Marcus Aurelius Meditations
Marcus Aurelius: If it were thine act and in thine own…
If it were thine act and in thine own power, wouldest thou do it? If it were not, whom dost tin accuse? the atoms, or the Gods? For to do either, the part of a mad man. Thou must therefore blame nobody, but if it be in thy power, redress what is amiss; if it be not, to what end is it to complain? For nothing should be done but to some certain end.
The passage follows a public-domain translation of Meditations. The reading beside it is ours.
When something goes wrong, begin with the only question that creates leverage: is this within my power to influence? If it is, stop spending all your energy blaming and start repairing. Make the call, learn the skill, apologize, change the process, or take the next practical step. If it is not within your power, blaming the universe, fate, other people, or random chance will not turn it into something controllable. Marcus is not asking us to deny responsibility when another person has done harm. He is warning that accusation without purpose becomes another form of helplessness. Even justified anger needs to lead somewhere useful. Can you protect yourself, seek justice, document what happened, or adapt? If yes, act. If not, release the fantasy that complaint alone is action. Today, sort one frustration into two columns: what is mine to address, and what must I accept. Then spend your energy only in the first column.
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