What is life? It is the flash of a firefly in the night. It is the breath of a buffalo in the winter time. It is the little shadow which runs across the grass and loses itself in the Sunset.
Interpretation
Life is fleeting and beautiful, akin to brief moments in nature.
Crowfoot's quote offers a profound reflection on the transient nature of life, comparing it to ephemeral moments in the natural world. The imagery of a firefly, the breath of a buffalo, and a shadow emphasizes how quickly these moments pass, inviting us to appreciate the beauty in the fleeting experiences that life presents.
In practice
In a speech about the importance of cherishing moments, you could reference this quote to emphasize the brevity of life.
People have to be atomized and segregated and alone. They're not supposed to organize, because then they might be something beyond spectators of action. They might actually be participants if many people with limited resources could get together to enter the political arena. That's really threatening.
All things are manifestations of one thing only.
Lies are infinite in number, and the truth so small and singular.
If evil is inevitable, how are the wicked accountable? Nay, why do we call men wicked at all? Evil is inevitable, but is also remediable.
There is no sun without shadow, and it is essential to know the night.
We live in a society whose whole policy is to excite every nerve in the human body and keep it at the highest pitch of artificial tension, to strain every human desire to the limit and to create as many new desires and synthetic passions as possible, in order to cater to them with the products of our factories and printing presses and movie studios and all the rest.
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