Marcus Aurelius · 121–180 CE
Meditations 8.45 — Marcus Aurelius
Translation by George Long (1862)
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 8.45
Take me and cast me where thou wilt; for there I shall keep my divine part tranquil, that is, content, if it can feel and act conformably to its proper constitution. Is this change of place sufficient reason why my soul should be unhappy and worse than it was, depressed, expanded, shrinking, affrighted? And what wilt thou find which is sufficient reason for this?
Cite this passage
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 8.45, tr. George Long (1862)
https://whatwouldstoicsdo.com/passage/meditations/8.45
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, tr. George Long (1862). Text: Standard Ebooks (CC0). Sources and licences
In plain English
AI-written notesSend me anywhere and my mind can stay calm there, so long as it can feel and act in line with its own nature. A change of place is no good reason for the soul to become unhappy, deflated or frightened.
Older wording
- “affrighted”
- — terrified
- “divine part”
- — your reasoning mind, thought of as a spark of the divine
Themes and situations
- Exile and loss of home
- Peace of mind
- Resilience and endurance
- Freedom
- What is in our control
- Moving away or exile
- Anxiety about the future
Quote cards
The opening line of this passage as an image, with its citation — for sharing or keeping.