“To that creature, being born,
Its birthday is a day to mourn.”
Stato che sia, dentro covile o cuna,
È funesto a chi nasce il dì natale.
Canto notturno di un pastore errante dell'Asia (Night song of a nomadic shepherd in Asia) (1829-1830). Translation by Eamon Grennan, Leopardi: Selected Poems [Princeton University Press, 1997, ISBN 0-691-01644-5], p. 62
Poetry
Help us to complete the source, original and additional information
Giacomo Leopardi18
Italian poet, philosopher and writer 1798–1837Related quotes
Leo Buscaglia (1924–1998) Motivational speaker, writer
Speaking Of Love (1980)
Context: DON'T MISS LOVE. It's an incredible gift. I love to think that the day you're born, you're given the world as your birthday present. It frightens me to think that so few people even bother to open up the ribbon! Rip it open! Tear off the top! It's just full of love and magic and joy and wonder and pain and tears. All of the things that are your gift for being human.
Gottfried de Purucker (1874–1942) Author, Theosophist
Source: The Story of Jesus (1938), Chapter 2
“Creatures of a day! What is a man?
What is he not? A dream of a shadow
Is our mortal being.”
Pindar (-517–-437 BC) Ancient Greek poet
Pythian 8, line 95-8; pages 162-3. (446 BC)
Context: Creatures of a day! What is a man?
What is he not? A dream of a shadow
Is our mortal being. But when there comes to men
A gleam of splendour given of Heaven,
Then rests on them a light of glory
And blesséd are their days.
“You have no birthday because you have always lived; you were never born, and never will die.”
Richard Bach (1936) American spiritual writer
There's No Such Place As Far Away (1978)
Context: You have no birthday because you have always lived; you were never born, and never will die. You are not the child of the people you call mother and father, but their fellow-adventurer on a bright journey to understand the things that are.
“Birthdays was the worst days; now we sip champagne when we're thirsty.”
The Notorious B.I.G. (1972–1997) American rapper
Song lyrics, Ready to Die (1994), "Juicy"