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What Would Stoics Do

Marcus Aurelius · 121–180 CE

Meditations 8.24 — Marcus Aurelius

Translation by George Long (1862)

Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 8.24

Such as bathing appears to thee—oil, sweat, dirt, filthy water, all things disgusting—so is every part of life and everything.
— Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 8.24 · tr. George Long (1862)Read in context →

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Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 8.24, tr. George Long (1862)

https://whatwouldstoicsdo.com/passage/meditations/8.24

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

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Break a bath down and you find oil, sweat, grime and dirty water, and the same stripped-down view applies to everything in life. Seeing things as they really are takes away their glamour and weakens craving.

Themes and situations

  • Judgements and impressions
  • Desire and craving
  • Simplicity and frugality
  • Money, status and wanting more

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