Marcus Tullius Cicero
The life of the dead is set in the memory of the living. ― Marcus Tullius Cicero, Philippics (43- 44 BC)
Category: Classical
Sophokles
Elektra : I ask this one thing: / let me go mad in my own way. — Sophokles, Electra (Greek Tragedy in New Translations) Trans. Anne Carson (Oxford University Press, April 19, 2001)
Chris Abani
This is not a lamentation, damn it.This is a love song.This is a love song.Like reggae—it all falls on the off beat.If there is a way, it is here.They say you cannot say this in a poem.That you cannot say, love, and mean anything.That you cannot say, soul, and approach heaven.But the sun is no… Continue reading Chris Abani
Philodemos
Everything’s uncertain. Except that my soul is burning.— Philodemos
Aeschylus
Even in our sleep, pain which cannot forgetfalls drop by drop upon the heart,until, in our own despair,against our will,comes wisdomthrough the awful grace of God. — Aeschylus as quoted by Robert F. Kennedy in his speech announcing the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.
Socrates
Be as you wish to seem. — Socrates 469 BC – 399 BC
Sappho
You may forget butlet me tell youthis: someone insome future timewill think of us —Sappho, If Not, Winter: Fragments of Sappho. Translated by Anne Carson. (Virago Press Ltd November 6, 2003) C. -600 BCE.
Ono no Komachi
Although there is not one moment without longing, still, how strange this autumn twilight is. — Ono no Komachi, The Ink Dark Moon tr. by Jane Hirshfield with Mariko Aratani (Vintage Classics, 1990)
Epictetus
I have to die. If it is now, well then I die now; if later, then now I will take my lunch, since the hour for lunch has arrived—and dying I will tend to later. — Epictetus, The Discourses, Book I, 1, 32. (108 AD)
Horace
The shortness of life prevents us from entertaining far-off hopes. — Horace, Odes (1.4.15) 23 BC.
The Vale of Soul-Making 