--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: This is the mark of a perfect character…" description: "\"This is the mark of a perfect character - to pass through each day as though it were the last, without agitation, without torpor, and without pretense...." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ce4/marcus-aurelius-139_agitation_this-is-the-mark-of-a-perfect-character_2589802.jpg" --- # This is the mark of a perfect character - to pass through… ![“This is the mark of a perfect character - to pass through each day as though it were the last, without agitation, without torpor, and without pretense.” quote by Marcus Aurelius](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ce4/marcus-aurelius-139_agitation_this-is-the-mark-of-a-perfect-character_2589802.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ce4/marcus-aurelius-139_agitation_this-is-the-mark-of-a-perfect-character_2589802.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ce4/marcus-aurelius-139_agitation_this-is-the-mark-of-a-perfect-character_2589802.jpg) > “This is the mark of a perfect character - to pass through each day as though it were the last, without agitation, without torpor, and without pretense.” [Marcus Aurelius](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcus-aurelius/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. A virtuous person lives each day fully, free from excess emotion, laziness, or falsehood. **In simple terms:** Live each day as if it were your last, without agitation or pretense. Key Takeaway Practice presence and honesty daily. Themes virtue mindfulness impermanence integrity Mood calm focused resolute Type motivational philosophical When to use this quote - daily routines - stress management - personal growth - leadership Key Concepts stoicism presence self-discipline Questions to Reflect On - What habits help you stay present? - How do you avoid pretense in daily interactions? A Different Perspective Even the best intentions can slip into complacency. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Agitation](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/agitation/) [Character](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/character/) [Day Agitation](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/day-agitation-1850699/) [Each day](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/each-day/) [Lasts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/lasts/) [Mark](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mark/) [Pass Day](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/pass-day-1850698/) [Perfect](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/perfect/) [Perfect Character](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/perfect-character-1850697/) [Pretense](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/pretense/) ## Related quotes > [If you pass something every day and it has a little character, it begins to intrigue you.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frank-auerbach/if-you-pass-something-every-day-and-it-has-a-little-character-it/) [Frank Auerbach](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frank-auerbach/) > [“When you pass a day off, it's just a waste of time until God comes down and welcomes you into your kingdom”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/miguel-l/when-you-pass-a-day-off-it-s-just-a-waste-of-time-until-god-comes/) [Miguel L](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/miguel-l/) > [I know that we've all got to pass one day but why do the young get took?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bugzy-malone/i-know-that-we-ve-all-got-to-pass-one-day-but-why-do-the-young-get/) [Bugzy Malone](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bugzy-malone/) > [Well, I did know - but I just wanted the day to pass and the next day to come and then I wanted that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-gascoigne/well-i-did-know-but-i-just-wanted-the-day-to-pass-and-the-next-day-to/) [Paul Gascoigne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-gascoigne/) > [I'm drawn to the not-so-perfect character.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/guillermo-diaz/i-m-drawn-to-the-not-so-perfect-character/) [Guillermo Diaz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/guillermo-diaz/) > [The object of man's worship, whatever it be, will naturally be his standard of perfection. He clothes it with every attribute, belonging, in his…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simon-greenleaf/the-object-of-man-s-worship-whatever-it-be-will-naturally-be-his/) [Simon Greenleaf](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simon-greenleaf/) > [Create a really interesting, complex person that you want to know more about, and take her on a journey that is rich and fulfilling…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frank-spotnitz/create-a-really-interesting-complex-person-that-you-want-to-know-more/) [Frank Spotnitz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frank-spotnitz/) > [I felt the script of 'Shivajinagara' was perfect as my character is that of a good guy with shades of grey.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adithya-menon/i-felt-the-script-of-shivajinagara-was-perfect-as-my-character-is/) [Adithya Menon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adithya-menon/) > [I don't want a perfect character, I want a character who has, as strange as it sounds, some humanity, some flaws, some needs.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicolas-cage/i-don-t-want-a-perfect-character-i-want-a-character-who-has-as/) [Nicolas Cage](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicolas-cage/) > [A perfect character might be attended with the inconvenience of being envied and hated; and that a benevolent man should allow a few faults…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/benjamin-franklin/a-perfect-character-might-be-attended-with-the-inconvenience-of-being/) [Benjamin Franklin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/benjamin-franklin/) > [Perfection of character is this: to live each day as if it were your last, without frenzy, without apathy, without pretence.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcus-aurelius/perfection-of-character-is-this-to-live-each-day-as-if-it-were-your/) [Marcus Aurelius](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcus-aurelius/) > [Each day provides its own gifts.