Marcus Aurelius: “The voice ought to be plainly written on the forehead.”

If then there is an invincible necessity, why dost thou resist?

Throw away thy books; no longer distract thyself: it is not allowed; but as if thou wast now dying, despise the flesh; it is blood and bones and network, a contexture of nerves, veins, and arteries.

Always run to the short way; and the short way is the natural: accordingly say and do everything in conformity with the soundest reason.

But to be strong enough both to bear the one and to be sober in the other is the mark of a man who has a perfect and invincible soul, such as he showed in the illness of Maximus.