“Do not act as if you were going to live ten thousand years. Death hangs over you. While you live, while it is in your power, be good.”
What this quote means
This quote reminds us of our mortality to urge us to act with kindness and intention. Rather than paralyzing us, awareness of finitude should motivate us to live fully, to do good while we have the chance. It's an invitation to moral urgency, active benevolence, and not to put off until tomorrow what can be done today.
How to apply it daily
Today, perform a concrete act of kindness toward someone, without delay, as if it were your last chance to do so.
Reading guide
Which book should you read to discover Marcus Aurelius?
Our starting point
Discovering Stoicism through short reflections
Meditations
The most direct way to encounter the themes behind the quotes: attention, duty, and control over what depends on us.
- Level
- Intermediate
- Reading time
- 4–6 hours, best read slowly
- Formats to compare
- Print · Ebook · Audio
Merchant links help compare editions. Recommendations are editorially independent.
Continue
Related quotes
Same author or same theme — keep reading.
“Our life is what our thoughts make it. Do the best that you can, where you are, with what you have.”Create visual
“I have often wondered how it is that every man loves himself more than all the rest of men, but yet sets less value on his own opinions of himself than on the opinions of others.”Create visual
“Very little is needed to make a happy life; it is all within yourself, in your way of thinking.”Create visual
“The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts....take care that you entertain no notions unsuitable to virtue and reasonable nature.”Create visual
“You have power over your mind - not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.”Create visual
“The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane.”Create visual
More quotes by Marcus Aurelius
“Our life is what our thoughts make it. Do the best that you can, where you are, with what you have.”Create visual
“I have often wondered how it is that every man loves himself more than all the rest of men, but yet sets less value on his own opinions of himself than on the opinions of others.”Create visual
“Very little is needed to make a happy life; it is all within yourself, in your way of thinking.”Create visual
“The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts....take care that you entertain no notions unsuitable to virtue and reasonable nature.”Create visual