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What Would Stoics Do

Marcus Aurelius · 121–180 CE

Meditations 7.20 — Marcus Aurelius

Translation by George Long (1862)

Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 7.20

One thing only troubles me, lest I should do something which the constitution of man does not allow, or in the way which it does not allow, or what it does not allow now.
— Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 7.20 · tr. George Long (1862)Read in context →

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Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 7.20, tr. George Long (1862)

https://whatwouldstoicsdo.com/passage/meditations/7.20

Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, tr. George Long (1862). Text: Standard Ebooks (CC0). Sources and licences

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In plain English

AI-written notes

The only thing worth worrying about is whether I will do something that is wrong for a human being, or do it in the wrong way, or at the wrong time.

Older wording

“constitution”
— basic nature as a reasoning, social being

Themes and situations

  • Virtue and character
  • Duty and roles
  • Peace of mind
  • An ethical dilemma
  • A hard decision

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