Life is uncertain, death levels all

Knight, Death, and the Devil (Albrecht Dürer, 1513)

As for fame, it is fleeting. Where now is Alexander? Where is Xerxes? Where is Hannibal? What remains is a legend which itself would not be remembered save for the writings of literary men. What value have the pyramids to those who see them no longer? Riches only beget desire for more. Beauty wilts like the roses, friends flit like swallows. Life is uncertain, death levels all. How many are those who live, I will not say as long as Nestor or Methuselah, but to be a hundred? How many until sixty? Not one in a thousand! The body will die but nothing is so dreadful as the death of the soul. Therefore study to make yourself capable of eternal felicity. This you can do best by secreting yourself from the seductions of the world.

Desiderius Erasmus, On Contempt of the World