Think about the lives of people who lived long ago, and those who will live in the future. Think about all the different nations around the world right now. Consider how many people have never even heard your name. How many will soon forget it. How many who praise you today will speak badly of you tomorrow. So fame, honor, and everything else this world offers — none of it is worth caring about.
Their lives also, who were long ago, and theirs who shall be hereafter, and the present estate and life of those many nations of barbarians that are now in the world, thou must likewise consider in thy mind. And how many there be, who never so much as heard of thy name, how many that will soon forget it; how many who but even now did commend thee, within a very little while perchance will speak ill of thee. So that neither fame, nor honour, nor anything else that this world doth afford, is worth the while.