“Most men make use of the first part of their life to render the last part miserable.”
Jean de La Bruyère book Les Caractères
Aphorism 102
Les Caractères (1688), De l'Homme
Quine's response in 1988 when asked his philosophy of life. (He invented the word "agid".) It makes up the entire Chapter 54 in Quine in Dialogue (2008).
1980s and later
“Most men make use of the first part of their life to render the last part miserable.”
Jean de La Bruyère book Les Caractères
Aphorism 102
Les Caractères (1688), De l'Homme
“The most useful piece of learning for the uses of life is to unlearn what is untrue.”
Antisthenes (-444–-365 BC) Greek philosopher
“If nothing saves us from death, at least love should save us from life”
Pablo Neruda (1904–1973) Chilean poet
George D. Herron (1862–1925) American clergyman, writer and activist
Source: Between Caesar and Jesus (1899), p. 15
“MISPENDING a Man's time is a kind of self-homicide, it is making Life to be of no use.”
George Savile, 1st Marquess of Halifax (1633–1695) English politician
Political, Moral, and Miscellaneous Reflections (1750), Miscellaneous Thoughts and Reflections