We should all live as if we were never going to die, for it is the deaths of our friends that hurt us, not our own.

Old age takes away from us what we have inherited and gives us what we have earned.

We are closer to the ants than to the butterflies. Very few people can endure much leisure.

Words are as recalcitrant as circus animals, and the unskilled trainer can crack his whip at them in vain.

Middle age snuffs out more talent than even wars or sudden death.

One of the marks of a great poet is that he creates his own family of words and teaches them to live together in harmony and to help one another.

We should all live as if we were never going to die, for it is the deaths of our friends that hurt us, not our own.