“I have written the tale of our life
For a sheltered people's mirth,
In jesting guise—but ye are wise,
And ye know what the jest is worth.”

— Rudyard Kipling

Prelude Stanza 3.
Departmental Ditties and other Verses (1886)

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Rudyard Kipling 200

English short-story writer, poet, and novelist 1865–1936

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“Life is a jest; and all things show it. I thought so once; and now I know it.”

John Gay (1685–1732) English poet and playwright

My Own Epitaph, inscribed on Gay’s monument in Westminster Abbey; also quoted as "I thought so once; but now I know it".
Variant: Life is a jest, and all things show it,
I thought so once, and now I know it.

“Man’s life is but a jest,
A dream, a shadow, bubble, air, a vapor at the best.”

George Walter Thornbury (1828–1876) British writer

The Jester’s Sermon. Compare: "Life is a jest and all things show it; I thought so once, but now I know it", John Gay, My own Epitaph; "Life is an empty dream", Robert Browning, Paracelsus, ii.; "Life ’s but a series of trifles at best", Anonymous.

“And I say to my people's masters: Beware,
Beware of the thing that is coming, beware of the risen people,
who shall take what ye would not give. Did ye think to conquer the people,
Or that Law is stronger than life and than men's desire to be free?
We will try it out with you, ye that have harried and held,
Ye that have bullied and bribed, tyrants, hypocrites, liars!”

Patrick Pearse The Rebel

"The Rebel"

“What is our life? A play of passion;
our mirth: the music of division;
our mother's wombs: the tiring houses be
where we are dressed for this short comedy.
Heaven the judicious sharp spectator is
that sits and marks still who doth act amiss.
Our graves that hide us from the searching sun
are like drawn curtains when the play is done.
Thus march we playing to our latest rest,
only we die in earnest, that's no jest.”

Walter Raleigh (1554–1618) English aristocrat, writer, poet, soldier, courtier, spy, and explorer

"On the Life of Man" (1612)
Attributed

“What shelter to grow ripe is ours?
What leisure to grow wise?”

Matthew Arnold (1822–1888) English poet and cultural critic who worked as an inspector of schools

"Stanzas in Memory of the Author of "Obermann"" (1852), st. 18

“Life is a jest;
Take the delight of it.
Laughter is best;
Sing through the night of it.
Swiftly the tear
And the hurt and the ache of it
Find us down here;
Life must be what we make of it.”

Edgar Guest (1881–1959) American writer

Life, stanza 1, All That Matters, p. 80 (1922).

“Worth seeing? yes; but not worth going to see.”

Samuel Johnson (1709–1784) English writer

October 12, 1779
On the Giant's Causeway. A similar opinion was expressed by the English traveller Richard Twiss in 1775 in A Tour of Ireland http://books.google.ie/books?id=ujpIAAAAMAAJ, p. 157
Life of Samuel Johnson (1791), Vol III

“Yes, he said. I busted him and he busted me. That's fair, ain't it?The boy was still silent, calmly incredulous.No, Sylder went on, I ain't forgettin about jail. You think because he arrested me that throws it off again I reckon? I don't. It's his job. It's what he gets paid for. To arrest people that break the law. And I didn't jest break the law, I made a livin at it.”

Cormac McCarthy book The Orchard Keeper

The Orchard Keeper (1965)

“Hear ye, all persons! Ye people as many as ye are! I have done things according to the design of my heart.”

Hatshepsut (-1507–-1458 BC) Egyptian Pharaoh

Hor-watit signifies "the only Horus
Djeser-Djeseru inscriptions
Context: Hear ye, all persons! Ye people as many as ye are! I have done things according to the design of my heart. … I have restored that which was in ruins, I have raised up that which was unfinished since the Asiatics were in the midst of the Northland, and the barbarians were in the midst of them, overthrowing that which was made, while they ruled in ignorance of Re. He did not do according to the divine command until my majesty. When I was firm upon the throne of Re, I was ennobled until the two periods of years... I came as Hor-watit flaming against my enemies.

“Life is absolutely insane. Yes, life is insane but the great wisdom lies in choosing your insanity wisely.”

Paulo Coelho (1947) Brazilian lyricist and novelist

“I have written the tale of our lifeFor a sheltered people's mirth,In jesting guise—but ye are wise,And ye know what the jest is worth.”

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Rudyard Kipling 200

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“I have written the tale of our life
For a sheltered people's mirth,
In jesting guise—but ye are wise,
And ye know what the jest is worth.”