If we have been pleased with life, we should not be displeased with death, since it comes from the hand of the same master.
Interpretation
This quote suggests that both life and death are gifts from the same source, and we should accept death as a natural part of existence.
Michelangelo's quote reflects on the intertwined nature of life and death, advocating for a sense of acceptance towards both. It implies that if one has found joy and satisfaction in life, one should not resist or fear death, as it is an inevitable part of the human experience and emerges from the same divine authority that grants us life. This perspective encourages a harmonious view of existence, where both life and death are celebrated as expressions of a greater force.
In practice
In a eulogy, one might reference this quote to provide comfort to mourners.
The art of creation lies in the gift of perceiving the particular and generalizing it, thus creating the particular again. It is therefore a powerful transforming force and a generator of creative solutions in relation to a given problem.
The best artist has that thought alone Which is contained within the marble shell; The sculptor's hand can only break the spell To free the figures slumbering in the stone.
Art lives on constraint and dies of freedom.
If it be true that any beautiful thing raises the pure and just desire of man from earth to God, the eternal fount of all, such I believe my love.
Every beauty which is seen here by persons of perception resembles more than anything else that celestial source from which we all are come.
There is an angel imprisoned in it and I must set it free.
The faces of most American women over thirty are relief maps of petulant and bewildered unhappiness.
Was there ever in anyone's life span a point free in time, devoid of memory, a night when choice was any more than the sum of all the choices gone before?
If we are true Christians, we must not expect everything smooth in our journey to heaven. We must count it no strange thing, if we have to endure sicknesses, losses, bereavements, and disappointments, just like other men. Free pardon and full forgiveness, grace along the way, and glory at the endall this our Savior has promised to give. But He has never promised that we shall have no afflictions.
Race doesn't really exist for you because it has never been a barrier. Black folks don't have that choice.
Some women will spend thirty minutes to an hour preparing for church externally (putting on special clothes and makeup, etc.). What would happen if we all spent the same amount of time preparing internally for church—with prayer and meditation?
I believe it is universally understood and acknowledged that all men will ever act correctly, unless they have a motive to do otherwise.
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