So vanishes our state; so pass our days; So life but opens now, and now decays; The cradle and the tomb, alas! so nigh, To live is scarce distinguish'd from to die. PRIOR-Solomon on the Vanity of the World. Bk. III. L. 527.
Half my life is full of sorrow,
Half of joy, still fresh and new; One of these lives is a fancy,
But the other one is true.
ADELAIDE A. PROCTER-Dream-Life.
Lord, make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days, what it is; that I may know how frail I am.
As for man his days are as grass; as a flower of the field so he flourisheth.
The wind passeth over it, and it is gone; and the place thereof shall know it no more. Psalms. CIII. 16.
Our Life is nothing but a Winter's day; Some only break their Fast, and so away: Others stay to Dinner, and depart full fed: The deepest Age but Sups, and goes to Bed: He's most in debt that lingers out the Day: Who dies betime, has less, and less to pay. QUARLES-Divine Fancies. On The Life of Man. (1633) Quoted in different forms for epitaphs.
(See also DRYDEN, GERHARD, HENSLAW, JENKYNS, SENECA)
Man's life is like a Winter's day: Some only breakfast and away; Others to dinner stay and are full fed, The oldest man but sups and goes to bed. Long is his life who lingers out the day, Who goes the soonest has the least to pay; Death is the Waiter, some few run on tick, And some alas! must pay the bill to Nick! Tho' I owed much, I hope long trust is given, And truly mean to pay all bills in Heaven. Epitaph in Barnwell Churchyard, near Cam- bridge, England.
And so, from hour to hour, we ripe and ripe. And then, from hour to hour, we rot and rot; And thereby hangs a tale.
As You Like It. Act II. Sc. 7. L. 25. Last phrase in The Taming of the Shrew. Act IV. Sc. 1; Othello. Act III. Sc. 1. The Merry Wives of Windsor. Act I. Sc. 4. As You Like It. Act II. Sc. 7. RABELAIS. Bk. V. Ch. IV.
Why, what should be the fear? I do not set my life at a pin's fee. Hamlet. Act I. Sc. 4. L. 66.
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