If it is not right, do not do it: if it is not true, do not say it.

Marcus Aurelius, Meditations (180)

Genuine

Yes. In Meditations (180), Book 12, section 17.

Found word for word by program in the Greek original and in George Long’s English translation (1862).

Work
Meditations (Τὰ εἰς ἑαυτόν), 180
Where
Book 12, section 17
Found at
Paragraph 595 of the Greek text, 532 of the English
Translation
George Long, 1862

Researched by AI; checked by program against the full text on 31 October 2026. Editorial review: pending. How we check

On the page

¶531 en¶594 el

[…] For what must a man do who has such a character? If then thou art irritable, cure this man’s disposition.

Ὅτι ὁ μὴ θέλων τὸν φαῦλον ἁμαρτάνειν ὅμοιος τῷ μὴ θέλοντι τὴν συκῆν ὀπὸν ἐν τοῖς σύκοις φέρειν καὶ τὰ βρέφη κλαυθμυρίζεσθαι καὶ τὸν ἵππον χρεμετίζειν καὶ ὅσα ἄλλα ἀναγκαῖα. τί γὰρ πάθῃ τὴν ἕξιν ἔχων τοιαύτην; εἰ οὖν γοργὸς εἶ, ταύτην θεράπευσον.

¶532 en¶595 el
English, George Long, 1862

If it is not right, do not do it: if it is not true, do not say it. For let thy efforts be⁠—

Greek, the original

Εἰ μὴ καθήκει, μὴ πράξῃς· εἰ μὴ ἀληθές ἐστι, μὴ εἴπῃς. ἡ γὰρ ὁρμή σου ἔστω εἰς τὸ πᾶν ἀεὶ ὁρᾶν, τί ἐστιν αὐτὸ ἐκεῖνο τὸ τὴν φαντασίαν σοι ποιοῦν, καὶ ἀναπτύσσειν διαιροῦντα εἰς τὸ αἴτιον, εἰς τὸ ὑλικόν, εἰς τὴν ἀναφοράν, εἰς τὸν χρόνον, ἐντὸς οὗ πεπαῦσθαι αὐτὸ δεήσει.

¶533 en¶596 el

In everything always observe what the thing is which produces for thee an appearance, and resolve it by dividing it into the formal, the material, the purpose, and the time within which it must end.

Αἴσθου ποτὲ ὅτι κρεῖττόν τι καὶ δαιμονιώτερον ἔχεις ἐν σαυτῷ τῶν τὰ πάθη ποιούντων καὶ καθάπαξ τῶν νευροσπαστούντων σε. τί μου νῦν ἐστιν ἡ διάνοια; μὴ φόβος; μὴ ὑποψία; μὴ ἐπιθυμία; μὴ ἄλλο τι τοιοῦτον;

¶534 en¶597 el

Perceive at last that thou hast in thee something better and more divine than the things which cause the various affects, and as it were pull thee by the strings. What is there now in my mind? […]

Πρῶτον τὸ μὴ εἰκῇ μηδὲ ἄνευ ἀναφορᾶς. δεύτερον τὸ μὴ ἐπ’ ἄλλο τι ἢ ἐπὶ τὸ κοινωνικὸν τέλος τὴν ἀναγωγὴν ποιεῖσθαι.

The scene

Near the end of the last book. The entry before it says that whoever would not have the bad man do wrong is like one who would not have the fig tree bear juice; this one is a two-part rule, after which Long’s text breaks off (‘For let thy efforts be—‘). In the Greek the sentence runs on into the next exercise: always look at what produces an impression and analyse it into its cause, its matter, its purpose and its time.

What it means

Two tests before acting and speaking: do only what is fitting, and say only what is true.

Often misread

‘Right’ renders καθήκει, the Stoic term for what is fitting or appropriate to one’s role and nature (kathēkon): what befits one’s nature and station, not what is legal or what one happens to feel is right. The second clause is about speech: it does not say to tell every truth, only never to say what is untrue.

Topics

Truth, Lies, Morality, Wisdom

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Sources

Cite it

Marcus Aurelius, Meditations (180), Book 12, section 17, translated by George Long (1862). Checked at Quotogeny, https://quotogeny.com/q/if-it-is-not-right-do-not-do-it/ (31 October 2026).

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