Marcus Aurelius · 121–180 CE
Meditations 8.2 — Marcus Aurelius
Translation by George Long (1862)
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 8.2
On the occasion of every act ask thyself, How is this with respect to me? Shall I repent of it? A little time and I am dead, and all is gone. What more do I seek, if what I am now doing is work of an intelligent living being, and a social being, and one who is under the same law with God?
Cite this passage
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 8.2, tr. George Long (1862)
https://whatwouldstoicsdo.com/passage/meditations/8.2
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, tr. George Long (1862). Text: Standard Ebooks (CC0). Sources and licences
In plain English
AI-written notesBefore each action, ask whether you will regret it. Life is very short, so if what you are doing is the work of a thinking, social being living by the same rational order as the gods, there is nothing more to seek.
Older wording
- “repent”
- — regret
Themes and situations
- Duty and roles
- Death and mortality
- Virtue and character
- Time and the present
- A hard decision
- An ethical dilemma
Quote cards
The opening line of this passage as an image, with its citation — for sharing or keeping.