Meditations, 5.16

Marcus Aurelius  translated by George Long

« M. Aur. Med. 5.15 | M. Aur. Med. 5.16 | M. Aur. Med. 5.17 | About This Work »

16Such as are thy habitual thoughts, such also will be the character of thy mind; for the soul is dyed by the thoughts. Dye it then with a continuous series of such thoughts as these: for instance, that where a man can live, there he can also live well. But he must live in a palace;—well then, he can also live well in a palace. And again, consider that for whatever purpose each thing has been constituted, for this it has been constituted, and towards this it is carried; and its end is in that towards which it is carried; and where the end is, there also is the advantage and the good of each thing. Now the good for the reasonable animal is society; for that we are made for society has been shown above. Is it not plain that the inferior exist for the sake of the superior? but the things which have life are superior to those which have not life, and of those which have life the superior are those which have reason.

« M. Aur. Med. 5.15 | M. Aur. Med. 5.16 | M. Aur. Med. 5.17 | About This Work »