“There really wasn’t much in a man’s life that mattered. But those few things mattered terribly.”

— Poul Anderson, book The Star Fox

Section 3 “Admiralty”, Chapter IX (p. 200)
The Star Fox (1965)

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Poul Anderson140

American science fiction and fantasy writer 1926–2001

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“Many things in your life matter but only one thing matters absolutely. It matters whether you succeed or fail in the eyes of the world. It matters whether you are healthy or not healthy, whether you are educated or not educated. It matters whether you are rich or poor. It certainly makes a difference in your life. Yes, all these things matter, relatively speaking. But they don't matter absolutely. There is something that matters more than any of those things and that is finding the essence of who your are beyond that short-lived entity, that short-lived personalized sense of self. You find peace not by rearranging the circumstances of your life but by realizing who you are at the deepest level.”

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