"This could lead to excellence
Or serious injury
Only one way to know
Go, go, go
Go ahead, wreck your life
That might be good
Who can say what's wrong or right?
Nobody can"
- They Might Be Giants
"Well the good ol' days may not return,
And the rocks might melt and the sea may burn…
Well, some say life will beat you down,
Break your heart, steal your crown
So I've started out for God knows where,
I guess I'll know when I get there"
- Tom Petty
"Alike for those who for TO-DAY prepare,
And those that after some TO-MORROW stare,
A Muezzin from the Tower of Darkness cries,
Fools! your Reward is neither Here nor There.
Of threats of Hell and Hopes of Paradise!
One thing at least is certain This Life flies;
One thing is certain and the rest is Lies;
The Flower that once has blown for ever dies.
When You and I behind the Veil are past,
Oh, but the long, long while the World shall last,
Which of our Coming and Departure heeds
As the Sea's self should heed a pebble-cast."
- Omar Khayyam
"In the beginning, you said that if it was quiet I wanted, I would like it here. Yes, I am taken with the peace and tranquility of the Town. I also know that if I stay on at the expense of my mind, that peace and tranquility will become total. Very likely, I will regret leaving this Town for the rest of my life. Yet I cannot stay . . . What I lose would be eternal."
- Haruki Murakami
"I stopped to take a last look at my scrap heap of an apartment. Once again, life had a lesson to teach me: It takes years to build up, it takes moments to destroy. Sure, I'd gotten tired of this tiny space, but I'd had a good home here. In the time it takes to swill two cans of beer, all had sublimed like morning mist. My job, my whiskey, my peace and quiet, my solitude, my Somerset Maugham and John Ford collections all of it trashed and worthless. The splendor of the fields, the glory of the flowers, I recited under my breath. Then I reached up and pulled the breaker switch to cut the electricity."
- ibid
"I had the clothes I stood up in, some loose cash, my passport, and my letter of credit. I felt so free, I laughed out loud."
- W. Somerset Maugham