“How little our careers express what lies in us, and yet how much time they take up. It's sad, really.”

—  Philip Larkin

Source: Philip Larkin: Letters to Monica

Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "How little our careers express what lies in us, and yet how much time they take up. It's sad, really." by Philip Larkin?
Philip Larkin photo
Philip Larkin 42
English poet, novelist, jazz critic and librarian 1922–1985

Related quotes

Lurlene McDaniel photo

“In truth, how much time do any of us really have?”

Lurlene McDaniel (1944) American writer

Source: Telling Christina Goodbye

“Without reflection, we go blindly on our way, creating more unintended consequences, and failing to achieve anything useful. It's amazing to me how much we do, but how little time we spend reflecting on what we just did.”

Margaret J. Wheatley (1941) American writer

Source: Finding Our Way: Leadership For an Uncertain Time (2005), p. 262

Ned Vizzini photo

“I didn't want to wake up. I was having a much better time asleep. And that's really sad.”

Ned Vizzini book It's Kind of a Funny Story

Source: It's Kind of a Funny Story

“Many of us feel stress and get overwhelmed not because we're taking on too much, but because we're taking on too little of what really strengthens us.”

Marcus Buckingham (1966) British writer

Marcus Buckingham, cited in: Mohamed Tohami, Perk Up Your Profits, 2013. p. 38

Ram Dass photo

“In our relationships, how much can we allow them to become new, and how much do we cling to what they used to be yesterday?”

Ram Dass (1931–2019) American contemporary spiritual teacher and the author of the 1971 book Be Here Now
Irène Némirovsky photo

“How sad the world is, so beautiful yet so absurd…”

Irène Némirovsky (1903–1942) French novelist who died at the age of 39 in Auschwitz

Source: Suite Française

Arthur Penrhyn Stanley photo

“Speak, Lord, our souls are hushed to hear what Thou hast to say to us. Great is the stake, overwhelming may be the risks — most glorious are the opportunities. Speak, Lord, and show us what our duty is — how high, how difficult, yet how happy, how blessed — show us what our duty is, and, O great God and Father, give us strength to do it.”

Arthur Penrhyn Stanley (1815–1881) English churchman, Dean of Westminster

Source: Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), P. 197.

Arthur Ponsonby photo

“This is no plea that lies should not be used in war-time, but a demonstration of how lies must be used in war-time. If the truth were told from the outset, there would be no reason and no will for war.”

Arthur Ponsonby (1871–1946) British Liberal and later Labour politician and pacifist

Falsehood in Wartime (1928), Introduction
Context: Between nations, where the consequences are vital, where the destiny of countries and provinces hangs in the balance, the lives and fortunes of millions are affected and civilization itself is menaced, the most upright men honestly believe that there is no depth of duplicity to which they may not legitimately stoop. They have got to do it. The thing cannot go on without the help of lies.
This is no plea that lies should not be used in war-time, but a demonstration of how lies must be used in war-time. If the truth were told from the outset, there would be no reason and no will for war.
Anyone declaring the truth: "Whether you are right or wrong, whether you win or lose, in no circumstances can war help you or your country," would find himself in gaol very quickly. In war-time, failure to lie is negligence, the doubting of a lie a misdemeanour, the declaration of the truth a crime.

“The sad fact is how easily we forget the great events of the past. What we don't really learn from history education at school is how important it is for us to learn to never forget history as President Soekarno once said.”

Titon Rahmawan
Andrew Solomon photo

“Insofar as our children resemble us, they are our most precious admirers, and insofar as they differ, they can be our most vehement distractors. From the beginning, we tempt them into imitation of us and long for what may be life's most profound compliment: their choosing to live according to our own system of values. Though many of us take pride in how different we are from our parents, we are endlessly sad at how different our children are from us.”

Andrew Solomon (1963) American journalist

Source: Far from the Tree, Ch. 1 Son, p 1-2.

Related topics