The world begins anew with every birth, my father used to say. He forgot to say, with every death it ends. Or did not think he needed to. Because for a goodly part of his life he worked in a graveyard.
Interpretation
Life is cyclic; every new birth signifies a new beginning, while each death signifies an ending.
This quote reflects on the cyclical nature of life, emphasizing that every birth represents the start of a new journey, while every death symbolizes the conclusion of another. The author's father's perspective, shaped by his experiences in a graveyard, suggests that he recognized the profound interconnection between life and death, yet perhaps chose to focus solely on the beauty of new beginnings without pondering the inevitability of endings.
In practice
In a eulogy, this quote can remind attendees of the cyclical nature of life.
It is funny, but it strikes me that a person without anecdotes that they nurse while they live, and that survive them, are more likely to be utterly lost not only to history but the family following them. Of course this is the fate of most souls, reducing entire lives, no matter how vivid and wonderful, to those sad black names on withering family trees, with half a date dangling after and a question mark.
What is the sound of an eighty-nine-year-old heart breaking?
The weather is entrancing, but in my heart there is no sun.
Clumsiness attempts to fix simplicity straight in the eye. It is not a mark of incompetence but of reticence.
The several states composing the United States of America are not united on the principle of unlimited submission to their general government
Only those are fit to live who do not fear to die and none are fit to die who have shrunk from the joy of life and the duty of life.
The good opinion of mankind, like the lever of Archimedes, with the given fulcrum, moves the world.
Toohey: "Mr. Roark, we're alone here. Why don't you tell me what you think of me? In any words you wish. No one will hear us." Roark: "But I don't think of you.
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