D. P. Curtin

There is something severe in this kind of wisdom, but also merciful. We cannot command that the past return what it has rightfully taken. We cannot bargain with time, or exempt ourselves, or those we love from the common fate of all mankind. We can only determine what shall be made of the days that remain to us. Stat sua cuique dies (“each has his appointed day”) as Jupiter spoke in Virgil’s Aeneid, reflecting on the mortality of mankind. That appointed day comes for each of us; what remains within our power is not to escape the limits of our nature, but to determine how we shall live within them.