For my books I was limited to quotes older than 75 years old. Here I am not!
My all time favourite poem/quote - Untitled.
“Sometimes I dream of a tree,
And the tree is my life.
One branch is the man I shall marry
And the leaves my children.
Another branch is my future as a writer
And each leaf is a poem.
Another branch is a glittering academic career.
But as I sit there, trying to choose,
The leaves begin to turn brown and blow away
Until the tree is absolutely bare.”
~ From the 2003 film Sylvia, (not one of her poems). About the life and death of Sylvia Plath, my favourite poet, who died by committing suicide on February 11, 1963, aged just 31. Like me, she was somewhat ambivalent towards existence. I never expected to outlive her in years.
--
"You ever-gentle gods, take my breath from me;
Let not my worser spirit tempt me again
To die before you please."
~Shakespeare, King Lear.
--
“Sometimes our light goes out, but is blown into flame by another human being.
Each of us owes deepest thanks to those who have rekindled this light.”
~ Albert Schweitzer.
--
“The body is a house of many windows: there we all sit,
showing ourselves and crying to passers-by to come and love us.”
~ Robert Louis Stevenson.
--
“Out, out, brief candle!
Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more; it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing at all.”
~William Shakespeare, Macbeth, Act 5 Scene 5,
(If I had a gravestone, which I wont because I'm being cremated,
but if I did, that would be on it).
--
“Each person was to himself alone.
One oneness, a unit in society, but always afraid, always alone.
If I should scream, if I should call for help, would anyone hear…
would it even matter?”
~ Ray Bradbury, Dandelion Wine.