On the Shortness of Life, Section 11

Seneca — The Senator

Want to know how short their lives really are? Look at how desperately they want to live longer. Broken-down old men pray for just a few more years. They lie about their age. They fool themselves with their own stories, as if they could trick fate itself. When illness finally reminds them they're mortal, they die in terror. They don't leave life peacefully — they get dragged out kicking and screaming. They cry out that they've been fools who never really lived. They promise that if they survive this illness, they'll finally start enjoying life. Only then do they see how pointlessly they worked for things they never enjoyed. All that effort was for nothing.

Seneca — The Senator Original

In a word, do you want to know for how short a time they live? see how they desire to live long: broken-down old men beg in their prayers for the addition of a few more years: they pretend to be younger than they are: they delude themselves with their own lies, and are as willing to cheat themselves as if they could cheat Fate at the same time: when at last some weakness reminds them that they are mortal, they die as it were in terror: they may rather be said to be dragged out of this life than to depart from it. They loudly exclaim that they have been fools and have not lived their lives, and declare that if they only survive this sickness they will spend the rest of their lives at leisure: at such times they reflect how uselessly they have laboured to provide themselves with what they have never enjoyed, and how all their toil has gone for nothing: