“fire is beautiful
and we know that if we get
too close it will kill us
but what does that matter
it is better to be happy
for a moment
and be burned up with beauty
than to live a long time
and be bored all the while”

—  Don Marquis

Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "fire is beautiful and we know that if we get too close it will kill us but what does that matter it is better to be hap…" by Don Marquis?
Don Marquis photo
Don Marquis 55
American writer 1878–1937

Related quotes

Chuck Palahniuk photo

“All God does is watch us and kill us when we get boring. We must never, ever be boring.”

Chuck Palahniuk book Invisible Monsters

Source: Invisible Monsters

“No matter how complete the despair, no matter how bitter the cynicism, a possibility beckons of a world more beautiful and a life more magnificent than what we know today. Though we may rationalize it, it is not rational. We become aware of it in moments, gaps in the rush and press of modern life. These moments come to us alone in nature, or with a baby, making love, playing with children, caring for a dying person, making music for the sake of music or beauty for the sake of beauty. At such times, a simple and easy joy shows us the futility of the vast, life-consuming program of management and control.”

Charles Eisenstein (1967) American writer

The Ascent of Humanity (2007)

Terry Pratchett photo

“She was beautiful, but she was beautiful in the way a forest fire was beautiful: something to be admired from a distance, not up close.”

Terry Pratchett (1948–2015) English author

Source: Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch

John McCain photo

“Like most people of my age, I feel a longing for what is lost and cannot be restored. But if the happy pursuits and casual beauty of youth prove ephemeral, something better can endure, and endure until our last moment on earth. And that is the honor we earn and the love we give if at a moment in our lives we sacrifice for something greater than self-interest.
We cannot choose the moments. They arrive unbidden by us. We can choose to let the moments pass, and avoid the difficulties they entail. But the loss we would incur by that choice is much dearer than the tribute we once paid to vanity and pleasure.”

John McCain (1936–2018) politician from the United States

1990s, Speech at Ohio Wesleyan University (1997)

Tennessee Williams photo

“We all live in a house on fire, no fire department to call; no way out, just the upstairs window to look out of while the fire burns the house down with us trapped, locked in it.”

Tennessee Williams The Milk Train Doesn't Stop Here Anymore

Christopher
Source: The Milk Train Doesn't Stop Here Anymore (1963)

Alejandro Jodorowsky photo

“We cannot reach the truth, but we can get close to it through beauty.”

Alejandro Jodorowsky (1929) Filmmaker and comics writer

Psychomagic: The Transformative Power of Shamanic Psychotherapy (2010)
Context: Beauty is the maximum limit we can access through language. We cannot reach the truth, but we can get close to it through beauty.

Nicolas Steno photo

“Beautiful is what we see, More Beautiful is what we know, most Beautiful by far is what we don't.”

Nicolas Steno (1638–1686) Pioneer in anatomy and geology, bishop

quoted by Addison Anderson in a TED-Ed lesson. https://ed.ted.com/lessons/the-most-groundbreaking-scientist-you-ve-never-heard-of-addison-anderson

“Fire was everything Joey wanted to be. Exciting. Dangerous. Beautiful. Destructive. And yet he controlled it. Other people were too boring, too afraid to do what he did.”

Lis Wiehl (1961) American legal scholar

Source: Heart of Ice A Triple Threat Novel with April Henry (Thomas Nelson), p. 81

Marilyn Monroe photo

“Imperfection is beauty, madness is genius and it's better to be absolutely ridiculous than absolutely boring.”

Marilyn Monroe (1926–1962) American actress, model, and singer
Richard Montoya photo

“Luis Valdez said it long ago: The beauty and the frustration of theater is it is one permanent long shot…You never get up close in someone’s eyes. And that kind of blew me away (while shooting) a close-up. That was all new storytelling for me, and I had to figure it out on a very fast learning curve.”

Richard Montoya (1959) actor

On how he transitioned into filmmaking in “Culture Clash’s Richard Montoya becomes a movie multitasker” https://www.sacbee.com/entertainment/movies-news-reviews/article18414926.html in The Sacramento Bee (2015 Apr 13)

Related topics