Let it make no difference to thee whether thou art cold or warm, if thou art doing thy duty; and whether thou art drowsy or satisfied with sleep; and whether ill-spoken of or praised; and whether dying or doing something else.
In his personal reflections, Marcus Aurelius advises maintaining equanimity and focus on duty regardless of physical sensations, reputation, or life's ultimate end.
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But if it is easy to set little value on all these things, turn to that which remains, which is to follow reason and God.
The safety of life is this, to examine everything all through, what it is itself, that is its material, what the formal part; with all thy soul to do justice and to say the truth.
And how small a part of the whole substance; and how small a part of the universal soul; and on what a small clod of the whole earth thou creepest!
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