Life & death. Seneca, Epistles 4.36.11-12

The natural cycle of life must be punctuated by death, which we should accept fearlessly, as part and parcel of what it means to be alive.

Sed postea diligentius docebo omnia quae videntur perire mutari. Aequo animo debet rediturus exire. Observa orbem rerum in se remeantium: videbis nihil in hoc mundo exstingui sed vicibus descendere ac surgere. Aestas abit, sed alter illam annus adducet; hiemps cecidit, referent illam sui menses; solem nox obruit, sed ipsam statim dies abiget. Stellarum iste discursus quidquid praeterit repetit; pars caeli levatur assidue, pars mergitur.

Denique finem faciam, si hoc unum adiecero, nec infantes nec pueros nec mente lapsos timere mortem et esse turpissimum si eam securitatem nobis ratio non praestat ad quam stultitia perducit. Vale.

But I shall teach you hereafter how all things that appear to perish are really only changed from one state to another. The man destined to return must take his leave with a mind at ease. Witness the world of things always turning back into one another: you will see that nothing in this world is ever totally extinct; instead, things rise and fall by turns. Summer departs, but each new year brings another. Winter has fallen away, but when her months recur, they will bring her back. Night plunges the sun down below the horizon, but day shall soon drive her darkness away. The very course of the stars runs ever after what has past; always one part of heaven is rising, while the other sinks.

Now I will at last make an end, adding just one more observation: babies, boys, and lunatics don't fear death, and it is truly a shame if our reason fails to offer us the same security that is the reward of their stupidity. Farewell.