A passage from Musonius Rufus
Musonius Rufus, Lectures Whether One Should Fear Death
✱
It is not death which is honorable or shameful, but the manner of dying.
Related passages
✱
At dawn, when you have trouble getting out of bed, tell yourself: 'I have to go to work — as a human being.'
✱
Take care not to be Caesarified, or dyed with purple; for it does happen. Keep thyself then simple, good, pure, serious, free from affectation.
✱
It is a man's special privilege to love even those who wrong him.