Remember that as it is a shame to be surprised if the fig-tree produces figs, so it is to be surprised if the world produces such and such things of which it is productive; and for the physician and the helmsman it is a shame to be surprised if a man has a fever, or if the wind is unfavorable.
Marcus Aurelius uses an analogy to remind himself that one should not be surprised by the natural outcomes of the world or by predictable challenges in life.
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But it is inconsistent with honoring reason and God to be troubled because by death a man will be deprived of the other things.
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!
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!
What remains, except to enjoy life by joining one good thing to another so as not to leave even the smallest intervals between?
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