“Sometimes, mortals did indeed forget. Sometimes, mortals needed … reminding.”

1930s, Mein Weltbild (My World-view) (1931)
Context: How strange is the lot of us mortals! Each of us is here for a brief sojourn; for what purpose he knows not, though he sometimes thinks he senses it. But without deeper reflection one knows from daily life that one exists for other people — first of all for those upon whose smiles and well-being our own happiness is wholly dependent, and then for the many, unknown to us, to whose destinies we are bound by the ties of sympathy. A hundred times every day I remind myself that my inner and outer life are based on the labors of other men, living and dead, and that I must exert myself in order to give in the same measure as I have received and am still receiving....

Source: Voice of the Gods

Source: Epistle to Curio (1744), Lines 197–198

The Works of Publius Virgilius Maro (2nd ed. 1654), Virgil's Æneis

TED Talk http://www.ted.com/talks/roger_ebert_remaking_my_voice.html (March 2011)
Context: It is human nature to look away from illness. We don't enjoy a reminder of our own fragile mortality. That's why writing on the Internet has become a life-saver for me. My ability to think and write have not been affected. And on the Web, my real voice finds expression.

Epistulae Morales ad Lucilium (Moral Letters to Lucilius), Letter XCVIII: On the Fickleness of Fortune

Source: Billy Budd, the Sailor (1891), Ch. 21