If any god told thee that thou shalt die to-morrow, or certainly on the day after to-morrow, thou wouldst not care much whether it was on the third day or on the morrow, unless thou wast in the highest degree mean-spirited; for how small is the difference!
Marcus Aurelius contemplates the insignificance of the exact timing of death, urging a focus on living well rather than fearing the end.
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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!
But it is inconsistent with honoring reason and God to be troubled because by death a man will be deprived of the other things.
What remains, except to enjoy life by joining one good thing to another so as not to leave even the smallest intervals between?
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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