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcus-aurelius/each-day-provides-its-own-gifts/) [Marcus Aurelius](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcus-aurelius/) > [This is moral perfection: to live each day as though it were the last; to be tranquil, sincere, yet not indifferent to one's fate.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcus-aurelius/this-is-moral-perfection-to-live-each-day-as-though-it-were-the-last/) [Marcus Aurelius](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcus-aurelius/) > [Indifference is harder to fight than hostility, and there is nothing that kills an agitation like having everybody admit that it is fundamentally right.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/crystal-eastman/indifference-is-harder-to-fight-than-hostility-and-there-is-nothing/) [Crystal Eastman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/crystal-eastman/) > [The party in Alobar’s head, which agitation and anxiety were throwing, now was crashed by a notion: existence can be rearranged.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-robbins/the-party-in-alobar-s-head-which-agitation-and-anxiety-were-throwing/) [Tom Robbins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-robbins/) ## More by Marcus Aurelius > [A man should be upright, not kept upright.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcus-aurelius/a-man-should-be-upright-not-kept-upright/) [Marcus Aurelius](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcus-aurelius/) > [Everything is mere opinion.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcus-aurelius/everything-is-mere-opinion/) [Marcus Aurelius](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcus-aurelius/) > [If any man has done wrong, the harm is his own. But perhaps he has not done wrong.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcus-aurelius/if-any-man-has-done-wrong-the-harm-is-his-own-but-perhaps-he-has-not/) [Marcus Aurelius](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcus-aurelius/) > [Pray look upon the plants and birds, the ants, spiders, and bees, and you will see them all exerting their nature, and busy in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcus-aurelius/pray-look-upon-the-plants-and-birds-the-ants-spiders-and-bees-and-you/) [Marcus Aurelius](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcus-aurelius/) > [“We should remark the grace and fascination that there is even in the incidentals of Nature's processes.. When a loaf of bread,. for instance,.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcus-aurelius/we-should-remark-the-grace-and-fascination-that-there-is-even-in-the/) [Marcus Aurelius](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcus-aurelius/) > [My true Self is free. I cannot be contained.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcus-aurelius/my-true-self-is-free-i-cannot-be-contained/) [Marcus Aurelius](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcus-aurelius/) > [The best revenge is to be unlike him who performed the injury.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcus-aurelius/the-best-revenge-is-to-be-unlike-him-who-performed-the-injury/) [Marcus Aurelius](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcus-aurelius/) > [Nothing befalls any man which he is not fitted to endure.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcus-aurelius/nothing-befalls-any-man-which-he-is-not-fitted-to-endure/) [Marcus Aurelius](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcus-aurelius/) > [Adorn thyself with simplicity and with indifference towards the things which lie between virtue and vice. Love mankind. Follow God. The poet says that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcus-aurelius/adorn-thyself-with-simplicity-and-with-indifference-towards-the/) [Marcus Aurelius](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcus-aurelius/) > [Let it be your constant method to look into the design of people's actions, and see what they would be at, as often as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcus-aurelius/let-it-be-your-constant-method-to-look-into-the-design-of-people-s/) [Marcus Aurelius](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcus-aurelius/) > [“Our life is a warfare, and a mere pilgrimage.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcus-aurelius/our-life-is-a-warfare-and-a-mere-pilgrimage/) [Marcus Aurelius](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcus-aurelius/) > [“If therefore it be a thing external that causes thy grief, know, that it is not that properly that doth cause it, but thine…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcus-aurelius/if-therefore-it-be-a-thing-external-that-causes-thy-grief-know-that/) [Marcus Aurelius](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcus-aurelius/) > [Frightened of change? But what can exist without it? What's closer to nature's heart? Can you take a hot bath and leave the firewood…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcus-aurelius/frightened-of-change-but-what-can-exist-without-it-what-s-closer-to/) [Marcus Aurelius](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcus-aurelius/) > [We are too much accustomed to attribute to a single cause that which is the product of several, and the majority of our controversies…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcus-aurelius/we-are-too-much-accustomed-to-attribute-to-a-single-cause-that-which/) [Marcus Aurelius](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcus-aurelius/) > [“At dawn, when you have trouble getting out of bed, tell yourself, "I have to go to work - as a human being. What…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcus-aurelius/at-dawn-when-you-have-trouble-getting-out-of-bed-tell-yourself-i-have/) [Marcus Aurelius](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcus-aurelius/) [Explore all 1,138 Marcus Aurelius quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcus-aurelius/) ## More Agitation quotes > [The party in Alobar’s head, which agitation and anxiety were throwing, now was crashed by a notion: existence can be rearranged.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-robbins/the-party-in-alobar-s-head-which-agitation-and-anxiety-were-throwing/) [Tom Robbins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-robbins/) > [Indifference is harder to fight than hostility, and there is nothing that kills an agitation like having everybody admit that it is fundamentally right.