Marcus Aurelius · a new plain-English translation from the original language
Body, soul, mind: to the body belong sensations, to the soul impulses, to the mind judgments. To be stamped by impressions belongs even to cattle; to be jerked about by impulse belongs even to wild beasts, to men who behave like women, to Phalaris, and to Nero; to have the mind as guide toward what appears to be one's duty belongs even to those who do not believe in the gods, to those who abandon their country, and to those who do whatever they please once they have shut the doors. If, then, everything else is shared with the people just mentioned, what remains as peculiar to the good man is this: to love and welcome whatever happens to him and is spun together with his fate, and not to defile the guiding spirit set up within his breast, nor to trouble it with a mob of impressions, but to keep it gracious, following god in good order, saying nothing contrary to truth and doing nothing contrary to justice. And even if all men refuse to believe that he lives simply, with due modesty, and cheerfully, he is not angered at any of them for this, nor turned aside from the road that leads to the end of his life, to which he must come pure, at peace, ready to be released, fitted to his own portion without being forced.