Death is the sound of distant thunder at a picnic.
W. H. AudenRead
If we really want to live, we'd better start at once to try.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes the urgency of taking action to truly experience life.
This quote by W. H. Auden suggests that if we desire to fully embrace life and its experiences, we must take immediate action. Procrastination can prevent us from living authentically and deeply, so it's important to start pursuing our goals and passions without delay.
In practice
This quote could be used in a motivational speech to encourage people to pursue their dreams.
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 secret to changing your life is in your intentions. Wishing, hoping and goal setting cannot accomplish change without intention. What is needed is a shift from the inert energy of wanting to the active energy of doing and intention.
You cannot have a positive life and a negative mind.
There comes a time when people get tired of being pushed out of the glittering sunlight of life's July and left standing amid the piercing chill of an alpine November.
Nike doesn't want to make products for everyone - they want to make products for champions.
I play knowing that there is somebody watching me out there in the crowd that has never had the opportunity to watch a game before and it might be the only chance they ever to see one, live in person. Michael Jordan once said that in an interview, and I really took it to heart; whenever I step on the floor, I play for that person.
I'm always afraid of failing. It's great motivation to work harder.
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