Little fly, thy summer’s play
My careless hand hath brushed away.
Am not I a fly like thee,
Or art not thou a man like me.
For I dance, and drink, and sing
Till some blind hand doth brush my wing.
If that is life, and strength, and breath
And the word of thought is death
Then am I a happy fly?
If I live, or if I die.
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daily quotation server archives
In the late 90’s I started (a good decade for starts) a daily quotation server project at www.quoteserver.ca. The domain is now defunct—some pages are partially viewable at the Way Back Machine.
Below is the list of quotes I had collected by the end of the life of the project. Most are about love—duh—and a few are jolly jests from funny trenches. You know, that place where mustard gas makes your eyes water.
The quotes weren’t scraped from quote archives—each is meaningful and hand-picked.
the quote archive
And now for full list of 1,700+ other things worth reading. Such as everything Dorothy Parker has written and ... yes, even the Pinky and Brain quotes, which are a special kind of special.
Quote collections about love, heart, desire, life, death, god, mind, science.
Feeling lucky? Read 10 random quotes. Well, will you, punk?
Quotes about death
34
45
Sleep is a death, O make me try
By sleeping, what it is to die,
And as gently lay my head
On my grave, as now my bed.
By sleeping, what it is to die,
And as gently lay my head
On my grave, as now my bed.
Religio Medici, part II
48
I love thee with the love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints,—I love thee with the breath
Smiles, tears, of all my life!—and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.
With my lost saints,—I love thee with the breath
Smiles, tears, of all my life!—and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.
Sonnets from the Portuguese
132
To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day
To the last syllable of recorded time,
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death.
Out, out, brief candle!
Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more: it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day
To the last syllable of recorded time,
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death.
Out, out, brief candle!
Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more: it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.
Macbeth, V. i. 19.
140
Half a league, half a league,
Half a league onward,
All in the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.
Half a league onward,
All in the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.
Charge of the Light Brigade
154
Sleep—Death without dying—living, but not life.
156
Death is sometimes a punishment, sometimes a gift;
To many it has come as a favor.
To many it has come as a favor.
157
The prince who kept the world in awe,
The judge whose dictate fix’d the law;
The rich, the poor, the great, the small,
Are levelled; death confounds ’em all.
The judge whose dictate fix’d the law;
The rich, the poor, the great, the small,
Are levelled; death confounds ’em all.
158
Because I could not stop for Death,
He kindly stopped for me,
The carriage held but just ourselves
And Immortality.
He kindly stopped for me,
The carriage held but just ourselves
And Immortality.
266
Life without a friend is like death without a witness.
299
Death comes with a crawl, or comes with a pounce,
And whether he’s slow or spry,
It isn’t the fact that you’re dead that counts,
But only, how did you die?
And whether he’s slow or spry,
It isn’t the fact that you’re dead that counts,
But only, how did you die?
How Did You Die?
337
Windows NT crashed.
I am the Blue Screen of Death.
No one hears your screams.
I am the Blue Screen of Death.
No one hears your screams.
340
Three things are certain:
Death, taxes and lost data.
Guess which has occurred.
Death, taxes and lost data.
Guess which has occurred.
417
Death is nature’s way of telling you to slow down.
431
Don’t be afraid of death so much as an inadequate life.
466
He is one of those people who would be enormously improved by death.
475
Those who fear death most are those who enjoy life least.
502
Marriage is the death of hope.
524
At six o’clock we cleaned our cells,
At seven all was still,
But the sough and swing of a mighty wing
The prison seemed to fill,
For the Lord of Death with icy breath
Had entered in to kill.
At seven all was still,
But the sough and swing of a mighty wing
The prison seemed to fill,
For the Lord of Death with icy breath
Had entered in to kill.
The Ballad of Reading Gaol
595
The smallest sprout shows there is really no death.
And if ever there was it led forward life, and does not
wait at the end to arrest it.
And if ever there was it led forward life, and does not
wait at the end to arrest it.
Song of Myself
645
I do not believe that any man fears to be dead, but only the stroke of death.
An Essay on Death
712
All tragedies are finish’d by a death,
All comedies are ended by a marriage.
All comedies are ended by a marriage.
Don Juan, c.iii, st. 9
729
Vivre est un maladie dont le sommeil nous soulage toutes les 16 heures. C’est un pallatif. La mort est le remede.
[Living is an illness to which sleep provides relief every sixteen hours. It’s a palliative.
The remedy is death.]
[Living is an illness to which sleep provides relief every sixteen hours. It’s a palliative.
The remedy is death.]
Maximes et Pensees, ch. 2
812
Death hath so many doors to let out life.
The Custom of the Country, II.ii
885
Then, with no throbs of fiery pain,
No cold gradations of decay,
Death broke at once the vital chain,
And freed his soul the nearest way.
No cold gradations of decay,
Death broke at once the vital chain,
And freed his soul the nearest way.
Of Gray’s Odes
963
O death! I know it—’tis my famulus—
Thus turns to naught my fairest bliss!
That visions in abundance such as this
Must be disturbed by that dry prowler thus!
Thus turns to naught my fairest bliss!
That visions in abundance such as this
Must be disturbed by that dry prowler thus!
Faust
1092
For the crown of our life as it closes
Is darkness, the fruit there of dust;
No thorns go as deep as the rose’s,
And love is more cruel than lust.
