LIFE
On entre, on crie,
Et c'est la vie!
On bailie, on sort,
Et c'est la mort!
We come and we cry, and that is life; we yawn and we depart, and that is death!
However, while I crawl upon this planet I think myself obliged to do what good I can in my narrow domestic sphere, to all my fellow-creatures, and to wish them all the good I cannot do.
Brevis a natura nobis vita data est; at memoria bene reditse vitae sempiterna.
The life given us by nature is short; but the
memory of a well-spent life is eternal.
Cicero—Philippics. XIV. 12.
Natura dedit usuram vitae tanquam pecuniae
nulla praestitua die.
Nature has lent us life at interest, like
money, and has fixed no day for its payment.
Cicero—TusculanarumDisputationum. 1.39.
Nemo parum diu vixit, qui virtuis perfects
perfecto functus est munere.
No one has lived a short life who has performed its duties with unblemished character.
Cicero—Tuscidanarum Diaputationum. I.
.
To know, to esteem, to love,—and then to part,
Makes up life's tale to many a feeling heart.
Coleridge—On Taking Leave of .
Life is but thought.
Coleridge—Youth and Age.
This life's a hollow bubble.
Don't you know?
Just a painted piece of trouble,
Don't you know?
We come to earth to cry,
We grow older and we sigh,
Older still, and then we die!
Don't you know?
Edmund Vance Cooke—Fin de Siecle.
| seealso = (See also Bacon)
| topic = Life
| page = 443
}}
{{Hoyt quote
| num =
| text = <poem>Life for delays and doubts no time does give,
None ever yet made haste enough to live.
Abraham Cowley—Martial. Lib. II. XC.
His faith, perhaps, in some nice tenets might
Be wrong; his life, I'm sure, was in the right.
Abraham Cowley—On the Death of Mr.
Crashaw. L. 56.
Life is an incurable disease.
Abraham Cowley—To Dr. Scarborough.
Men deal with life as children with their play,
Who first misuse, then cast their toys away.
| author = Cowper
| work = Hope. L. 127.
LIFE 443
Still ending, and beginning still.
| author = Cowper
| work = Task. Bk. III. L. 627.
«
What is it but a map of busy life,
Its fluctuations, and its vast concerns?
| author = Cowper
| work = Task. Bk. IV. L. 55.
Let's learn to live, for we must die alone.
Crabbe—Borough. Letter X.
Shall he who soars, inspired by loftier views,
Life's little cares and little pains refuse?
Shall he not rather feel a double share
Of mortal woe, when doubly arm'd to bear?
Crabbe—Library.
Life's bloomy flush was lost.
Crabbe—Parish Register. Pt. II. 453.
| seealso = (See also Goldsmith)
| topic = Life
| page = 443
}}
{{Hoyt quote
| num =
| text = <poem>Life is not measured by the time we live.
Crabbe—Village. Bk. II.
Chaque instant de la vie est un pas vers la
mort.
Every moment of life is a step toward the
grave.
Crebillon—Tite et Berenice. I. 5.
Non e necessario
Vivere, si scolpire olte quel termine
Nostra nome: quaesto e necessario.
It is not necessary to live,
But to carve our names beyond that point,
This is necessary.
Gabrtele d'ANNUNZio—Canzone di Umberto
Cagni.
Nel mezzo del cammin di nostra vita
Mi ritrovai per una selva oscura,
Che la diritta via era smarrita.
In the midway of this our mortal life,
I found me in a gloomy wood, astray,
Gone from the path direct.
Dante—Inferno. I.
Questo misero modo
Tengon l'anime triste di coloro
Che visser senza infamia e senza lodo.
This sorrow weighs upon the melancholy
souls of those who Uvea without infamy or
praise.
Dante—Inferno. III. 36.
. . . There are two distinct classes of
people in the world; those that feel that they
themselves are in a body; and those that feel
that they themselves are a body, with something
working it. / feel like the contents of a bottle,
and am curious to know what will happen when
the bottle is uncorked. Perhaps I shall be
mousseux—who knows? Now I know that many
people feel like a strong moving engine, selfstoking, and often so anxious to keep the fire
going that they put too much fuel on, and it has
to be raked out and have the bars cleared.
William de Morgan—Joseph Vance. Ch.XL.
Learn to live well, that thou may'st die so too;
To live and die is all we have to do.
Sir John Denham—Of Prudence. L. 93.
