Marcus Aurelius · 121–180 CE
Meditations 4.36 — Marcus Aurelius
Translation by George Long (1862)
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 4.36
Observe constantly that all things take place by change, and accustom thyself to consider that the nature of the Universe loves nothing so much as to change the things which are and to make new things like them. For everything that exists is in a manner the seed of that which will be. But thou art thinking only of seeds which are cast into the earth or into a womb: but this is a very vulgar notion.
Cite this passage
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 4.36, tr. George Long (1862)
https://whatwouldstoicsdo.com/passage/meditations/4.36
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, tr. George Long (1862). Text: Standard Ebooks (CC0). Sources and licences
In plain English
AI-written notesEverything happens through change, and nature loves nothing more than changing what exists into new things like it. Everything that exists is in a sense the seed of what comes next, in a much wider sense than just plants and animals.
Older wording
- “vulgar”
- — common and unrefined
Themes and situations
- Change and impermanence
- Nature and the cosmos
- Acceptance and fate
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