Marcus Aurelius · 121–180 CE
Meditations 8.23 — Marcus Aurelius
Translation by George Long (1862)
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 8.23
Am I doing anything? I do it with reference to the good of mankind. Does anything happen to me? I receive it and refer it to the gods, and the source of all things, from which all that happens is derived.
Cite this passage
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 8.23, tr. George Long (1862)
https://whatwouldstoicsdo.com/passage/meditations/8.23
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, tr. George Long (1862). Text: Standard Ebooks (CC0). Sources and licences
In plain English
AI-written notesTest every action by whether it serves the good of other people, and take everything that happens to you as coming from the same source as all things. Act for others and accept what comes.
Themes and situations
- Duty and roles
- Community and our duty to others
- Acceptance and fate
- Nature and the cosmos
- Searching for meaning
- A hard decision
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