“Life — life — life! 'Tis the sole great thing
This side of death,
Heart on heart in the wonder of Spring!”

— William Ernest Henley

Source: Hawthorn and Lavender (1901), XI

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

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William Ernest Henley 29

English poet, critic and editor 1849–1903

Fakhruddin 'Iraqi (1213–1289) Persian philosopher

Lama’at (Divine Flashes)

“In great hearts the cruelty of life gives birth to good.”

Vasily Grossman book Life and Fate

Source: Life and Fate

“Steer your life by these stars
On the unconditional chance
'Tis here where Hell and Heaven dance.
This is the constellation of the heart.”

Kate Bush (1958) British recording artist; singer, songwriter, musician and record producer

Song lyrics, The Red Shoes (1993)
Context: We take all the telescopes
And we turn them inside out
And we point them away from the big sky.
Put your eye right up to the glass.
Here we'll find the constellation of the heart.
Steer your life by these stars
On the unconditional chance
'Tis here where Hell and Heaven dance.
This is the constellation of the heart.

“So live your life that the fear of death can never enter your heart. Trouble no one about their religion; respect others in their view, and demand that they respect yours. Love your life, perfect your life, beautify all things in your life.”

Tecumseh (1768–1813) Native American leader of the Shawnee

Disputed
Context: So live your life that the fear of death can never enter your heart. Trouble no one about their religion; respect others in their view, and demand that they respect yours. Love your life, perfect your life, beautify all things in your life. Seek to make your life long and its purpose in the service of your people. Prepare a noble death song for the day when you go over the great divide. Always give a word or a sign of salute when meeting or passing a friend, even a stranger, when in a lonely place. Show respect to all people and grovel to none. When you arise in the morning give thanks for the food and for the joy of living. If you see no reason for giving thanks, the fault lies only in yourself. Abuse no one and no thing, for abuse turns the wise ones to fools and robs the spirit of its vision. When it comes your time to die, be not like those whose hearts are filled with the fear of death, so that when their time comes they weep and pray for a little more time to live their lives over again in a different way. Sing your death song and die like a hero going home.

As quoted in A Sourcebook for Earth's Community of Religions (1995) by Joel Diederik Beversluis; but also ascribed to some of the Wabasha chiefs, Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse and Wovoka, according to Ernest Thompson Seton, The Gospel of the Red Man: An Indian Bible, San Diego, The Book Tree, 2006, p. 60

“Oh, wonder! Even in the house of Hades there is left something,
a soul and an image, but there is no real heart of life in it.”

Homér Iliad

XXIII. 103–104 (tr. R. Lattimore); Achilles after seeing Patroclus' ghost.
Iliad (c. 750 BC)

“Sleep is truly, as they say, akin to death, and relieves the heart of the sweet care that keeps it in life.”

Francesco Petrarca Il Canzoniere

Il sonno è veramente, qual uom dice,
parente de la morte, e 'l cor sottragge
a quel dolce penser che 'n vita il tene.
Canzone 226, st. 3
Il Canzoniere (c. 1351–1353), To Laura in Life