 “To be everywhere is to be nowhere.”

“Death Smiles at us all,

all we can do is smile back.”

The more we value things outside our control,

the less control we have.”

“Nothing endures but change.”

A person’s worth is measured by 

the worth of what he values .”

“If you want to improve, be content

to be thought foolish and stupid.”

“Anger, if not restrained, it is frequently more 

hurtful to us than the injury that provokes it.”

“No man was ever wise by chance.”

“He who is brave is free.”

“Reject your sense of injury 

and the injury itself disappears.”

“The willing are led by fate,

the reluctant dragged.” 

“What we do now echoes in eternity.”

“While we wait for life – life passes.”

“The one who puts the finishing touches

on their life each day is never short if time.”

“It’s time you realized that you have something

in you more powerful and miraculous then the things

that affect you and make you dance like a puppet.”

“Wealth consists not in having great 

possessions, but in having few wants.”


Best Stoic Quote

“Be silent for the most part, or, if you speak,

say only what is necessary and in a few words.”

“All cruelty springs from weakness.”

“It is a rough road that leads

to the heights of greatness.”

“Do every act of your life as though it

were the very last act of your life.”

“Whatever can happen at any time can happen today.”

“Don;t explain your philosophy. Embody it.”

“Because a thing seems difficult for you, do not

think it impossible for anyone to accomplish.”

“Freedom is secured not by the fulfilling of 

men’s desires, but by the removal of desire.”

“Circumstances don’t make the man,

they only reveal him to himself.”

“It is not death that a man should fear,

but he should fear never beginning to live.”

“The key is to keep company only with people who

Uplift you, whose presence calls forth your best.”

“Humans have come into being for the sake of each other,

so either teach them or learn to bear them.”

“It can ruin your life only if it ruins your character.

Otherwise, it cannot harm you – inside or out.”

“The happiness of your life depends 

upon the quality of your thoughts.”

“Master of reading and writing 

requires a master. Still more so life.”

Life is very short and an access for those who forget 

the past, neglect the present and fear the future.”

“Be tolerant with others and strict with yourself.”

Your days are numbered. use them to throw open the windows of 

your soul to the sun. if you do not, the sun will soon set, and you with it.

“The best revenge is to be unlike 

him who performed the injury.”

“Sometimes even to live is an act of courage.”


Stoic Quotes of the Day

“It’s not that we have little time, but 

more that we waste a good deal of it.”

“Whatever happens at all happens as it should, 

you will find this true, if you watch narrowly.”

“Our life is what our thoughts make it.”

“How much more grievous are the 

consequences of anger than the cause of it.”

“He who fears death will never do 

anything worthy of a man who is alive.”

“We live only now – everything else 

is either passed or is unknown.”

“Progress is not achieved by luck or

accident, but by working on yourself daily.”

“In banquets remember that you entertain two guests,

body and soul: and whatever you shall have given to

the soul, you keep always.”

“No person has the power to have everything they want,

but it is in their power not to want what they don’t have,

and to cheerfully put to good use what they do have.”

“If what you have seems insufficient to you,

then though you posses the world, 

you will yet be miserable.”

“He is the most powerful who has power over himself.”

“Difficulties strengthen the mind, as labor does the body.” 

“As is a tale, so is life: not how long it is,

but how good it is, is what matters.”

“Life, if well lived is long enough.”

“The best answer to argue is silence. Agreed.

But nature set a limit on that – as it did on eating and drinking.”

“Nowhere can man find a quieter or more

untroubled retreat than in his own soul.”

“He who has injured thee was either stronger

or weaker than thee. If weaker, spare him,

If stronger, spore thyself.

“The impediment to action advances action.

What stands in the way becomes the way.”

“To wish to be well is a part of becoming well.”

“Receive without conceit, release without struggle.”


Stoic Quotes on Life

“No great thing is created suddenly, any more than a bunch

of grapes or a fig. If you tell me that you desire a fig, I answer

that there must be time. Let it  first blossom, then bear fruit, then ripen.”

“We suffer more often in imagination than in reality.”

“No man can escape his destiny, the next inquiry being

how he may best live the time that he has to live.”

“The whole future lies in uncertainty – live immediately.”

“Every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end.”

“Life is very short and anxious for those who forget the

past, neglect the present, and for the future.”

“We suffer not from the events in our lives

but from our judgement about them.”

“It is our attitude toward events, not events themselves,

which we can contriol. Nothing is by its own nature calamitous,

even death is terrible only if we fear it.”

“If evil be said of there, and if it be true – correct thyself.

If it is a lie – laugh at it.”

“Attach yourself to what is spiritual superior, regardless

of what other people think or do. Hold to your true 

aspirations no matter what is going on around you.”

“Confine yourself to the present.”

“No man is free who is not a master of himself.”

“Very little is needed to make a happy life, it is 

all within yourself in your way of thinking.”

“If you live in harmony with nature you will never be poor,

If you live according to what others think, you will never be rich.”

“Learn to be indifferent to what makes no difference.”

“The greatest of mankind are within us and within our reach.

A wise man is content with his lot, whatever it may be,

without wishing for what he has not.”

“Man is not worried by real problems so much as

by his imagined anxieties about real problems.”

“Small-minded people blame others.

Average people blame themselves.

The wise see all blame as foolishness.”

“Respect the past, be open to the future.”

“The life we receive is not short but we make it so,

we are not ill provided but use what we have wastefully.”

“Stay calm and serene regardless of what life throws at you.”

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