Thus the sum of things is ever being reviewed, and mortals dependent one upon another. Some nations increase, others diminish, and in a short space the generations of living creatures are changed and like runners pass on the torch of life.
Interpretation
This quote reflects on the interconnectedness of life and the cyclical nature of existence.
Lucretius emphasizes the continuous review and change in the world, highlighting how humans and nations influence one another over time. The metaphor of passing the 'torch of life' symbolizes the transfer of existence and legacy through generations, illustrating the transient and interconnected nature of life.
In practice
In a graduation speech to encourage students to embrace the passing of knowledge.
Huts they made then, and fire, and skins for clothing, And a woman yielded to one man in wedlock... ... Common, to see the offspring they had made; The human race began to mellow then. Because of fire their shivering forms no longer Could bear the cold beneath the covering sky.
No single thing abides; but all things flow. Fragment to fragment clings - the things thus grow Until we know them and name them. By degrees They melt, and are no more the things we know.
What is food to one man is bitter poison to others.
The water hollows out the stone, not by force but drop by drop.
Many animals even now spring out of the soil, Coalescing from the rains and the heat of the sun. Small wonder, then, if more and bigger creatures, Full-formed, arose from the new young earth and sky. The breed, for instance, of the dappled birds Shucked off their eggshells in the springtime, as Crickets in summer will slip their slight cocoons All by themselves, and search for food and life. Earth gave you, then, the first of mortal kinds, For all the fields were soaked with warmth and moisture.
So potent was religion in persuading to evil deeds.
My deceased patients have taught me over the years to believe in the glass half full, to make good use of the time we have, to be generous - that was their lesson for the Uber-mind, and it was free. 'Do that,' they said, 'and then perhaps death shall have no dominion.'
I think this is how we are supposed to be in the world-present and in awe.
Any man who has once proclaimed violence as his method is inevitably forced to take the lie as his principle.
I have never once feared the devil, but I tremble every time I enter the pulpit.
When you destroy a population, once femicide happens, we're going to see the end of humanity, because I don't know how you sustain a future without vitalised women.
Beggars should be entirely abolished! Truly, it is annoying to give to them and annoying not to give to them.
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