"We must press on then, in haste;..." - Quote by Marcus Aurelius
We must press on then, in haste; not simply because every hour brings us nearer to death, but because even before then our powers of perception and comprehension begin to deteriorate.
More by Marcus Aurelius
“Let men see, let them know, a real man, who lives as he was meant to live.”
“Doctors keep their scalpels and other instruments handy, for emergencies. Keep your philosophy ready too - ready to understand heaven and earth. In everything you do, even the smallest thing, remember the chain that links them. Nothing earthly succeeds by ignoring heaven, nothing heavenly by ignoring earth.”
“Let every action aim solely at the common good.”
More on Urgency
“Live not as though there were a thousand years ahead of you. Fate is at your elbow; make yourself good while life and power are still yours.”
“I speak of peace, therefore, as the necessary rational end of rational men. I realize the pursuit of peace is not as dramatic as the pursuit of war... But we have no more urgent task.”
“I am for violence if non-violence means we continue postponing a solution to the American black man's problem just to avoid violence.”
More on Mortality
“Come hither, all ye empty things,Ye bubbles rais'd by breath of Kings;Who float upon the tide of state,Come hither, and behold your fate.Let pride be taught by this rebuke,How very mean a thing's a Duke;From all his ill-got honours flung,Turn'd to that dirt from whence he sprung.”
“He knows what it's like to strut and fret his hour upon the stage and then be heard no more.”
“Golden lads and girls all must as chimney sweepers come to dust.”