“My soul, are you ever going to achieve goodness? Ever going to be simple, whole, and naked — as plain to see as the body that contains you? Know what an affectionate and loving disposition would feel like? Ever be fulfilled, ever stop desiring — lusting and longing for people and things to enjoy? Or for more time to enjoy them? Or for some other place or country — a more temperate climate? Or for people easier to get along with? And instead be satisfied with what you have, and accept the present — all of it. And convince yourself that everything is the gift of the gods, that things are good and always will be, whatever they decide and have in store for the preservation of that perfect entity — good and just and beautiful, creating all things, connecting and embracing them, and gathering in their separated fragments to create more like them. Will you ever take your stand as a fellow citizen with gods and human beings, blaming no one, deserving no one’s censure?”

— Marcus Aurelius, Meditations