“Quickly would I make my path even,
And by mere playing go to heaven.”

— Henry Vaughan

"Childhood".
Silex Scintillans (1655)
Context: I cannot reach it, and my striving eye
Dazzles at it, as at eternity. Were now that chronicle alive,
Those white designs which children drive,
And the thoughts of each harmless hour,
With their content too in my pow'r,
Quickly would I make my path even,
And by mere playing go to heaven.

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Henry Vaughan 23

Welsh author, physician and metaphysical poet 1621–1695

Antonio Porchia (1885–1968) Italian Argentinian poet

Iría al paraíso, pero con mi infierno; solo, no.
Voces (1943)

“I said then and later that I had conquered my fear quickly and cleanly. That was a lie. But it would have been foolish to play into the hands of my rivals by confirming my weakness. At Monza, I was rigid with fear.”

Niki Lauda (1949–2019) Austrian former Formula 1 racing driver

“Even as a baby I quickly learned to crawl out of my crib. … They'd put up barriers but I learned how to go over them.”

Mary Martin (1913–1990) American actress

As quoted in Mary Martin : Broadway Legend (2008) by Ronald L. Davis. p. 6

“…When I was a kid, I didn’t know what I was going to do. Even when I started playing music, I had no idea that I would get to this point in my professional life…”

Pete Escovedo (1935) Mexican-American jazz musician and percussionist

On whether Escovedo knew he had staying power as a musician in “Pete Escovedo: Rhythms of Life” https://jazztimes.com/features/interviews/pete-escovedo-rhythms/ in Jazz Times (2017 Nov 23)

“No matter the lie, even if I was on my own, I'd have to play it. I can hear my dad saying: 'Play the ball as it lies.' Because of the way I was taught, I would feel awful about it. I don't know if that makes me dead honest or dead stupid.”

Alex Salmond (1954) Scottish National Party politician and former First Minister of Scotland

Alex Salmond: The new king of Scotland http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/alex-salmond-the-new-king-of-scotland-889764.html, ' (9 August 2008)

“I don't believe in an afterlife, so I don't have to spend my whole life fearing hell, or fearing heaven even more. For whatever the tortures of hell, I think the boredom of heaven would be even worse.”

Isaac Asimov (1920–1992) American writer and professor of biochemistry at Boston University, known for his works of science fiction …

As quoted in Philosophy on the Go (2007) by Joey Green, p. 222
General sources

“What Heaven has conferred is called The Nature; an accordance with this nature is called The Path of duty; the regulation of this path is called Instruction. The path may not be left for an instant. If it could be left, it would not be the path.”

Confucius (-551–-479 BC) Chinese teacher, editor, politician, and philosopher

The Analects, The Doctrine of the Mean
Context: What Heaven has conferred is called The Nature; an accordance with this nature is called The Path of duty; the regulation of this path is called Instruction. The path may not be left for an instant. If it could be left, it would not be the path. On this account, the superior man does not wait till he sees things, to be cautious, nor till he hears things, to be apprehensive.

“It might be in my party's interest for him to sit there, it's not in the national interest and I would say, for heaven's sake man, go.”

David Cameron (1966) Former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

Speaking to Leader of the Opposition Jeremy Corbyn in the House of Commons during Prime Minister's Questions (June 29, 2016), see David Cameron to Jeremy Corbyn: For heaven's sake, go http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-36663181, BBC News (June 29, 2016)
2010s, 2016