Once you have done a man a service, what more reward would you have? Is it not enough to have obeyed the laws of your own nature, without expecting to be paid for it?

You don't have to turn this into something. It doesn't have to upset you. Things can't shape our decisions by themselves.

Mark how fleeting and paltry is the estate of man - yesterday in embryo, tomorrow a mummy or ashes. So for the hairsbreadth of time assigned to thee, live rationally, and part with life cheerfully, as drops the ripe olive, extolling the season that bore it and the tree that matured it.

Nowhere can man find a quieter or more untroubled retreat than in his own soul.

No matter what anyone says or does, my task is to be emerald, my color undiminished.

Your mind will take on the character of your most frequent thoughts: souls are dyed by thoughts.

It is possible to depart from life at this moment. Have this thought in mind whenever you act, speak, or think.