Letter Never Sent

• “Dost thou love life? Then waste not time; for time is the stuff that life is made of. ”
  — Benjamin Franklin
• “Life is a tragedy for those who feel, and a comedy for those who think. ”
  –Jean de La Bruyère
• “Fill what’s empty. Empty what’s full. Scratch where it itches. ”
  — Alice Longworth
• “Many of life’s circumstances are created by three basic choices: the disciplines you choose to keep, the people you choose to be with; and, the laws you choose to obey.”
  — Charles Millhuff
• “Life is the childhood of our immortality. ”
  –Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

I’m feeling flummoxed today. That means it’s time for quotations.

“It is not the man who has too little, but the man who craves more, that is poor.” – Seneca

“Friend, do not concern yourself with who I am; you will never know. I do not want you to accept anything I say. I do not want anything from any of you; I do not desire popularity; I do not want your flattery, your following. Because I am in love with life, I do not want anything. These questions are not of very great importance. What is of importance is the fact that you obey and allow your judgement to be perverted by authority. Your judgement, your mind, your affection, your life are being perverted by things which have no value, and herein lies sorrow.”

J. Krishnamurti
Early Talks, 1930

This not really a quotation per se. I was just recently reminded of the powerful and vital language of the Declaration of Independence. It almost makes it seem like 1776 was just yesterday.

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, –That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.“

“I must be cruel only to be kind;
Thus bad begins, and worse remains behind.”

— William Shakespeare