Go thou to Rome,—at once the Paradise, The grave, the city, and the wilderness; And where its wrecks like shattered mountains rise, And flowering weeds, and fragrant copses dress The bones of Desolation’s nakedness Pass, till the spirit of the spot shall lead Thy footsteps to a slope of green access Where, like an infant’s smile, over the dead A light of laughing flowers along the grass is spread … — Percy Bysshe Shelley, Adonais, 49. ...
Before I became old I tried to live well; now that I am old, I shall try to die well; but dying well means dying gladly. — Seneca, Letter 61: On Meeting Death Cheerfully
“Trust that what brought you here Will take you there. The Infinite has no preferences. It kisses both the darkness and The light equally.” — The Lost Writings of Wu Hsin
“Every parent is at some point the father of the unreturned prodigal, with nothing to do but keep his house open to hope.” John Ciardi
Learning without thought is labor lost; thought without learning is perilous. — Confucius.
“It takes courage to do what you want. Other people have a lot of plans for you. Nobody wants you to do what you want to do. They want you to go on their trip, but you can do what you want. I did. I went into the woods and read for five years.” — Joseph Campbell Exactly why I went and spent a whole month in Europe. It’s not quite the “done thing” for folks like me. But I wanted to. So I did. ...