Out of the dark we came, into de dark we go…
H.
Rider Haggard, 1856-1925, English writer, King Solomon’s Mines
Small errant soul, guest and companion of the body, where are
you going now, pale, rigid and naked, without being able to play
as before?
Hadrian,
76-138, Roman emperor, before he dies, in D. Boorstin Os
criadores
LITERATURE AND PHILOSOPHY
Prose can involve poetry – through the careful use of language,
based on images and metaphors, speaking to our sensibility.
But good literature - either in prose or poems - can also be
outstanding examples of major philosophy of life.
Philosophical
profundity can be intimately connected to beauty, to art, to
novelty, to the ability of the writer to touch our souls, our
joy, our sadness, our astonishment, or his ability to open new
horizons of awareness, rather than just abstract reasoning and
argument.
That’s why poetry and prose literature can be major vehicles
of philosophising.
The texts below are excellent demonstrations of this very
fact.
QUOTES ON
LIFE
LYRICAL REFLECTIONS ABOUT LIFE AND ITS ESSENCE AND
SIGNIFICANCE
Out of the dark we came, into de dark we go…
H. Rider Haggard
, 1856-1925, English writer, King Solomon’s Mines
Life is nothing. Life is all. It is the hand with which we hold
off death. It is the glow-worm that shines in the night-time and
is black in the morning; it is the white breath of the oxen in
winter; it is the little shadow that runs across the grass and
loses itself at sunset.
H. Rider Haggard, 1856-1925, English writer, King Solomon’s Mines
The world? Moonlit. Drops shaken from the crane’s bill.
K.
Dogen, 1200-1253, spiritual Buddhist leader, in
Carl Sagan
Billions and billions.
Poor intricate soul! Riddling, perplexed, labyrinthical soul!
John Donne, 1572-1631, poeta inglês, Sermons.
Small errant soul, guest and companion of the body, where are
you going now, pale, rigid and naked, without being able to play
as before?
Hadrian, 76-138, Roman emperor, before he dies, in
Daniel J. Boorstin Os
criadores
As for man, his days are as grass: as a flower of the field, so
he flourishes.
But the wind passes over, and soon all disappears; and his place
will no more exist.
Bible,
Psalms, 103
Blessings light on him who invented sleep, the cloak that covers
all human thoughts, the meat that satisfies hunger, the drink
for the thirst, the heat that warms cold, the cold that
moderates heat, and, lastly, the common coin that purchases all
the pleasures of the world cheap, the balance and weight that
equalizes the king and the shepherd, the fool and the sage.
Miguel de Cervantes,
1547-1616, Spanish writer, Don Quixote
I expect to be in this world just this time; any good thing that
I can do, or any kindness that I can show to any of my
fellow-creatures, let me do it now; I don’t want to defer or
neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again.
Often attributed
to Stephen Grellet, 1733-1855, French missionary
See also:
Literature and philosophy: quotes on
life, lyrical reflections
Fernando Pessoa's philosophy on life
and poetry
Links between poetry on life and
philosophy on life
Poems on life: examples of
philosophical poetry
Poetry and Philosophy Essay
Life and Friendship
Life and Love
Philosophies of life
Happiness
Life quotes - Existential
thought
Life is a dream
Love Essays Book
