In the life of man, his time is but a moment, his being an incessant flux, his senses a dim rushlight, his body a prey of worms, his soul an unquiet eddy, his fortune dark, and his fame doubtful. In short, all that is of the body is as coursing waters, all that is of the soul as dreams and vapors; life a warfare, a brief sojourning in an alien land; and after repute, oblivion ...
Look beneath the surface, never let a thing's intrinsic quality or worth escape you ... Think often of the bond that unites all things in the universe, and their dependence upon one another. All are, as it were, interwoven ...
-- Marcus Aurelius Meditations
Translated by Maxwell Staniforth
