Marcus Aurelius · 121–180 CE
Meditations 5.35 — Marcus Aurelius
Translation by George Long (1862)
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 5.35
If this is neither my own badness, nor an effect of my own badness, and the common weal is not injured, why am I troubled about it? And what is the harm to the common weal?
Cite this passage
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 5.35, tr. George Long (1862)
https://whatwouldstoicsdo.com/passage/meditations/5.35
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, tr. George Long (1862). Text: Standard Ebooks (CC0). Sources and licences
In plain English
AI-written notesBefore getting upset, ask two questions: is this the result of my own wrongdoing, and is it harming the community I belong to? If the answer to both is no, nothing truly harmful has happened and there is no good reason to be troubled.
Older wording
- “common weal”
- — the common good
Themes and situations
- Judgements and impressions
- Emotions and the passions
- What is in our control
- Community and our duty to others
- Virtue and character
- Anxiety about the future
- Everyday irritations
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