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What Would Stoics Do

Marcus Aurelius · 121–180 CE

Meditations 4.9 — Marcus Aurelius

Translation by George Long (1862)

Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 4.9

The nature of that which is universally useful has been compelled to do this.
— Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 4.9 · tr. George Long (1862)Read in context →

Cite this passage

Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 4.9, tr. George Long (1862)

https://whatwouldstoicsdo.com/passage/meditations/4.9

Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, tr. George Long (1862). Text: Standard Ebooks (CC0). Sources and licences

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In plain English

AI-written notes

A cryptic one-line note suggesting that whatever has happened was brought about by the nature of the whole, which works for the common good. Hard to use without its surrounding text.

Older wording

“universally useful”
— what benefits the whole universe

Themes and situations

  • Nature and the cosmos
  • Acceptance and fate

Quote cards

The opening line of this passage as an image, with its citation — for sharing or keeping.

Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 4.9, tr. George Long (1862)