Of human life the time is a point, and the substance is in a flux, and the perception dull, and the composition of the whole body subject to putrefaction, and the soul a whirl, and fortune hard to divine, and fame a thing devoid of judgment.
In his personal meditations, Marcus Aurelius offers a concise and somber summary of the transient and unreliable aspects of human life.
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How ridiculous and what a stranger he is who is surprised at anything which happens in life.
In the application of thy principles thou must be like the pancratiast, not like the gladiator; for the gladiator lets fall the sword which he uses and is killed; but the other always has his hand, and needs to do nothing else than use it.
What a power man has to do nothing except what God will approve, and to accept all that God may give him.
It is thy duty to leave another man's wrongful act there where it is (vii. 29; ix. 38).
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