Seneca · On style as a mirror of character
Letters 114.27
We should be sensible, and our wants more reasonable, if each of us were to take stock of himself, and to measure his bodily needs also, and understand how little he can consume, and for how short a time! But nothing will give you so much help toward moderation as the frequent thought that life is short and uncertain here below; whatever you are doing, have regard to death. Farewell.
Seneca, Letters to Lucilius 114.27, translated by Richard Mott Gummere