The best way of avenging thyself is not to become like the wrong doer.
In plain words
The best way to get back at someone unkind is to refuse to become unkind.
Where these words come from
- 90% sureThese words were traced back to where they first appeared. That source is listed below.
- Meditations, Book VI.6, George Long translation, 1862. (Wikiquote cites the same locus VI,6 under a popular paraphrase; wording here is Long's own verbatim primary text.)
- Meditations
- 170 · Roman Empire · private philosophical journal, not written for publication
More from Marcus Aurelius
See allYou have power over your mind, not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.
Marcus AureliusWaste no more time arguing about what a good man should be. Be one.Marcus AureliusNever let the future disturb you. You will meet it, if you have to, with the same weapons of reason which today arm you against the present.Marcus AureliusWe are made for co-operation, like feet, like hands, like eyelids, like the rows of the upper and lower teeth.Marcus AureliusGive thyself time to learn something new and good, and cease to be whirled around.Marcus AureliusMen exist for the sake of one another. Teach them then, or bear with them.Marcus Aurelius
Marcus AureliusWaste no more time arguing about what a good man should be. Be one.Marcus AureliusNever let the future disturb you. You will meet it, if you have to, with the same weapons of reason which today arm you against the present.Marcus AureliusWe are made for co-operation, like feet, like hands, like eyelids, like the rows of the upper and lower teeth.Marcus AureliusGive thyself time to learn something new and good, and cease to be whirled around.Marcus AureliusMen exist for the sake of one another. Teach them then, or bear with them.Marcus AureliusMore on individuality
To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all.
Oscar WildeNot all who wander are lost.
J.R.R. Tolkien'Know thyself' was written over the portal of the antique world. Over the portal of the new world, 'Be thyself' shall be written.Oscar WildeWe will walk on our own feet; we will work with our own hands; we will speak our own minds.
Ralph Waldo EmersonThe imitator dooms himself to hopeless mediocrity.Ralph Waldo EmersonAlways be a first-rate version of yourself, instead of a second-rate version of somebody else.
Judy Garland
Oscar WildeNot all who wander are lost.J.R.R. Tolkien'Know thyself' was written over the portal of the antique world. Over the portal of the new world, 'Be thyself' shall be written.Oscar WildeWe will walk on our own feet; we will work with our own hands; we will speak our own minds.Ralph Waldo EmersonThe imitator dooms himself to hopeless mediocrity.Ralph Waldo EmersonAlways be a first-rate version of yourself, instead of a second-rate version of somebody else.Judy Garland