"Every word is a messenger. Some have wings; some are filled with fire; some are filled with death."

Mary Oliver Literature See all quotes by Mary Oliver →

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“To live in this world you must be able to do three things: to love what is mortal; to hold it against your bones knowing your own life depends on it; and, when the time comes to let it go, to let it go.”

“Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?”

“But also I say this: that light is an invitation to happiness, and that happiness, when it’s done right, is a kind of holiness.”

“You want to cry aloud for your mistakes. But to tell the truth the world doesn't need any more of that sound.”

“I believe in kindness. Also in mischief. Also in singing, especially when singing is not necessarily prescribed.”

“I don't want to end up simply having visited this world.”

Resonant Thoughts

"...death seemed the most prevalent feature of the landscape."

— Cormac McCarthy

Literature1933–2023

#death

"It is the same thing: killing, dying, it is the same thing: one is just as alone in each. He is lucky, he will only die once. As for me, for ten days I have been killing him at every minute."

— Jean-Paul Sartre

Philosophy1905–1980

#death

"I believe that we are lost here in America, but I believe we shall be found. And this belief, which mounts now to the catharsis of knowledge and conviction, is for me — and I think for all of us — not…"

— Thomas Wolfe

Literature1900–1938

#death

"Fine thoughts and moral dissertations from men who have not worked and suffered may be read, but they will be forgotten. No religion, no Ethical philosophy is worth anything, if the teacher has not li…"

— George Long (scholar)

Literature1800–1879

#life