Marcus Aurelius · 121–180 CE
Meditations 12.19 — Marcus Aurelius
Translation by George Long (1862)
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 12.19
Perceive at last that thou hast in thee something better and more divine than the things which cause the various affects, and as it were pull thee by the strings. What is there now in my mind? Is it fear, or suspicion, or desire, or anything of the kind?
Cite this passage
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 12.19, tr. George Long (1862)
https://whatwouldstoicsdo.com/passage/meditations/12.19
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, tr. George Long (1862). Text: Standard Ebooks (CC0). Sources and licences
In plain English
AI-written notesRemember that something in you is higher than the feelings that tug you around like a puppet on strings. Check your mind regularly and name what is in it, whether fear, suspicion or craving, so that you can step back from it instead of being driven by it.
Older wording
- “affects”
- — emotions and passions
Themes and situations
- Emotions and the passions
- What is in our control
- Judgements and impressions
- Virtue and character
- Anxiety about the future
- Breaking a bad habit
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