Neither in your actions be sluggish nor in your conversation without method, nor wandering in thought, nor let there be in your soul either inward contention or external effusion; nor in life be so busy as to have no leisure.
Suppose men kill you, cut you in pieces, curse you. What then can these things do to prevent your mind from remaining pure, wise, sober, just? For instance, if a man should stand by a limpid pure spring, and curse it, the spring does not stop sending up pure water; and if he should cast dirt and filth into it, it will speedily disperse them and wash them out, and will not be at all polluted. How then shall you possess a perpetual fountain? By imbuing yourself hourly with freedom, benevolence, simplicity, and modesty.
-Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, VIII.51
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