Marcus Aurelius · 121–180 CE
Meditations 10.35 — Marcus Aurelius
Translation by George Long (1862)
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 10.35
The healthy eye ought to see all visible things and not to say, I wish for green things; for this is the condition of a diseased eye. And the healthy hearing and smelling ought to be ready to perceive all that can be heard and smelled. And the healthy stomach ought to be with respect to all food just as the mill with respect to all things which it is formed to grind. And accordingly the healthy understanding ought to be prepared for everything which happens; but that which says, Let my dear children live, and let all men praise whatever I may do, is an eye which seeks for green things, or teeth which seek for soft things.
Cite this passage
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 10.35, tr. George Long (1862)
https://whatwouldstoicsdo.com/passage/meditations/10.35
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, tr. George Long (1862). Text: Standard Ebooks (CC0). Sources and licences
In plain English
AI-written notesA healthy eye accepts whatever it sees without demanding to see only green, and in the same way a healthy mind is ready for whatever happens. Insisting that your children must live and that everyone must praise you is the attitude of a sick eye, or of teeth that only want soft food.
Older wording
- “understanding”
- — your mind, your capacity to judge
Themes and situations
- Acceptance and fate
- What is in our control
- Reputation and others' opinions
- Preparing for difficulty
- Desire and craving
- Anxiety about the future
- Parenting
- Being criticised or insulted
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