it is up to us......................

     Among the functions of the soul there are some lowly ones; he who does not see that side of her also, does not fully know her.  And perhaps she is best observed when she goes at her simple pace.  The winds of passion seize her more strongly on her lofty flights.  Moreover, she gives all her being to each matter, and concentrates all her strength on it, and never treats more than one at a time.  And how she treats a matter not according to itself, but according to herself. 

     Things in themselves may have their own weights and measures and qualities; but once inside, within us, she allots them their qualities as she sees fit.  Death is frightful to Cicero, desirable to Cato, a matter of indifference to Socrates. . . .Wherefore let us no longer make the external qualities of things our excuse; it is up to us to reckon them as we will.  Our good and our ill depend on ourselves alone.  Let us offer our offerings and vows to ourselves, not to Fortune, for she has no power over our character; on the contrary, it drags her in its train and molds her in its own form.

-Michel de Montaigne, The Complete Works, Book 1, Chapter 50