Marcus Aurelius · 121–180 CE
Meditations 8.6 — Marcus Aurelius
Translation by George Long (1862)
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 8.6
The nature of the universal has this work to do, to remove to that place the things which are in this, to change them, to take them away hence, and to carry them there. All things are change, yet we need not fear anything new. All things are familiar to us; but the distribution of them still remains the same.
Cite this passage
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 8.6, tr. George Long (1862)
https://whatwouldstoicsdo.com/passage/meditations/8.6
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, tr. George Long (1862). Text: Standard Ebooks (CC0). Sources and licences
In plain English
AI-written notesThe universe's constant work is moving things from here to there, changing them and carrying them off. Because everything is in flux and the same patterns repeat, nothing really new can happen to you, so there is no reason to fear change.
Older wording
- “nature of the universal”
- — the nature of the universe as a whole
Themes and situations
- Change and impermanence
- Nature and the cosmos
- Fear and anxiety
- Acceptance and fate
- Anxiety about the future
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