Echoes Across Time

Memento Mori — The Stoic Way of Dying

Seneca, Marcus Aurelius, Epictetus, Cicero: the Stoics were obsessed with death — not morbidly, but as a practice. Remembering mortality, they said, is how you learn to actually live.

36 total quotes

“
Seize the day, put no trust in tomorrow.

—HoraceLyric Poet

Ancient World ERA • Southern Europe

“
Fortune is blind and so are those in her power.

—Giovanni BoccaccioWriter & Poet

Medieval ERA • Southern Europe

“
The world's joy is fleeting, its sorrow ever present, a bitter truth.

—Mustafa Safi al-Din al-Tughra'iPoet

Medieval ERA • MENA

“
The sun is new each day.

—HeraclitusPhilosopher

Ancient World ERA • Southern Europe

“
Time destroys the speculation of men, but it confirms nature.

—CiceroStatesman, Lawyer & Philosopher

Ancient World ERA • Southern Europe

“
It is not that we have a short time to live, but that we waste a great deal of it.

—SenecaPhilosopher, Statesman & Playwright

Ancient World ERA • Southern Europe

“
Dripping water hollows out stone, not through force but through persistence.

—OvidPoet

Ancient World ERA • Southern Europe

“
Perhaps one day, it will be a joy to recall even this.

—VirgilPoet

Ancient World ERA • Southern Europe

“
The present is like a breath, the past a dream, the future unknown.

—Andreas GryphiusPoet & Playwright

Renaissance ERA • Western Europe

“
The one thing that is for ever certain in this world is change.

—Charles DickensNovelist & Critic

Industrial Age ERA • Western Europe

“
Time, the destroyer of all things, yet builder of new fortunes.

—Mustafa Safi al-Din al-Tughra'iPoet

Medieval ERA • MENA

“
Time in its irresistible and ceaseless flow carries along on its flood all created things.

—Anna KomneneHistorian & Emperor

Medieval ERA • MENA

“
All is vanity! What we behold is naught.

—Andreas GryphiusPoet & Playwright

Renaissance ERA • Western Europe

“
Where now are cities, walls, and tower's pride?

—Andreas GryphiusPoet & Playwright

Renaissance ERA • Western Europe

“
Let nothing disturb you. Let nothing frighten you. All things pass.

—Teresa of ÁvilaMystic & Reformer

Renaissance ERA • Southern Europe

“
It is not death or pain that is to be feared, but the fear of death or pain.

—EpictetusPhilosopher

Ancient World ERA • Southern Europe

“
The future is a present that hasn't quite arrived.

—Roberto BolañoNovelist & Poet

Late Modern ERA • Latin America

“
Endure, my heart: you have endured worse things than this.

—HomerEpic Poet

Ancient World ERA • Southern Europe

“
The descent into hell is easy; the return, arduous.

—VirgilPoet

Ancient World ERA • Southern Europe

“
Be patient and tough; this pain will serve you one day.

—OvidPoet

Ancient World ERA • Southern Europe

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