Prelude Stanza 3.
Departmental Ditties and other Verses (1886)
“Life is a jest; and all things show it. I thought so once; and now I know it.”
John Gay (1685–1732) English poet and playwright
My Own Epitaph, inscribed on Gay’s monument in Westminster Abbey; also quoted as "I thought so once; but now I know it".
Variant: Life is a jest, and all things show it,
I thought so once, and now I know it.
“Man’s life is but a jest,
A dream, a shadow, bubble, air, a vapor at the best.”
George Walter Thornbury (1828–1876) British writer
The Jester’s Sermon. Compare: "Life is a jest and all things show it; I thought so once, but now I know it", John Gay, My own Epitaph; "Life is an empty dream", Robert Browning, Paracelsus, ii.; "Life ’s but a series of trifles at best", Anonymous.
"The Rebel"
Walter Raleigh (1554–1618) English aristocrat, writer, poet, soldier, courtier, spy, and explorer
"On the Life of Man" (1612)
Attributed
“What shelter to grow ripe is ours?
What leisure to grow wise?”
Matthew Arnold (1822–1888) English poet and cultural critic who worked as an inspector of schools
"Stanzas in Memory of the Author of "Obermann"" (1852), st. 18
“Worth seeing? yes; but not worth going to see.”
Samuel Johnson (1709–1784) English writer
October 12, 1779 <br class="br">On the Giant's Causeway. A similar opinion was expressed by the English traveller Richard Twiss in 1775 in A Tour of Ireland http://books.google.ie/books?id=ujpIAAAAMAAJ, p. 157 <br class="br">Life of Samuel Johnson (1791), Vol III
Hatshepsut (-1507–-1458 BC) Egyptian Pharaoh
Hor-watit signifies "the only Horus
Djeser-Djeseru inscriptions
Context: Hear ye, all persons! Ye people as many as ye are! I have done things according to the design of my heart. … I have restored that which was in ruins, I have raised up that which was unfinished since the Asiatics were in the midst of the Northland, and the barbarians were in the midst of them, overthrowing that which was made, while they ruled in ignorance of Re. He did not do according to the divine command until my majesty. When I was firm upon the throne of Re, I was ennobled until the two periods of years... I came as Hor-watit flaming against my enemies.
