Marcus Aurelius: “Well; out of the universe from the beginning everything which happens has been apportioned and spun out to thee.”

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

The third, then, is the ruling part; consider thus: Thou art an old man; no longer let this be a slave, no longer be pulled by the strings like a puppet to unsocial movements, no longer be either dissatisfied with thy present lot, or…

What a power man has to do nothing except what God will approve, and to accept all that God may give him.

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.