Stoic Snippets 154

Remember that as it is a shame to be surprised if the fig tree produces figs, so it is to be surprised if the world produces such and such things of which it is productive. 

And for the physician and the helmsman it is a shame to be surprised if a man has a fever, or if the wind is unfavorable. 

—Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 8.15 

IMAGE: Ferdinand du Puigaudeau, Old Fig Trees at Penerf (1921)