De tabe et phthisi pronunciata

Homer, Iliad 2.
Just as is the generation of leaves, so is that of men.
The wind scatters the leaves on the ground, but the flourishing wood
Brings forth others, and the season of spring follows,
So is the generation of men, one grows, and another ceases.
The whole race of men is very like falling leaves,
Which you see born now, and flourishing with beautiful foliage,
They fall when autumn comes, just as the burning
North wind has settled upon them.

Aristotle.
What is man? An example of weakness, the spoil of time, the toy of fortune, an image of mutability, and the scales of calamity; but the rest is phlegm and bile.

Pindar, Pythian Ode 8.
Creatures of a day: what is someone, what is no one?
Men are a dream of a shadow. But when the radiance
Given by Zeus comes,
A bright light is upon men
And a gentle age.

Psalm 90.
Our life vanishes into thin airs,
Like water through dry sands,
Or like an image playing through the dark
Shadows of the night.