To Jean Sulivan, who died too soon.
I swear the earth shall surely be complete to him or her who shall be complete,
The earth remains jagged and broken only to him or her who remains jagged and broken.
I swear there is no greatness or power that does not emulate those of the earth,
There can be no theory of any account unless it corroborate the theory of the earth,
No politics, song, religion, behavior, or what not, is of account, unless it compare with the amplitude of the earth, Unless it face the exactness, vitality, impartiality, rectitude of the earth.
—Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass, “Song of the Rolling Earth”
Man does not live on bread alone—provided that he has some.
—Alain Saury
None of our books will perish; we will restore our broken statues; from domes and pediments other domes and pediments will be born; some men will think and work and feel as we do; I dare to count on his followers, placed irregularly throughout the centuries, on this intermittent immortality. I will say here that Hadrian was luckier than us. He was not facing, as we are now, a world in which we are perhaps the last ones capable of fighting against, with such scant possibilities of success, this “immense mass of evil-doings and errors” threatening, no longer only civilization, as anticipated, but life on earth itself. He could at best glimpse the end the of Greco-Roman world, then still far away; he could not foresee what we witness on a daily basis, the poisoning of our air and rivers, the death of the oceans, the extinction of animal species, the endemic torture and genocide, the degradation of the ideal of humanitas that he made his own. It is more difficult for us to continue to work courageously and it is nearly impossible to continue to believe, even in a partial and mitigated way as he did, in the wisdom of man.
—Marguerite Yourcenar, Interviews…, Mercure de France
I name as universal heir, the world’s youth.
The worst thing that can happen is that you are of no use to anyone, that your life serves no purpose. Enrich yourselves, you, on the happiness of others. If something is missing from your life, it is because you have not looked high enough. And then, believe in kindness—in humble, sublime kindness. The treasure I leave you is the good I did not do, but I wanted to do, which you shall do now that I’m gone.
—Raoul Follereau
The 21st century will be religious or it will not.
—André Malraux