It's the truth I'm after, and the truth never harmed anyone. What harms us is to persist in self-deceit and ignorance.
It is the responsibility of leadership to work intelligently with what is given, and not to waste time fantasizing about a world of flawless people and perfect choices.
- Topic: Choice, Leadership, Responsibility
- Photo: Jeffrey Benjamin
More Quotes from Marcus Aurelius
To offend a strong man, tell him a lie. To offend a weak man, tell him the truth.
What doesn’t transmit light creates its own darkness.
It never ceases to amaze me: We all love ourselves more than other people, but care more about their opinion than our own.
Never esteem anything as of advantage to you that will make you break your word or lose your self-respect.
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It isn't what you have, or who you are, or where you are, or what you are doing that makes you happy or unhappy. It is what you think about.
Individuals are the sum of their unique experiences, challenges, and accomplishments. What matters is not the barriers they face, but how they choose to confront them. And their race is not to blame for everything—good or bad—that happens in their lives.
Pain is certain, suffering is optional.
Have to and get to—both are choices. One is negative and one is positive. Choose the right one and it can change your life.
You can’t change how people treat you or what they say about you. All you can do is change how you react to it.
Before a man can accomplish anything of an enduring nature in the world, he must first of all acquire some measure of success in the management of his own mind.
The greatest leader is not the the one who necessarily does the greatest things. He is the one who gets people to do the greatest things. He is
Love inspires, illumines, designates and leads the way.
The period is now arrived, in which either they or we must change our sentiments, or one or both must fall.
There are few things more dishonorable than misleading the young.
You assist an evil system most effectively by obeying its orders and decrees. An evil system never deserves such allegiance. Allegiance to it means partaking of the evil. A good person will resist an evil system with his or her whole soul.
When you say 'yes' to others, make sure you are not saying 'no' to yourself.
The right man is the one who seizes the moment.
Surely what a man does when he is in an uncomfortable situation is the best evidence for the sort of man he is.
We always like those who admire us; we do not always like those whom we admire.
I have nothing but contempt for the kind of governor who is afraid, for whatever reason, to follow the course that he knows is best for the State; and as for the man who sets private friendship above the public welfare—I have no use for him, either.
The ones who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones that do.
He who fears the sun will not become chief.
Man must cease attributing his problems to his environment, and learn again to exercise his will - his personal responsibility in the realm of faith and morals.
Never trouble another for what you can do for yourself.
If you could kick the person in the pants responsible for most of your trouble, you wouldn’t sit for a month.
You and only you are responsible for your life choices and decisions.
I have noticed that even those who assert that everything is predestined and that we can change nothing about it still look both ways before they cross the street.
We know of no culture that has said, articulately, that there is no difference between men and women except in the way they contribute to the creation of the next generation.
The spirit of self-help is the root of all genuine growth in the individual; and, exhibited in the lives of many, it continues the true source of national vigor and strength. Help from without is often enfeebling in its effects, but help from within invariably invigorates.
Liberty means responsibility. That is why most men dread it.
I never encounter anything except my responsibility.
Work out your own salvation. Do not depend on others.
We hardly ever realize that we can cut anything out of our lives, anytime, in the blink of an eye.
