Marcus Aurelius: “Take care that thou art not made into a Caesar, that thou art not dyed with this dye; for such things happen.”

Reflecting on all this, consider nothing to be great, except to act as thy nature leads thee, and to endure that which the common nature brings.

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!

But everything else, whether it is in the power of thy will or not, is only lifeless ashes and smoke.

How small a part of the boundless and unfathomable time is assigned to every man, for it is very soon swallowed up in the eternal!