Consider in what condition both in body and soul a man should be when he is overtaken by death; and consider the shortness of life, the boundless abyss of time past and future, the feebleness of all matter.
From his personal reflections, Marcus Aurelius urges contemplation on the state of one's being at the moment of death and the vastness of time.
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Labor not unwillingly, nor without regard to the common interest, nor without due consideration, nor with distraction; nor let studied ornament set off thy thoughts, and be not either a man of many words, or busy about too many things.
He was also easy in conversation, and he made himself agreeable without any offensive affectation.
For he who yields to pain and he who yields to anger, both are wounded and both submit.
Further, he was not fond of change nor unsteady, but he loved to stay in the same places, and to employ himself about the same things; and after his paroxysms of headache he came immediately fresh and vigorous to his usual occupations.
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