If we have been pleased with life, we should not be displeased with death, since it comes from the hand of the same master.
Interpretation
This quote suggests that both life and death are gifts from the same source, and we should accept death as a natural part of existence.
Michelangelo's quote reflects on the intertwined nature of life and death, advocating for a sense of acceptance towards both. It implies that if one has found joy and satisfaction in life, one should not resist or fear death, as it is an inevitable part of the human experience and emerges from the same divine authority that grants us life. This perspective encourages a harmonious view of existence, where both life and death are celebrated as expressions of a greater force.
In practice
In a eulogy, one might reference this quote to provide comfort to mourners.
The art of creation lies in the gift of perceiving the particular and generalizing it, thus creating the particular again. It is therefore a powerful transforming force and a generator of creative solutions in relation to a given problem.
The best artist has that thought alone Which is contained within the marble shell; The sculptor's hand can only break the spell To free the figures slumbering in the stone.
Art lives on constraint and dies of freedom.
If it be true that any beautiful thing raises the pure and just desire of man from earth to God, the eternal fount of all, such I believe my love.
Every beauty which is seen here by persons of perception resembles more than anything else that celestial source from which we all are come.
There is an angel imprisoned in it and I must set it free.
We’ve got ninety-nine per cent the same genes as any other person. We’ve got ninety per cent the same as a chimpanzee. We’ve got thirty per cent the same as a lettuce. Does that cheer you up at all? I love about the lettuce. It makes me feel I belong.
I'm an atheist and I thank God for it.
There are places in my heart...where no living soul...has...or can ever...trespass.
All you need to do is recognize your true position as the witness. You only have to do this for some time, until the spell is broken. Even after the spell is broken these mental tendencies may arise, but without any power, just like you can see the moon in the daylight.
The State is the curse of the individual... The State must go! That will be a revolution which will find me on its side. Undermine the idea of the State, set up in its place spontaneous action, and the idea that spiritual relationship is the only thing that makes for unity, and you will start the elements of a liberty which will be something worth possessing.
The study of law is sublime, and its practice vulgar.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.