1977 (from the poem, Douse the Flames)
“A man must live like a great brilliant flame and burn as brightly as he can. In the end he burns out. But this is far better than a mean little flame.”
Statement to a TImes reporter in 1990, as quoted in "The wit and wisdom of Boris" in Guardian Unlimited (23 April 2007)
1990s
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Boris Yeltsin 28
1st President of Russia and Chairman of the Supreme Soviet … 1931–2007Related quotes
“Like a flame is real enough, isn't it, while it's burning?-even if there's a time it goes out?”
Source: Foxfire: Confessions of a Girl Gang
“If you want to be a flaming youth, you must have money to burn.”
Thomas Lansing Masson
(1866–1934) American journalist
Thomas Lansing Masson (1927) Tom Masson's Book of Wit & Humor. p. 1.
Pink (singer)
(1979) American singer-songwriter
Try, written by Michael Busbee and Ben West
Song lyrics, The Truth About Love (2012)
Felix Mendelssohn
(1809–1847) German composer, pianist and conductor
Und sind Sie mit mir einer Meinung, daß es die erste Bedingung zu einem Künstler sei, daß er Respekt vor dem Großen habe, und sich davor beuge, und es anerkenne, und nicht die großen Flammen auszupusten versuche, damit das kleine Talglicht ein wenig heller leuchte?
Letter to Wilhelm Taubert, August 27, 1831, cited from Reisebriefe von Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy: Aus den Jahren 1830 bis 1832 (Leipzig: Hermann Mendelssohn, 1862) p. 256; translation from Emil Naumann (trans. F. Praeger) The History of Music (London: Cassell, 1886) vol. 2, p. 1052-53.
Nikos Kazantzakis
(1883–1957) Greek writer
Odysseus, Book XI, line 840
The Odyssey : A Modern Sequel (1938)
Sophie Scholl
(1921–1943) White Rose member
As quoted in O<sub>2</sub> : Breathing New Life Into Faith (2008) by Richard Dahlstrom, Ch. 4 : Artisans of Hope: Stepping into God's Kingdom Story, p. 63; this source is disputed as it does not cite an original document for the quote. It is also used in <i> The White Rose </i> (1991) by Lillian Garrett-Groag, a monologue during Sophie's interrogation.
Disputed
Context: The real damage is done by those millions who want to "survive." The honest men who just want to be left in peace. Those who don't want their little lives disturbed by anything bigger than themselves. Those with no sides and no causes. Those who won't take measure of their own strength, for fear of antagonizing their own weakness. Those who don't like to make waves — or enemies. Those for whom freedom, honor, truth, and principles are only literature. Those who live small, mate small, die small. It's the reductionist approach to life: if you keep it small, you'll keep it under control. If you don't make any noise, the bogeyman won't find you. But it's all an illusion, because they die too, those people who roll up their spirits into tiny little balls so as to be safe. Safe?! From what? Life is always on the edge of death; narrow streets lead to the same place as wide avenues, and a little candle burns itself out just like a flaming torch does. I choose my own way to burn.
