The time that any man doth live is but a little, and the place where he lives is but a very little corner of the earth, and the greatest fame that can remain of a man after his death, even that is but little, and that too, such as it is whilst it is, is by the succession of silly mortal men preserved, who likewise shall shortly die, and even they who live know not what they themselves are and much less can know one, who long before is dead and gone.
—Marcus Aurelius, Meditations
