John T

“Soon you’ll be ashes, or bones. A mere name, at most—and even that is just a sound, an echo. The things we want in life are empty, stale, and trivial. Dogs snarling at each other. Quarreling children—laughing and then bursting into tears a moment later. Trust, shame, justice, truth—“gone from the earth and only found in heaven.” Why are you still here? Sensory objects are shifting and unstable; our senses dim and easily deceived; the soul itself a decoction of the blood; fame in a world like this is worthless. —And so? Wait for it patiently—annihilation or metamorphosis. —And until that time comes—what? Honor and revere the gods, treat human beings as they deserve, be tolerant with others and strict with yourself. Remember, nothing belongs to you but your flesh and blood—and nothing else is under your control.”
― Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

“Always the same. Now a spark of hope flashes up, then a sea of despair rages, and always pain; always pain, always despair, and always the same. When alone he had a dreadful and distressing desire to call someone, but he knew beforehand that with others present it would be still worse.”
― Leo Tolstoy, The Death of Ivan Ilych

“Grant me one hour on love’s most sacred shores
To clasp the bosom that my soul adores,
Lie heart to heart and merge my soul with yours.”
― Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Faust, First Part

“Loving the same man or woman all your life, why, that's like supposing the same candle could last you all your life”
― Leo Tolstoy, The Kreutzer Sonata