Skip to content
What Would Stoics Do

Marcus Aurelius · 121–180 CE

Meditations 8.30 — Marcus Aurelius

Translation by George Long (1862)

Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 8.30

Speak both in the senate and to every man, whoever he may be, appropriately, not with any affectation: use plain discourse.
— Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 8.30 · tr. George Long (1862)Read in context →

Cite this passage

Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 8.30, tr. George Long (1862)

https://whatwouldstoicsdo.com/passage/meditations/8.30

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

Read Book VIII in context →

In plain English

AI-written notes

Whether you are addressing a formal assembly or one person, talk in an appropriate, plain way without showing off or putting on airs.

Older wording

“affectation”
— a showy, artificial manner
“discourse”
— speech, conversation

Themes and situations

  • Speech and silence
  • Virtue and character
  • Simplicity and frugality
  • Nerves before a big moment

Quote cards

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