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After all, what's a life, anyway? We're born, we live a little while, we die.
E. B. White
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Interpretation

What this quote means

Life is a fleeting journey with a beginning, a middle, and an end.

This quote by E. B. White prompts reflection on the transient nature of life. It emphasizes that our existence is brief, composed of a short period of living before we ultimately face death, encouraging us to consider the significance of how we spend our time during that brief interlude.

Themes

LifeExistenceMortalityBriefnessReflection

In practice

Example use cases

This quote can be used in a eulogy to reflect on the fleeting nature of life.

More from E. B. White

It is by all odds the loftiest of cities. It even managed to reach the highest point in the sky at the lowest moment of the depression.
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The main thing I try to do is write as clearly as I can. Because I have the greatest respect for the reader, and if he's going to the trouble of reading what I've written -- I'm a slow reader myself and I guess most people are -- why, the least I can do is make it as easy as possible for him to find out what I'm trying to say, trying to get at. I rewrite a good deal to make it clear.
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A good farmer is nothing more nor less than a handy man with a sense of humus.
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A despot doesn't fear eloquent writers preaching freedom- he fears a drunken poet who may crack a joke that will take hold.
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All writing is communication; creative writing is communication through revelation-it is the Self-escaping into the open.
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