Life and Existence

It matters not how a man dies, but how he lives. The act of dying is not of importance, it lasts so short a time.

It matters not how a man dies, but how he lives. The act of dying is not of importance, it lasts so short a time.

A man ought to read just as inclination leads him; for what he reads as a task will do him little good.

Hides from himself his state, and shuns to know,

Still raise for good the supplicating voice,

He left the name, at which the world grew pale,

Marriage has many pains, but celibacy has no pleasures.

Human life is everywhere a state in which much is to be endured, and little to be enjoyed.

He [the poet] must write as the interpreter of nature, and the legislator of mankind.

I am disappointed by that stroke of death, which has eclipsed the gaiety of nations and impoverished the public stock of harmless pleasure.

Language is the dress of thought.

At seventy-seven it is time to be in earnest.

At seventy-seven it is time to be in earnest.

Change is not made without inconvenience, even from worse to better.

Muero porque no muero.

We were alone with the quiet day, and his little heart, dispossessed, had stopped.

Experience is never limited, and it is never complete; it is an immense sensibility, a kind of huge spider-web of the finest silken threads suspended in the chamber of consciousness, and catching every air-borne particle in its tissue.

Live all you can; it’s a mistake not to. It doesn’t so much matter what you do in particular, so long as you have your life. If you haven’t had that, what have you had?

Live all you can; it’s a mistake not to. It doesn’t so much matter what you do in particular, so long as you have your life. If you haven’t had that, what have you had?

Before you judge me, try hard to love me, look within your heart

Before you judge me, try hard to love me, look within your heart

Consistency is contrary to nature, contrary to life. The only completely consistent people are the dead.

Consistency is contrary to nature, contrary to life. The only completely consistent people are the dead.

Beauty is no quality in things themselves. It exists merely in the mind which contemplates them.