There is no wealth but life. Life, including all its powers of love, of joy, and of admiration. That country is the richest which nourishes the greatest number of noble and happy human beings; that man is richest who, having perfected the function of his own life to the utmost, has always the widest helpful influence, both personal, and by means of his possessions, over the lives of others. John Ruskin
Government and cooperation are in all things the laws of life; anarchy and competition the laws of death. John Ruskin, Unto this Last 1862
Before the beginning of years
There came to the making of man
Time, with a gift of tears;
Grief, with a glass that ran. Algernon Charles Swinburne, Atalanta in Calydon, 1865
Sleep; and if life was bitter to thee, pardon,
If sweet, give thanks; thou hast no more to live;
And to give thanks is good, and to forgive. Algernon Charles Swinburne, Ave atque Vale
For the crown of our life as it closes
Is darkness, the fruit thereof dust;
No thorns go as deep as the rose’s,
And love is more cruel than lust. Algernon Charles Swinburne, Delores
None would live past years again,
Yet all hope pleasure in what yet remain;
And, from the dregs of life, think to receive,
What the first sprightly running could not give. John Dryden, 1631-1700, Aureng-Zebe
I’ve looked at life from both sides now,
From win and lose and still somehow
It’s life illusions I recall;
I really don’t know life at all … Joni Mitchell, Both Sides Now, song 1967
We are stardust,
We are golden,
And we got to get ourselves
Back to the garden … Joni Mitchell, Woodstock, 1969 song
Death and taxes and childbirth! There’s never any convenient time for any of them. Margaret Mitchell, Gone with the Wind, 1936
I wish I could care what you do or where you go but I can’t … My dear, I don’t give a damn. ibid.
After all, tomorrow is another day. Gone with the Wind 1939 starring Clark Gable & Vivien Leigh & Leslie Howard & Olivia de Haviland & Thomas Mitchell & Barbara Mitchell & Evelyn Keyes & Ann Rutherford & George Reeves & Fred Crane & Hattie McDaniel & Alicia Rhett et al, director Victor Fleming
The fever called ‘Living’
Is conquered at last. Edgar Allan Poe, For Annie, 1849
Thank Heaven! The crisis
The danger is past, and the lingering illness is over at last
And the fever called Living is conquered at last. ibid.
Windbags can be right. Aphorists can be wrong. It is a tough world. James Fenton, The Times 21st February 1985
Why live we idly here? William Shakespeare, I Henry VI I ii 13, Rene to Alencon and Charles
If there were reason for these miseries,
Then into limits could I bind thy woes.
When heaven doth weep, doth not the earth o’erflow? William Shakespeare, Titus Andronicus III i 218-220, Titus to Marcus
When will this fearful slumber have an end? ...
Now is a time to storm! ibid. III i 251 & 264, Titus to Marcus & Marcus to Titus
Despiteful and intolerable wrongs!
Shall I endure this monstrous villainy? ibid. IV iv 50-51, Saturnius to Clown
Who can be patient in such extremes? William Shakespeare, Richard Duke of York I i 216, Queen Margaret to King et al
For what is this world but grief and woe?
O God! Methinks it were a happy life
To be not better than a homely swain. ibid. II v 20-22, King Henry’s soliloquy
Ah, what a life were this! How sweet! How lovely! ibid. II v 41, King Henry’s soliloquy
Who shall hinder me?
I will despair, and be at enmity
With cozening hope. He is a flatterer,
A parasite, a keeper-back of death,
Who gently would dissolve the bonds of life,
Which false hope lingers in extremity. ibid. II ii 67-72, Queen to Bushy et al
O piteous spectacle! O bloody times! ibid. II v 73, King Henry to soldier
Alack the heavy day,
That I have worn so many winters out
And know not now what name to call myself! ibid. IV i 247-249, Richard to Northumberland
My charity is outrage; life, my shame. William Shakespeare, Richard III I iii 275, Queen Margaret to Richard Gloucester et al
A wretched soul, bruised with adversity
We bid be quiet when we hear it cry.
But were we burdened with like weight of pain,
As much or more we should ourselves complain. William Shakespeare, The Comedy of Errors II i 34-37
We cannot cross the cause why we were born. William Shakespeare, Love’s Labour’s Lost IV iii 216
What devil art thou that dost torment me thus?
This torture should be roared in dismal hell. William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet III ii 43-44, Juliet to Nurse
Alack, alack, that heaven should practise stratagems
Upon so soft a subject as myself. ibid. III v 209-210, Juliet to self
The world is not thy friend, nor the world’s law. ibid. V ii 72, Romeo to Apothecary
Live and be prosperous. ibid. V iii 42, Romeo to Balthasar
Life is as tedious as a twice-told tale,
Vexing the dull ear of a drowsy man. William Shakespeare III iv 108, King John
The time of life is short. William Shakespeare, I Henry IV V ii 81, Hotspur
But thought’s the slave of life, and life time’s fool;
And time, that takes survey of all the world,
Must have a stop. ibid. V iv 81
There is no measure in the occasion that breeds
it, therefore the sadness is without limit. William Shakespeare, Much Ado About Nothing I ii 3-4, Conrad to Don John
Gloucester, ’tis true that we are in great danger;
The greater therefore should our courage be ...
There is some soul of goodness in things evil,
Would men observingly distil it out –
For our bad neighbour makes us early stirrers,
Which is both beautiful and good husbandry,
Besides, there are our outward consciences,
And preachers to us all, admonishing
That we should dress us fairly for our end.
Thus may we gather honey from the weed
And make a moral of the devil himself. William Shakespeare, Henry V IV i 1-14, King Harry to Gloucester
I cannot tell what you and other men
Think of this life. William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar I ii 95-96
There is a tide in the affairs of men,
Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune;
Omitted, all the voyage of their life
Is bound in shallows and in miseries. ibid. IV iii 217
Live a little, comfort a little, cheer thyself a little. William Shakespeare, As You Like It II vi 5, Orlando to Adam
Duke Senior: Thou seest we are not all alone unhappy.
This wide and universal theatre.
Presents more woeful pageants than the scene
Wherein we play in.
Jaques: All the world’s a stage,
And all the men and women merely players:
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages. ibid. II vii @135