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/crystal-eastman/indifference-is-harder-to-fight-than-hostility-and-there-is-nothing/) [Crystal Eastman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/crystal-eastman/) > [...the Government must not think that they can stop this agitation. It will go on...We are here not because we are law-breakers; we are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emmeline-pankhurst/the-government-must-not-think-that-they-can-stop-this-agitation-it/) [Emmeline Pankhurst](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emmeline-pankhurst/) > [This position is untenable, and there can be no pause in the agitation for full political power and responsibility until these are granted to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/florence-kelley/this-position-is-untenable-and-there-can-be-no-pause-in-the-agitation/) [Florence Kelley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/florence-kelley/) > [“It is unworthy of great spirits to spread abroad the agitation they feel”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/it-is-unworthy-of-great-spirits-to-spread-abroad-the-agitation-they/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [“If lies comfort, and truth disturbs - self is being agitated as a result of prideful living.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-f-hodge/if-lies-comfort-and-truth-disturbs-self-is-being-agitated-as-a-result/) [T.F. Hodge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-f-hodge/) > [We too are called to withdraw at certain intervals into deeper silence and aloneness with God, together as a community as well as personally;…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mother-teresa/we-too-are-called-to-withdraw-at-certain-intervals-into-deeper/) [Mother Teresa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mother-teresa/) > [The wisest among my race understand that agitations of social equality is the extremist folly, and that progress in the enjoyment of all privileges…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/booker-t-washington/the-wisest-among-my-race-understand-that-agitations-of-social/) [Booker T. Washington](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/booker-t-washington/) > [“Mirabeau: “If you have been told to clear us from this hall, you must ask for orders to use force. We shall leave our…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hilary-mantel/mirabeau-if-you-have-been-told-to-clear-us-from-this-hall-you-must/) [Hilary Mantel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hilary-mantel/) > [Agitation is that part of our intellectual life where vitality results; there ideas are born, breed and bring forth.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-edward-woodberry/agitation-is-that-part-of-our-intellectual-life-where-vitality/) [George Edward Woodberry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-edward-woodberry/) > [It is not proper to project our feelings onto things or to attribute our own sensations and passions to them. Can it also be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/octavio-paz/it-is-not-proper-to-project-our-feelings-onto-things-or-to-attribute/) [Octavio Paz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/octavio-paz/) > [Agitation is all about poetry, governance is all about prose.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jairam-ramesh/agitation-is-all-about-poetry-governance-is-all-about-prose/) [Jairam Ramesh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jairam-ramesh/) > [Wherever capitalism appears, in pursuit of its mission of exploitation, there will Socialism, fertilized by misery, watered by tears, and vitalized by agitation be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eugene-v-debs/wherever-capitalism-appears-in-pursuit-of-its-mission-of-exploitation/) [Eugene V. Debs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eugene-v-debs/) > [Patience takes courage. It is not an ideal state of calm. In fact, when we practice patience we will see our agitation far more…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pema-ch-dr-n/patience-takes-courage-it-is-not-an-ideal-state-of-calm-in-fact-when/) [Pema Chodron](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pema-ch-dr-n/) > [Every day I observe more and more the folly of judging of others by ourselves; and I have so much trouble with myself, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/every-day-i-observe-more-and-more-the-folly-of-judging-of-others-by/) [Johann Wolfgang von Goethe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/) [Browse all 173 Agitation quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/agitation/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "This is the mark of a perfect character - to pass through each day as though it were the last, without agitation, without torpor, and without pretense.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Marcus Aurelius" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcus-aurelius/this-is-the-mark-of-a-perfect-character-to-pass-through-each-day-as/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Agitation" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcus-aurelius/this-is-the-mark-of-a-perfect-character-to-pass-through-each-day-as/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ce4/marcus-aurelius-139_agitation_this-is-the-mark-of-a-perfect-character_2589802.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ce4/marcus-aurelius-139_agitation_this-is-the-mark-of-a-perfect-character_2589802.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ce4/marcus-aurelius-139_agitation_this-is-the-mark-of-a-perfect-character_2589802.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“This is the mark of a perfect character - to pass through each day as though it were the last, without…” — Marcus Aurelius", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Marcus Aurelius", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcus-aurelius/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "This is the mark of a...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcus-aurelius/this-is-the-mark-of-a-perfect-character-to-pass-through-each-day-as/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcus-aurelius/this-is-the-mark-of-a-perfect-character-to-pass-through-each-day-as/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```