“Let us live so that when we come to die even the undertaker will be sorry.”
Mark Twain book Pudd'nhead Wilson
Variant: Let us endeavor so to live that when we come to die even the undertaker will be sorry.
Source: Pudd'nhead Wilson
Source: Uncle Tom's Cabin
“Let us live so that when we come to die even the undertaker will be sorry.”
Mark Twain book Pudd'nhead Wilson
Variant: Let us endeavor so to live that when we come to die even the undertaker will be sorry.
Source: Pudd'nhead Wilson
Michel De Montaigne book Essays
C'est une épineuse entreprise, et plus qu'il ne semble, de suivre une allure si vagabonde que celle de nôtre esprit; de pénétrer les profondeurs opaques de ses replis internes; de choisir et arrêter tant de menus de ses agitations.
Book II, Ch. 6
Essais (1595), Book II
“Happiness! Can any human being undertake to define it for another?”
Dinah Craik (1826–1887) English novelist and poet
Source: A Woman's Thoughts About Women (1858), Ch. 10
Francesco Petrarca Il Canzoniere
Perché la vita è breve,
et l'ingegno paventa a l'alta impresa,
né di lui né di lei molto mi fido.
Canzone 71, st. 1
Il Canzoniere (c. 1351–1353), To Laura in Life
Iamblichus (240–320) Syrian philosopher
Source: Life of Pythagoras, Ch. 1 : Importance of the Subject
Context: Since wise people are in the habit of invoking the divinities at the beginning of any philosophic consideration, this is all the more necessary on studying that one which is justly named after the divine Pythagoras. Inasmuch as it emanated from the divinities it could not be apprehended without their inspiration and assistance. Besides, its beauty and majesty so surpasses human capacity, that it cannot be comprehended in one glance. Gradually only can some details of it be mastered when, under divine guidance we approach the subject with a quiet mind. Having therefore invoked the divine guidance, and adapted ourselves and our style to the divine circumstances, we shall acquiesce in all the suggestions that come to us. Therefore we shall not begin with any excuses for the long neglect of this sect, nor by any explanations about its having been concealed by foreign disciplines, or mystic symbols, nor insist that it has been obscured by false and spurious writings, nor make apologies for any special hindrances to its progress. For us it is sufficient that this is the will of the Gods, which all enable us to undertake tasks even more arduous than these. Having thus acknowledged our primary submission to the divinities, our secondary devotion shall be to the prince and father of this philosophy as a leader.
John Ogilby (1600–1676) Scottish academic
The Works of Publius Virgilius Maro (2nd ed. 1654), Virgil's Georgicks
Voltairine de Cleyre (1866–1912) American anarchist writer and feminist
Anarchism & American Traditions (1908)