“Sad that our finest aspiration
Our freshest dreams and meditations,
In swift succession should decay,
Like Autumn leaves that rot away.”

“Ultimately, both self and belief drift away, like autumn leaves in a stream.”

Ladybelle Fiske (nickname)

“GLBT people across this country only want equality and to be left alone, left to pursue our dreams and aspirations and our part of the American promise, which should be our birthright.”

Jeffrey Montgomery (1953–2016) American LGBT rights activist and public relations executive

“The window opened gently and a still Autumn night entered cat-like. Edwin smelt freedom and London autumn – decay, smoke, cold, motor oil.”

Anthony Burgess (1917–1993) English writer

“Imperialism leaves behind germs of rot which we must clinically detect and remove from our land but from our minds as well.”

Frantz Fanon (1925–1961) Martiniquais writer, psychiatrist, philosopher, revolutionary

“It is most sad to watch the fall
Of autumn leaves!--but worst of all
It is to watch the flower of spring
Faded in its fresh blossoming!”

Letitia Elizabeth Landon (1802–1838) English poet and novelist

“We never taste a perfect joy;
Our happiest successes are mixed with sadness.”

Pierre Corneille book Le Cid

“That our government should have been maintained in its original form from its establishment until now, is not much to be wondered at. It had many props to support it through that period, which now are decayed, and crumbled away. Through that period, it was felt by all, to be an undecided experiment; now, it is understood to be a successful one.”

Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865) 16th President of the United States

“All over the world, the nation, in a dream
Of money and love and sport, hangs at the paps
Of well-being, and so
Goes fattening, mellowing, dozing, rotting down
Into a rich deliquium of decay.”

William Ernest Henley (1849–1903) English poet, critic and editor

“The twilight fleeted away in pearl on the stream,
And night, like a diamond dome, stood still in our dream.”

George William Russell (1867–1935) Irish writer, editor, critic, poet, and artistic painter