Death is the sound of distant thunder at a picnic.
W. H. AudenRead
We are all here on earth to help others; what on earth the others are here for I don't know.
Interpretation
The quote suggests that our purpose is to assist others, while questioning the purpose of others.
W. H. Auden's quote reflects a profound truth about human existence, positing that the essence of life lies in our contributions to one another. It emphasizes altruism and the importance of community, while simultaneously provoking thought about the reciprocal nature of existence and whether everyone is truly engaged in a mutual effort to assist each other.
In practice
This quote can be used in a motivational speech about community service.
Death is the sound of distant thunder at a picnic.
That the speech of self-disclosure should be translatable seems to me very odd, but I am convinced that it is. The conclusion that I draw is that the only quality which all human being without exception possess is uniqueness: any characteristic, on the other hand, which one individual can be recognized as having in common with another, like red hair or the English language, implies the existence of other individual qualities which this classification excludes.
Nobody knows what the cause is, though some pretend they do; it like some hidden assassin waiting to strike at you. Childless women get it, and men when they retire; it as if there had to be some outlet for their foiled creative fire.
History is, strictly speaking, the study of questions; the study of answers belongs to anthropology and sociology.
Music is the best means we have of digesting time.
'Healing,' Papa would tell me, 'is not a science, but the intuitive art of wooing nature.'
The priority of any addict is to anaesthetise the pain of living to ease the passage of day with some purchased relief.
Why do we cling to bigotry? Because bigotry, plainly, is convenient. It is a near-effortless way to both elevate one's stature and make a pity grab in this culture of victims that we have become.
It isn't those who are taken by force, put in chains, and sold as slaves who are the real slaves; it is those who will accept it, morally and physically.
In faith there is enough light for those who want to believe and enough shadows to blind those who don't.
Despite the slowness, the infidelity, the errors and sins it committed and might still commit against its members, the Church, trust me, has no other meaning and goal but to live and witness Jesus.
The world is such-and-such or so-and-so only because we tell ourselves that that is the way it is.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.