Overstep.................................?

1.  At day's first light have in readiness, against disinclination to leave your bed, the thought that 'I am rising for the work of man'.  Must I grumble at setting out to do what I was born for, and for the sake of which I have been brought into the world?  Is this the purpose of my creation, to lie here under the blankets and keep myself warm?  'Ah, but it is a great deal more pleasant!'  Was it for pleasure, then, that you were born, and not for work, not for effort?  Look at the plants, the sparrows, the ants, spiders, bees, all busy at their own tasks, each doing his part towards a coherent world-order;  and will you refuse man's share of the work, instead of being prompt to carry out Nature's bidding?  'Yes, but one must have some repose as well.'  Granted; but repose has its limits set by nature, the same way as food and drink have;  and you overstep these limits, you go beyond the point of sufficiency; while on the other hand, when action is in question, you stop short of what you could well achieve.

-Marcus Aurelius,  Meditations, being the first paragraph of Book 5