
The Roman Empire
The Note-Books of Samuel Butler (1912), Part XIII - Unprofessional Sermons
Source: A Burnt Child (1948), p. 251
The Roman Empire
The Note-Books of Samuel Butler (1912), Part XIII - Unprofessional Sermons
“Distances did nothing. It’s all here.”
Voces (1943)
“Nothing lasts forever, few things even last for long: all are susceptible of decay in one way or another; moreover all that begins also ends.”
Nihil perpetuum, pauca diuturna sunt; aliud alio modo fragile est, rerum exitus variantur, ceterum quicquid coepit et desinit.
From Ad Polybium De Consolatione (Of Consolation, To Polybius), chap. I; translation based on work of Aubrey Stewart
Other works
The Human Comedy (1943)
Context: Death is not an easy thing for anyone to understand, least of all a child, but every life shall one day end. But as long as we are alive, as long as we are together, as long as two of us are left, and remember him, nothing in the world can take him from us. His body can be taken, but not him. You shall know your father better as you grow and know yourself better. He is not dead, because you are alive. Time and accident, illness and weariness took his body, but already you have given it back to him, younger and more eager than ever. I don't expect you to understand anything I'm telling you. But I know you will remember this — that nothing good ever ends. If it did, there would be no people in the world — no life at all, anywhere. And the world is full of people and full of wonderful life.
As quoted in "Warren Zevon's Resurrection: How he saved himself from a coward's death" http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/5935191/warren_zevons_resurrection/print by Paul Nelson, Rolling Stone (19 March 1981)
Japanese Death Poems. Compiled by Yoel Hoffmann. ISBN 978-0-8048-3179-6.
“I know of nothing useful in life except what is beautiful or creates beauty.”
Mr. Wharton in Ch. IV
Esther: A Novel (1884)
“The distance is nothing; it is only the first step that is difficult.”
La distance n'y fait rien; il n'y a que le premier pas qui coûte.
Comment on the legend told by the Cardinal de Polignac that St. Denis, carrying his head in his hands, walked two leagues. Letter to Jean Le Rond d'Alembert (1763-07-07). Voltaire wrote to Madame du Deffand (January 1764) that one of her bon-mots was quoted in the notes of La Pucelle, canto 1: "Il n'y a que le premier pas qui coûte.".