It is so long before the mind can persuade itself that she whom we saw every day and whose very existence appeared a part of our own can have

It is so long before the mind can persuade itself that she whom we saw every day and whose very existence appeared a part of our own can have departed forever that the brightness of a beloved eye can have been extinguished and the sound of a voice so familiar and dear to the ear can be hushed, never more to be heard. These are the reflections of the first days; but when the lapse of time proves the reality of the evil, then the actual bitterness of grief commences.

–
Mary Shelley,

Frankenstein

Believe me if you consult philosophy she will persuade you not to lit so long at your counting desk – Seneca, Letters

Believe me if you consult philosophy she will persuade you not to lit so long at your counting desk

–
Seneca,

Letters from a Stoic