"FOR although the body may be in health, the mind cannot be regarded as sound which does not prefer eternal to temporal things; yea, the life which we live in time is wasted, if it be not spent in obtaining that by which we may be worthy of eternal life. Therefore all things which are the objects of useful and becoming desire are unquestionably to be viewed with reference to that one life which is lived with God, and is derived from Him."
~St. Augustine: from Letter 130. (to Proba on prayer)
St. Augustine in His Cell, by Sandro Botticelli.
Tempera on panel, 1490-94; Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence.