“Life is a charity ball given by the leaders of society. A few dance, get their charity's worth to the last penny; and the poor stand outside the gate and watch with hungry eyes the glint of jewels in the warm air. Then comes the lackey Death, and he says: "Madam and my Master, your carriage waits." So they go away into the dark in the carriage of the black plumes, and the dancing continues.” LifeEyeLastsLife IsGivenWaitingBlackDarkPoorLeaderWatchesAirMastersBallsDancingCharityWarmHungryGatesGoing AwayStanding OutJewelsPenniesCarriagesLackeysHungry Eyes Author:Austin O'Malley
“The real reason why human life can be so utterly exasperating and frustrating is not because there are facts called death, pain, fear, or hunger. The madness of the thing is that when such facts are present, we circle, buzz, writhe, and whirl, trying to get the I out of the experience... Sanity, wholeness and integration lie in the realisation that we are not divided, that man and his present experience are one, and that no separate I or mind can be found .... [Life] is a dance, and when you are dancing, you are not intent on getting somewhere. The meaning and purpose of dancing is the dance.” MenTryingMindHumansRealReasonFactsPainLife IsLyingPurposeFoundMadnessDancingHungerCirclesHuman LifeReason WhyDividedSanityWholenessIntegrationFrustratingBuzzRealisation Author:Alan Watts
“Life is like invading Russia. A blitz start, massed shakos, plumes dancing like a flustered henhouse; a period of svelte progress recorded in ebullient despatches as the enemy falls back; then the beginning of a long, morale-sapping trudge with rations getting shorter and the first snowflakes upon your face. The enemy burns Moscow and you yield to General January, whose fingernails are very icicles. Bitter retreat. Harrying Cossacks. Eventually you fall beneath a boy-gunner's grapeshot while crossing some Polish river not even marked on your general's map.” FirstsLongFacesLife IsFallEnemyBoysProgressPeriodsRiversDancingRussiaBitterMapsYieldYour FaceRetreatPolishLife Is LikeCrossingsJanuaryFall BackMoraleMoscowSnowflakeFingernailsInvadingBlitzRationsIciclesGunnersCossacks Author:Julian Barnes