Marcus Aurelius · 121–180 CE
Meditations 7.2 — Marcus Aurelius
Translation by George Long (1862)
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 7.2
How can our principles become dead, unless the impressions [thoughts] which correspond to them are extinguished? But it is in thy power continuously to fan these thoughts into a flame. I can have that opinion about anything, which I ought to have. If I can, why am I disturbed? The things which are external to my mind have no relation at all to my mind.—Let this be the state of thy affects, and thou standest erect. To recover thy life is in thy power. Look at things again as thou didst use to look at them; for in this consists the recovery of thy life.
Cite this passage
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 7.2, tr. George Long (1862)
https://whatwouldstoicsdo.com/passage/meditations/7.2
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, tr. George Long (1862). Text: Standard Ebooks (CC0). Sources and licences
In plain English
AI-written notesYour guiding beliefs only die if you let the thoughts behind them fade, and you can keep rekindling those thoughts. Hold the right view of events, remember that things outside your mind cannot touch it, and you can stand upright again, because recovering your life comes down to looking at things as you once did.
Older wording
- “impressions”
- — mental pictures or appearances of things
- “affects”
- — feelings and emotional states
- “erect”
- — upright, standing firm
Themes and situations
- Learning and progress
- Judgements and impressions
- Self-discipline and habit
- Resilience and endurance
- Burnout and overwork
- Searching for meaning
- Feeling life is slipping by
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