Marcus Aurelius · 121–180 CE
Meditations 10.29 — Marcus Aurelius
Translation by George Long (1862)
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 10.29
Severally on the occasion of everything that thou doest, pause and ask thyself, if death is a dreadful thing because it deprives thee of this.
Cite this passage
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 10.29, tr. George Long (1862)
https://whatwouldstoicsdo.com/passage/meditations/10.29
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, tr. George Long (1862). Text: Standard Ebooks (CC0). Sources and licences
In plain English
AI-written notesOn each occasion, stop and ask whether you would truly dread death because it takes this particular activity away from you. It is a test of whether what you are doing is worth caring so much about.
Older wording
- “Severally”
- — individually, one by one
Themes and situations
- Death and mortality
- Fear and anxiety
- Time and the present
- Preparing for difficulty
- Fear of death
- Feeling life is slipping by
Quote cards
The opening line of this passage as an image, with its citation — for sharing or keeping.