Marcus Aurelius · 121–180 CE
Meditations 4.16 — Marcus Aurelius
Translation by George Long (1862)
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 4.16
Within ten days thou wilt seem a god to those to whom thou art now a beast and an ape, if thou wilt return to thy principles and the worship of reason.
Cite this passage
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 4.16, tr. George Long (1862)
https://whatwouldstoicsdo.com/passage/meditations/4.16
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, tr. George Long (1862). Text: Standard Ebooks (CC0). Sources and licences
In plain English
AI-written notesEven if people now see you as a brute, a fresh return to your principles and to reason can transform how you act, and how others see you, in a short time. Change can come faster than you think.
Older wording
- “beast and an ape”
- — a brute with no reason
Themes and situations
- Learning and progress
- Virtue and character
- Self-discipline and habit
- Resilience and endurance
- Breaking a bad habit
- Failure and mistakes
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