“Let thy understanding enter into the things that are doing and the things which do them.”

— Marcus Aurelius, book Meditations

VII, 30
Meditations (c. 121–180 AD), Book VII
Context: Direct thy attention to what is said. Let thy understanding enter into the things that are doing and the things which do them.

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "Let thy understanding enter into the things that are doing and the things which do them." by Marcus Aurelius?

Marcus Aurelius400

Emperor of Ancient Rome 121–180

Related quotes

“Sometimes if you let people do things to you, you're really doing it to them.”

Gillian Flynn book Sharp Objects

Source: Sharp Objects

“How abundantly do spiritual beings display the powers that belong to them! We look for them, but do not see them; we listen to, but do not hear them; yet they enter into all things, and there is nothing without them.”

Confucius (-551–-479 BC) Chinese teacher, editor, politician, and philosopher

Source: The Doctrine of the Mean

“I don't understand it any more than you do, but one thing I've learned is that you don't have to understand things for them to be.”

Madeleine L'Engle book A Wrinkle in Time

Source: A Wrinkle in Time

“I do not like odd things until I can understand them.”

Robert Jordan The Great Hunt

Source: The Great Hunt

“Let us ask the Gods not for possessions, but for things to do; happiness is in making things rather than consuming them.”

Will Durant (1885–1981) American historian, philosopher and writer

Source: Fallen Leaves (2014), Ch. 2 : On Youth

“If you understand, things are just as they are. If you do not understand, things are just as they are.”

Charles de Lint (1951) author

“The Forever Trees”, p. 327 (quoting a Zen saying)
The Ivory and the Horn (1996)

“Do you not think that there are things which you cannot understand, and yet which are, that some people see things that others cannot? But there are things old and new which must not be contemplated by men's eyes, because they know, or think they know, some things which other men have told them.”

Bram Stoker book Dracula

Professor Van Helsing to Dr. Seward
Dracula (1897)
Context: You reason well, and your wit is bold, but you are too prejudiced. You do not let your eyes see nor your ears hear, and that which is outside your daily life is not of account to you. Do you not think that there are things which you cannot understand, and yet which are, that some people see things that others cannot? But there are things old and new which must not be contemplated by men's eyes, because they know, or think they know, some things which other men have told them. Ah, it is the fault of our science that it wants to explain all, and if it explain not, then it says there is nothing to explain. But yet we see around us every day the growth of new beliefs, which think themselves new, and which are yet but the old, which pretend to be young, like the fine ladies at the opera.