“If I hadn't have had music in my life, it's quite possible I could be in here. Or nor even in here, be dead — and I'd much rather be alive.”

XI. 489–492 (tr. Robert Fagles); Achilles' ghost to Odysseus.
Alexander Pope's translation:
: Rather I'd choose laboriously to bear
A weight of woes, and breathe the vital air,
A slave to some poor hind that toils for bread,
Than reign the sceptred monarch of the dead.
With many a weary step, and many a groan,
Up the high hill he heaves a huge round stone;
The huge round stone, resulting with a bound,
Thunders impetuous down, and smokes along the ground. P. S. Worsley's translation:
: Rather would I, in the sun's warmth divine,
Serve a poor churl who drags his days in grief,
Than the whole lordship of the dead were mine.
Odyssey (c. 725 BC)

Source: Sputnik Sweetheart

The Guardian - 05/10/2001
Childhood

Source: Strange Angels

Interviewed by Dan Warburton, July 8, 1995. http://www.paristransatlantic.com/magazine/interviews/birtwistle.html

As quoted in "Michael Douglas Will Never Stop Working" in AARP (25 March 2021) https://www.aarp.org/entertainment/celebrities/info-2021/michael-douglas-interview.html

Source: Along for the Ride

Source: Dead and Alive