Fleeting Quotes
More Fleeting Quotes
"To hell with the handkerchief," said Walter Mitty scornfully. He took one last drag on his cigarette and snapped it away. Then, with that faint, fleeting smile playing about his lips, he faced the firing squad; erect and motionless, proud and disdainful, Walter Mitty the Undefeated, inscrutable to the last.
james thurber— The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (1942)
Good theories of the mind must span at least three different scales of time: slow, for the billions of years in which our brains have survivied; fast, for the fleeting weeks and months of childhood; and in between, the centuries of growth of our ideas through history.
marvin minsky— Marvin Minsky, The Society of Mind (1988) Ch.1
Can storied urn or animated bust Back to its mansion call the fleeting breath? Can Honour's voice provoke the silent dust, Or Flattery soothe the dull cold ear of Death?
thomas gray— Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard, lines 41-4 (1751)
So when or you or I are made A fable, song, or fleeting shade; All love, all liking, all delight Lies drowned with us in endless night. Then while time serves, and we are but decaying; Come, my Corinna, come, let's go a Maying.
Robert Herrick— 1648 'Corinna's Going a Maying'.
As drifting logs of wood may haply meet On ocean's waters surging to and fro, And having met, drift once again apart, So, fleeting is the intercourse of men. E'en as a traveler meeting with the shade Of some o'erhung tree, awhile reposes, Then leaves its shelter to pursue his ways, So men meet friends, then part with them for ever.
— Translation of the Code of Manu. In Words of Wisdom.
Can storied urn, or animated bust Back to its mansion call the fleeting breath? Can Honour's voice provoke the silent dust, Or Flatt'ry soothe the dull cold ear of Death?
thomas gray— St. 11. (Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard (1750))
There is no better feeling than the feeling that I have done something right. That feeling comes so rarely and is so fleeting that I can never really enjoy it. So in a way, it's not a good feeling at all.
john s. hall— October 7
One of those passing rainbow dreams, Half light, half shade, which fancy's beams Paint on the fleeting mists that roll, In trance or slumber, round the soul!
thomas moore— Thomas Moore, Lalla Rookh (1817), Fire Worshippers, Stanza 54.
Now from head to foot I am marble-constant: now the fleeting moon No planet is of mine.
william shakespeare— William Shakespeare, Antony and Cleopatra (1600s), Act V, scene 2, line 238.
Eheu fugaces, Postume, Postume, labuntur anni. Oh, my Postumus,Postumus, the fleeting years are slipping by.
— Odes, bk.2, no.14, l.1-2.
O time, arrest your flight! and you, propitious hours, arrest your course! Let us savor the fleeting delights of our most beautiful days!
alphonse de lamartine— The Lake, st. 6 (1820)
Some fleeting good, that mocks me with the view.
Oliver Goldsmith— Line 26. (The Traveller (1764))
Thus heavenly hope is all serene,But earthly hope, how bright soe’er,Still fluctuates o’er this changing scene,As false and fleeting as ’t is fair.
Reginald Heber— "On Heavenly Hope and Earthly Hope".
So when or you or I are madeA fable, song, or fleeting shade,All love, all liking, all delightLies drowned with us in endless night.
Robert Herrick— "Corinna's Going A-Maying".
As distant prospects please us, but when nearWe find but desert rocks and fleeting air.
samuel garth— Samuel Garth, The Dispensatory, canto iii, line 27.
As drifting logs of wood may haply meetOn ocean's waters surging to and fro,And having met, drift once again apart,So, fleeting is the intercourse of men.E'en as a traveler meeting with the shadeOf some o'erhung tree, awhile reposes,Then leaves its shelter to pursue his ways,So men meet friends, then part with them for ever.
— Translation of the Code of Manu. In Words of Wisdom.
Consecrate the place and day To music and Cecilia. Let no rough winds approach, nor dare Invade the hallow'd bounds, Nor rudely shake the tuneful air, Nor spoil the fleeting sounds. Nor mournful sigh nor groan be heard, But gladness dwell on every tongue; Whilst all, with voice and strings prepar'd, Keep up the loud harmonious song, And imitate the blest above, In joy, and harmony, and love.
joseph addison— Song for St. Cecilia's Day (1692).
The Conscious mind is a maelstrom of fleeting thoughts , images, sensations, feelings , conflicting desires , and doubts ; barely able to confine its attention to a single clear objective for a microsecond before secondary thoughts begin to adulterate it and provoke yet further trains of mental discourse. If you do not believe this, then attempt to confine your conscious attention to the dot at the end of this sentence without involving yourself in any other form of thinking, including thinking about the dot.
peter j. carroll— p. 87 (Liber Kaos (1992))
Remember that man lives only in the present, in this fleeting instant; all the rest of his life is either past and gone, or not yet revealed. Short, therefore, is man's life, and narrow is the corner of the earth wherein he dwells.
marcus aurelius— III, 10. (Book III)
Mark how fleeting and paltry is the estate of man - yesterday in embryo, tomorrow a mummy or ashes. So for the hairsbreadth of time assigned to thee, live rationally, and part with life cheerfully, as drops the ripe olive, extolling the season that bore it and the tree that matured it.
marcus aurelius— IV, 48. (Book IV)
Many houses were still full of light when, at the close of March 22, the people of the Círculo returned to their homes, which were gladdened with a fleeting gladness by an hour of justice for there are still many slaves, black and white, in Puerto Rico!
josé martí— "The Abolition of Slavery in Puerto Rico" (1893)
Don't let your heart depend on things That ornament life in a fleeting way! He who possesses, let him learn to lose, He who is fortunate, let him learn pain.
friedrich von schiller— Die Braut von Messina (The Bride of Messina), Act IV, sc. iv (1803).
Devoting ourselves too much to an exclusive search of a material happiness, of ephemerous (or fleeting) goods, one fails to appreciate ("méconnaît", Fr.) the true(or real)realities of life and one let the spirit (or mind) decline and dry up (or waste away, or become insensitive) ("En s'adonnant trop exclusivement à la recherche d'un bonheur matériel, de biens éphémères, on méconnaît les vraies réalités dela vie et on laisse s'étioler et se dessécher l'esprit.", Fr.)
african spir— p. 49 (Words of a Sage : Selected thoughts of African Spir (1937))
Already, a conscious courage is coming to life. Here are some of the painters: Picasso , Braque , Delaunay , Le Fauconnier. . . they are highly enlightened, and do not believe in the stability of any system, even if it were to call itself classical art. . . Their reason is poised between the pursuit of the fleeting and a mania for the eternal.
— Jean Metzinger Note sur la Peinture (1910)
As distant prospects please us, but when near We find but desert rocks and fleeting air.
samuel garth— Samuel Garth, The Dispensary (1699), Canto III, line 27.
Reminiscences, even extensive ones, do not always amount to an autobiography. [...] For even if months and years appear here, it is in the form they have in the moment of recollection. This strange form it may be called fleeting or eternal is in neither case the stuff that life is made of.
walter benjamin— Walter Benjamin, A Berlin Chronicle (1932–, unfinished), in Walter Benjamin: Selected Writings – vol. 2, pt. 2: 1931-1934, ed. Michael William Jennings, Harvard University Press, 2005, p. 612
As distant prospects please us, but when near We find but desert rocks and fleeting air.
samuel garth— Samuel Garth, The Dispensary (1699), Canto III, line 27
This world is all a fleeting show, For man's illusion given; The smiles of joy, the tears of woe, Deceitful shine, deceitful flow, There's nothing true but Heaven.
thomas moore— Thomas Moore, This World is all a Fleeting Show; reported in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 911-17.
