Human Affairs Are Faint as a Shadow, Virtue Has Eternal Value

Human affairs are faint as a shadow. Youth fades quickly as the flowers of spring; beauty wastes with age or sickness. Riches are uncertain; glory fickle. The pursuit of arts and sciences is bounded by the present life, but virtue is a precious possession for its owner and all who witness it and it alone has eternal value. Make it your study, and you will be worthy of the good things promised by God. - Saint Basil