Marcus Aurelius

Just as the sand-dunes, heaped one upon another, hide each the first, so in life the former deeds are quickly hidden by those that follow after.

That which is not good for the beehive cannot be good for the bees.

Look within. Within is the fountain of good, and it will ever bubble up, if thou wilt ever dig.

The constant recollection of death is the test of human conduct.

Spend your brief moment according to nature's law, and serenely greet the journey's end as an olive falls when it is ripe, blessing the branch that bare it, and giving thanks to the tree that gave it life.

It is not death that a man should fear, but he should fear never beginning to live.

As a horse when he has run, a dog when he has caught the game, a bee when it has made the honey, so a man when he has done a good act does not call out for others to come and see, but he goes on to another act, as a vine goes on to produce again the grapes in season. Must a man then be one of these, who in a manner acts thus without observing it? Yes. What more dost thou want when thou hast done a man a service? Art thou not content that thou hast done something conformable to thy nature, and dost thou seek to be paid for it, just as if the eye demanded a recompense for seeing, or the feet should demand a recompense for walking?

We ought to do good to others as simply as a horse runs, or a bee makes honey, or a vine bears grapes season after season without thinking of the grapes it has borne.

Flinch not, neither give up nor despair, if the achieving of every act in accordance with right principle is not always continuous with thee.

Nothing happens to any man which he is not formed by nature to bear.