Marcus Aurelius · 121–180 CE
Meditations 7.34 — Marcus Aurelius
Translation by George Long (1862)
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 7.34
About fame: Look at the minds of those who seek fame, observe what they are, and what kind of things they avoid, and what kind of things they pursue. And consider that as the heaps of sand piled on one another hide the former sands, so in life the events which go before are soon covered by those which come after.
Cite this passage
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 7.34, tr. George Long (1862)
https://whatwouldstoicsdo.com/passage/meditations/7.34
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, tr. George Long (1862). Text: Standard Ebooks (CC0). Sources and licences
In plain English
AI-written notesLook closely at the kind of people who chase fame, what they pursue and what they run from. Remember too that new events constantly bury old ones like sand piling over sand, so renown is covered over just as fast.
Themes and situations
- Reputation and others' opinions
- Change and impermanence
- Ambition and success
- Handling success
- Envy and comparison
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