Marcus Aurelius · 121–180 CE
Meditations 6.32 — Marcus Aurelius
Translation by George Long (1862)
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 6.32
I consist of a little body and a soul. Now to this little body all things are indifferent, for it is not able to perceive differences. But to the understanding those things only are indifferent, which are not the works of its own activity. But whatever things are the works of its own activity, all these are in its power. And of these however only those which are done with reference to the present; for as to the future and the past activities of the mind, even these are for the present indifferent.
Cite this passage
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 6.32, tr. George Long (1862)
https://whatwouldstoicsdo.com/passage/meditations/6.32
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, tr. George Long (1862). Text: Standard Ebooks (CC0). Sources and licences
In plain English
AI-written notesOnly what your own mind does is in your power, and only what it does in the present. Everything outside your own activity is neutral, and even the mind's wanderings into past and future do nothing for you now.
Older wording
- “indifferent”
- — neither good nor bad in itself
- “understanding”
- — your reasoning mind
Themes and situations
- What is in our control
- Judgements and impressions
- Time and the present
- Anxiety about the future
Quote cards
The opening line of this passage as an image, with its citation — for sharing or keeping.