So be my passing! My task accomplished and the long day done, My wages taken, and in my heart Some late lark singing, Let me be gathered in the quiet west, The sundown splendid and serene, Death.
Interpretation
This quote reflects on the acceptance of death as a peaceful conclusion to life.
William Ernest Henley's quote contemplates the inevitability of death, expressing a desire for a serene and beautiful end to life's journey. It captures the notion of finding peace in the transition from life to death, suggesting that, much like a long day that comes to a close, one can accept their fate with grace and tranquility.
In practice
In a eulogy, one might say, 'As Henley put it, let us find peace in the quiet west and accept the beauty of life's end.'
It is the artist's function not to copy but to synthesise: to eliminate from that gross confusion of actuality which is his raw material whatever is accidental, idle, irrelevant, and select for perpetuation that only which is appropriate and immortal.
Were I so tall as to reach the pole or grasp the ocean at a span, I must be measured by my soul. The mind is the standard of the man.
Here is the ghost _x000D_ _x000D_ Of a summer that lived for us, _x000D_ _x000D_ Ere is a promise _x000D_ _x000D_ Of summer to be.
I thank whatever gods may be For my unconquerable soul.
The sickness of the individual is ultimately caused by and sustained by the sickness of his civilization
The nine-to-five is one of the greatest atrocities sprung upon mankind. You give your life to a function that doesn't interest you. This situation so repelled me that I was driven to drink, starvation, and mad females, simply as an alternative.
Men exist for the sake of one another.
Fate, then, is a name for facts not yet passed under the fire of thought; for causes which are unpenetrated.
To do evil a human being must first of all believe that what he's doing is good... Ideology - that is what gives devildoing its long-sought justification and gives the evildoer the necessary steadfastness and determination. That is the social theory which helps to make his acts seem good instead of bad in his own and others' eyes, so that he won't hear reproaches and curses but will receive praise and honors.
In our leisure we reveal what kind of people we are.
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