Who is there today who still cares about a well-finished death? No one. Even the rich, who could after all afford this luxury, are beginning to grow lazy and indifferent; the desire to have a death of one's own is becoming more and more rare. In a short time it will be as rare as a life of one's own.
Interpretation
The quote reflects on the diminishing value society places on the quality of one's death, paralleling it with the neglect of living a meaningful life.
Rainer Maria Rilke's quote emphasizes that in contemporary society, the significance of having a well-composed and meaningful death is increasingly overlooked. This indifference extends even to the wealthy, who have the means to seek a dignified end but instead choose a path of laziness and apathy. Rilke warns that just as thoughtful engagement with death is fading, so too is the pursuit of a genuinely fulfilled life, suggesting a troubling trend regarding our values surrounding existence and mortality.
In practice
In a eulogy, one could use this quote to highlight the importance of living an intentional life.
Spring has again returned. _x000D_ _x000D_ The Earth is like a child that knows many poems._x000D_ _x000D_ Many, O so many. For the hardship_x000D_ _x000D_ of such long learning she receives the prize._x000D_ _x000D_ _x000D_ Strict was her teacher. _x000D_ _x000D_ The white in the old man's beard pleases us._x000D_ _x000D_ Now, what to call green, to call blue,_x000D_ _x000D_ we dare to ask: She knows, She knows!
Verses are not, as people think, feelings (those one has early enough) -- they are experiences. For the sake of a verse one must see many cities, men, and things, one must know the animals feel how birds fly, and know the gesture with which the little flowers open in the morning.
a good marriage is that in which each appoints the other guardian of his solitude
He reproduced himself with so much humble objectivity, with the unquestioning, matter of fact interest of a dog who sees himself in a mirror and thinks: there's another dog.
The only journey is the one within.
And now we welcome the new year, full of things that have never been
The way the public sees it is this. If we don't leave, we are idiots. If we do leave but don't succeed in our mission, we are incompetent. But if we do succeed, it's because it was easy and anyone could have done it.
I am honorary President of the American Humanist Society, having succeeded the late, great science fiction writer Isaac Asimov in that utterly functionless capacity. We Humanists behave as well as we can, without any rewards or punishments in an Afterlife.
We must remember that nothing in this world really belongs to us. At best, we are merely borrowers.
By adopting the control strategy, the nation's environmental program has created a built-in antagonism between environmental quality and economic growth.
The anarch wages his own wars, even when marching in rank and file
The greatest proof of Christianity for others is not how far a man can logically analyze his reasons for believing, but how far in practice he will stake his life on his belief.
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