“my candle burns at both ends it will not last the night but arh my friends and oh my foes it gives a lovely light”

—  Roald Dahl, book Boy

Edna St. Vincent Millay, in "First Fig" from A Few Figs from Thistles (1920); said to be a motto Roald Dahl lived by.
Misattributed
Variant: My candle burns at both ends;
It will not last the night;
But, ah, my foes, and, oh, my friends —
It gives a lovely light.
Source: Boy: Tales of Childhood

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

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Roald Dahl103
British novelist, short story writer, poet, fighter pilot a… 1916–1990

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