Seneca · On ill-health and endurance of suffering
Letters 67.16
Why should I not regard this as desirable—not because the fire, burns me, but because it does not overcome me? Nothing is more excellent or more beautiful than virtue; whatever we do in obedience to her orders is both good and desirable. Farewell.
Seneca, Letters to Lucilius 67.16, translated by Richard Mott Gummere