One day at a time. Seneca, Epistles 1.12.4-6

Anticipating Marcus Aurelius' note about the beauty of every natural consequence, Seneca recommends that we enjoy old age.

Debeo hoc suburbano meo, quod mihi senectus mea quocumque adverteram apparuit. Complectamur illam et amemus; plena est voluptatis, si illa scias uti. Gratissima sunt poma cum fugiunt; pueritiae maximus in exitu decor est; deditos vino potio extrema delectat, illa quae mergit, quae ebrietati summam manum imponit; quod in se iucundissimum omnis voluptas habet in finem sui differt. Iucundissima est aetas devexa iam, non tamen praeceps, et illam quoque in extrema tegula (†) stantem iudico habere suas voluptates; aut hoc ipsum succedit in locum voluptatum, nullis egere. Quam dulce est cupiditates fatigasse ac reliquisse! Molestum est inquis mortem ante oculos habere. Primum ista tam seni ante oculos debet esse quam iuveni. Non enim citamur ex censu. Deinde nemo tam senex est ut improbe unum diem speret. Unus autem dies gradus vitae est.

To my villa I owe this gift, that my age appears to me everywhere I turn. Let us embrace old age, and love her! She is full of pleasure, if you know how to approach her. Fruit is sweetest right before it rots, and the charm of youth greatest as it departs. The last drink delights those given to wine, baptizing them in her waves as she puts the finishing touch upon their drunkenness. Each pleasure holds something different in its end, something all too sweet that is unique to it. The sweetest old age is gradual rather than sudden, and I think she retains her pleasures even while standing upon life's last roof-tile. Or at the very least, she knows no lack, replacing pleasures with contentment. How delightful it is to give up desires of which you are tired! "What a bother," you say, "to have death before your eyes." But death ought to present herself to the old before coming to see the young. Nor are we running from the census (‡). After all, nobody is so old that he cannot hope for one more day. That is the proper pace of life: one day at a time.

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(†) I read tegula (roof-tile) with Hense and the MSS.

(‡) In Seneca's time, people who did not wish to pay taxes might try to avoid being counted by officials whose charge was to list Roman citizens and assess their wealth. Some things never change.