“I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear; nor did I wish to practise resignation, unless it was quite necessary. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and Spartan-like as to put to rout all that was not life, to cut a broad swath and shave close, to drive life into a corner, and reduce it to its lowest terms...”
“I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear; nor did I wish to practise resignation, unless it was quite necessary. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and Spartan-like as to put to rout all that was not life, to cut a broad swath and shave close, to drive life into a corner, and reduce it to its lowest terms...”
― Henry David Thoreau
I quote this from a book I recently read, and thought it pertinent:
"And soft the danced from the Polar sky and swept in primrose haze;
And swift the pranced with their silver feet, and pierced with a blinding blaze.
They danced a cotillion in the sky, they were rose and silver shod;
It was not good for the eyes of man -- t'was a sight for the eyes of God."
"They writhed like a brood of angry snakes, hissing and sulfur pale;
Then swift they changed to a dragon vast, lashing a cloven tail."
The middle ground
The middle is as good a place as any I suppose
level ground to keep composure through the highs and the lows
A good view from the tip of your head right down to your toes
Steady as the wind blows, the water flows, and the heart knows