"Never to have lived is best, ancient..." - Quote by William Butler Yeats
Never to have lived is best, ancient writers say. Never to have drawn the breath of life, never to have looked into the eye of day; The second best's a gay goodnight and quickly turn away.
More by William Butler Yeats
“I would that I were an old beggarRolling a blind pearl eye,For he cannot see my ladyGo gallivanting by.”
“Laughter not time destroyed my voiceAnd put that crack in it,And when the moon's pot-belliedI get a laughing fit.”
“I have mummy truths to tellWhereat the living mock,Though not for sober ear,For maybe all that hearShould laugh and weep an hour upon the clock.”
More on Existence
“I wonder if I could have been here before as I drive up the Roman road the Theater seems familiar - perhaps I headed a legion up that same white road... I passed a chateau in ruins which I possibly helped escalade in the middle ages. There is no proof nor yet any denial. We were, We are, and we will be.”
“Let's face it: our lives are miserable, laborious, and short.”
“It is love; love, the comfort of the human species, the preserver of the universe, the soul of all sentient beings, love, tender love.”