"Run down the list of those who..." - Quote by Marcus Aurelius
Run down the list of those who felt intense anger at something: the most famous, the most unfortunate, the most hated, the most whatever: Where is all that now? Smoke, dust, legend...or not even a legend. Think of all the examples. And how trivial the things we want so passionately are.
More by Marcus Aurelius
“Accustom yourself not to be disregarding of what someone else has to say: as far as possible enter into the mind of the speaker.”
“Because your own strength is unequal to a task, do not assume it is beyond the powers of man.”
“In this flowing stream, then, on which there is no abiding, what is there of the things which hurry by on which a man would set a high price? It would be just as if a man should fall in love with one of the sparrows which fly by, but it has already passed out of sight.”
More on Transience
“Time is a kind of river, an irresistible flood sweeping up men and events and carrying them headlong, one after the other, to the great sea of being.”
“There are people who, like new songs, are in vogue only for a time.”
“As beauteous is the world, and many a joy Floats through its wide dominion. But, alas, When we would seize the winged good, it flies.”