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What Would Stoics Do

Marcus Aurelius · 121–180 CE

Meditations 9.17 — Marcus Aurelius

Translation by George Long (1862)

Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 9.17

For the stone which has been thrown up it is no evil to come down, nor indeed any good to have been carried up.
— Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 9.17 · tr. George Long (1862)Read in context →

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Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 9.17, tr. George Long (1862)

https://whatwouldstoicsdo.com/passage/meditations/9.17

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

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A thrown stone is not harmed by falling or improved by rising, since both are just what stones do. In the same way, the rises and falls of your fortunes are not in themselves good or bad for you as a person.

Themes and situations

  • Judgements and impressions
  • Ambition and success
  • Acceptance and fate
  • Change and impermanence
  • A career setback
  • Handling success

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