But honestly, I think it's better in philosophy to see things as they really are and speak about them directly. Don't worry about fancy words — let the ideas themselves guide what you say. Let your speech simply follow where the truth leads. Why do you want to build something that will last forever? Don't you want this so that future people will remember you? But you were born to die, and a quiet death is the least painful kind. So write something simple, just to pass the time, for yourself — not to be published. It takes much less work when you don't try to impress people beyond today.
but I think, by Hercules, that in philosophical speculation it is better to view things as they are, and to speak of them on their own account, and as for words, to trust to things for them, and to let one's speech simply follow whither they lead. "Why do you want to construct a fabric that will endure for ages? Do you not wish to do this in order that posterity may talk of you: yet you were born to die, and a silent death is the least wretched. Write something therefore in a simple style, merely to pass the time, for your own use, and not for publication. Less labour is needed when one does not look beyond the present."