Soon you’ll be ashes, or bones. A mere name, at most - and even that is just a sound, an echo. The things we want in life are empty, stale, and trivial. Dogs snarling at each other. Quarreling children - laughing and then bursting into tears a moment later. Trust, shame, justice, truth - “gone from the earth and only found in heaven.” Why are you still here? Sensory objects are shifting and unstable; our senses dim and easily deceived; the soul itself a decoction of the blood; fame in a world like this is worthless. - And so? Wait for it patiently - annihilation or metamorphosis. - And until that time comes - what? Honor and revere the gods, treat human beings as they deserve, be tolerant with others and strict with yourself. Remember, nothing belongs to you but your flesh and blood - and nothing else is under your control.
― Marcus Aurelius, Meditations
