Marcus Aurelius · 121–180 CE
Meditations 8.28 — Marcus Aurelius
Translation by George Long (1862)
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 8.28
Pain is either an evil to the body—then let the body say what it thinks of it—or to the soul; but it is in the power of the soul to maintain its own serenity and tranquility, and not to think that pain is an evil. For every judgement and movement and desire and aversion is within, and no evil ascends so high.
Cite this passage
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 8.28, tr. George Long (1862)
https://whatwouldstoicsdo.com/passage/meditations/8.28
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, tr. George Long (1862). Text: Standard Ebooks (CC0). Sources and licences
In plain English
AI-written notesIf pain is bad for the body, let the body register that, while your mind can still stay calm and refuse to judge the pain an evil. Every judgement, urge and reaction takes place in the mind, so pain cannot reach that inner level.
Older wording
- “aversion”
- — what you try to avoid or push away
Themes and situations
- Pleasure and pain
- Illness and the body
- Judgements and impressions
- Peace of mind
- Resilience and endurance
- Illness or diagnosis
Quote cards
The opening line of this passage as an image, with its citation — for sharing or keeping.