Marcus Aurelius
“No longer talk at all about the kind of man that a good man ought to be, but be such.”
Meditations, X.16 — tr. George Long, 1862
Documented source
Attribution
Marcus Aurelius
Source
Meditations, X.16 — tr. George Long, 1862
Status
Public domain in the United States
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About this line
Meditations was a private notebook Marcus Aurelius never meant anyone to read — an emperor talking himself into being better, entry by entry. This one cuts off its own philosophizing mid-thought: stop describing the good man, and be him.
Why we carry this line
Actions over words. Easy quote to add.
The design
Set in Roman capitals, the way Latin was cut into stone. Only two lines carry the small dots, the interpuncts Roman stonecutters carved between words: BUT BE SUCH, and his name. Everything above is the talk. Those three words are the instruction.
Objects carrying this line
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