In a letter to Sir Seymour Hicks (December 1910)
“In the days when the keepers of the house shall tremble, and the strong men shall bow themselves, and the grinders cease because they are few, and those that look out of the windows be darkened, I know one boy who won't be sweating. I intend to raise my coffin-lid briskly, throw a few things into an overnight bag, and, whistling something appropriate, prepare to meet my Maker.”
"Bye Bye Blackbird, Hello Mortal Sin", The Dog It Was that Died (1965)
The first half of the quote is Ecclesiastes, 12:3
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Alan Coren 11
humorist and writer from the United Kingdom 1938–2007Related quotes
On his 75th birthday (1947), in reply to a question on whether he was afraid of death, quoted in the N. Y. Times Magazine on November 1, 1964, p. 40 according to Quote It Completely! (1998), Gerhart, Wm. S. Hein Publishing, p. 262 ISBN 1575884003
Post-war years (1945–1955)
Letter to Macvey Napier (5 November 1841)
“With few words I shall make thee understand my soul.”
“Give me few men and women who are pure and selfless and I shall shake the world.”
Pearls of Wisdom
Quote in letter 169, from The Hague, January, 1882; as cited in Vincent van Gogh, Alfred H. Barr; Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1935 https://www.moma.org/documents/moma_catalogue_1996_300061887.pdf, catalog-page: Dutch Period: - 4. Potato Diggers
1880s, 1882