Source: Poverty (1912), p. 2
“And yet I will venture to believe that in no time, since the beginnings of Society, was the lot of those same dumb millions of toilers so entirely unbearable as it is even in the days now passing over us. It is not to die, or even to die of hunger, that makes a man wretched; many men have died; all men must die,—the last exit of us all is in a Fire-Chariot of Pain. But it is to live miserable we know not why; to work sore and yet gain nothing; to be heart-worn, weary, yet isolated, unrelated, girt in with a cold universal Laissez-faire: it is to die slowly all our life long, imprisoned in a deaf, dead, Infinite Injustice, as in the accursed iron belly of a Phalaris' Bull! This is and remains forever intolerable to all men whom God has made. Do we wonder at French Revolutions, Chartisms, Revolts of Three Days? The times, if we will consider them, are really unexampled.”
1840s, Past and Present (1843)
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Thomas Carlyle 481
Scottish philosopher, satirical writer, essayist, historian… 1795–1881Related quotes
Source: Thirst No. 3: The Eternal Dawn
                                
                                    “It is difficult
to get the news from poems
yet men die miserably every day
for lack”
                                
                                
                                
                                
                            
                                        
                                        'of what is found there.' 
Journey to Love (1955), Asphodel, That Greeny Flower 
Source: Asphodel, That Greeny Flower and Other Love Poems: That Greeny Flower
                                    
“One day all of us will die but - and this is the important thing - we are not dead yet.”
Source: I Shall Wear Midnight
1840s, Past and Present (1843)
“But it is not time for me to die; I have not yet finished my life's work.”
Source: a little time before his death, as quoted by A. J. Q. Alkemade, in [Biografisch Woordenboek van Nederland, 1982, http://www.inghist.nl/Onderzoek/Projecten/BWN/lemmata/bwn5/burgers]
                                        
                                        "The Triumph of Time". 
Legends and Lyrics: A Book of Verses (1858)