Time turns the old days to derision,
Our loves into corpses or wives;
And marriage and death and division
Make barren our lives.
Is darkness, the fruit there of dust;
No thorns go as deep as the rose’s,
And love is more cruel than lust.
Time turns the old days to derision,
Our loves into corpses or wives;
And marriage and death and division
Make barren our lives.
Dolores
1130
Though they go mad they shall be sane.
Though they sink through the sea, they shall rise again.
Though lovers be lost, love shall not,
And death shall have no dominion.
Though they sink through the sea, they shall rise again.
Though lovers be lost, love shall not,
And death shall have no dominion.
1138
My life is light, waiting for the death wind,
Like a feather on the back of my hand.
Like a feather on the back of my hand.
1141
Death be not proud, though some have called thee
Mighty and dreadful, for, thou art not so,
For, those, whom thou think’st, thou dost overthrow,
Die not, poor death, nor yet canst thou kill me.
Mighty and dreadful, for, thou art not so,
For, those, whom thou think’st, thou dost overthrow,
Die not, poor death, nor yet canst thou kill me.
Holy Sonnets X
1142
Don’t strew me with roses after I’m dead.
When Death claims the light of my brow
No flowers of life will cheer me: instead
You may give me my roses now!
When Death claims the light of my brow
No flowers of life will cheer me: instead
You may give me my roses now!
1194
Suffer me to take your hand.
Suffer me to cherish you
Till the dawn is in the sky.
Whether I be false or true,
Death comes in a day or two.
Suffer me to cherish you
Till the dawn is in the sky.
Whether I be false or true,
Death comes in a day or two.
Mariposa
1311
Show me a love was done and through,
Tell me a kiss escaped its debt!
Son, to your death you’ll pay your due—
Women and elephants never forget.
Tell me a kiss escaped its debt!
Son, to your death you’ll pay your due—
Women and elephants never forget.
Ballade of Unfortunate Mammals
1319
Oh, it is sure as it is sad
That any lad is every lad,
And what’s a girl, to dare impore
Her dear be hers forevermore?
Though he be tried and he be bold,
And swearing death should he be cold,
He’ll run the path the others went....
But you, my sweet, are different.
That any lad is every lad,
And what’s a girl, to dare impore
Her dear be hers forevermore?
Though he be tried and he be bold,
And swearing death should he be cold,
He’ll run the path the others went....
But you, my sweet, are different.
Incurable
1446
In every parting there is an image of death.
1472
For the Angel of Death spread his wings on the blast,
And breathed in the face of the foe as he pass’d;
And the eyes of the sleepers wax’d deadly and chill,
And their hearts but once heaved, and for ever grew still!
And breathed in the face of the foe as he pass’d;
And the eyes of the sleepers wax’d deadly and chill,
And their hearts but once heaved, and for ever grew still!
The Destruction of Sennacherib
1476
To die, to sleep—
To sleep, perchance to dream, ay there’s the rub,
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause; there’s the respect
That makes calamity of so long life.
To sleep, perchance to dream, ay there’s the rub,
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause; there’s the respect
That makes calamity of so long life.
Hamlet
1485
The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly; it is dearness only that gives everything its value. I love the man that can smile in trouble, that can gather strength from distress and grow brave by reflection. ’Tis the business of little minds to shrink; but he whose heart is firm, and whose conscience approves his conduct, will pursue his principles unto death.
1596
I do not want to believe that death is the gateway to another life. For me, it is a closed door. I do not say it is a step we must all take, but that it is a horrible and dirty adventure.
1672
Life is short. But death is very, very long.
Quicksand
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news + thoughts
The COVID charts — hospitalization rates
As part of the COVID Charts series, I fix a muddled and storyless graphic tweeted by Adrian Dix, Canada's Health Minister.
I show you how to fix color schemes to make them colorblind-accessible and effective in revealing patters, how to reduce redundancy in labels (a key but overlooked part of many visualizations) and how to extract a story out of a table to frame the narrative.
▲ Clear titles introduce the graphic, which starts with informative and non-obvious observations of the relationship between age, number of comorbidities, vaccination status and hospitalization rates. Supporting the story is a tidy table that gives you detailed statistics for each demographic.
(more)
Music for the Moon: Flunk's 'Down Here / Moon Above'
The Sanctuary Project is a Lunar vault of science and art. It includes two fully sequenced human genomes, sequenced and assembled by us at Canada's Michael Smith Genome Sciences Centre.
The first disc includes a song composed by Flunk for the (eventual) trip to the Moon.
But how do you send sound to space? I describe the inspiration, process and art behind the work.
▲ The song 'Down Here / Moon Above' from Flunk's new album History of Everything Ever is our song for space. It appears on the Sanctuary genome discs, which aim to send two fully sequenced human genomes to the Moon.
(more)
Happy 2021 `\pi` Day—
A forest of digits
Celebrate `\pi` Day (March 14th) and finally see the digits through the forest.
▲ The 26th tree in the digit forest of `\pi`. Why is there a flower on the ground?.
(details)
This year is full of botanical whimsy. A Lindenmayer system forest – deterministic but always changing. Feel free to stop and pick the flowers from the ground.
▲ The first 46 digits of `\pi` in 8 trees. There are so many more.
(details)
And things can get crazy in the forest.
▲ A forest of the digits of '\pi`, by ecosystem.
(details)
Check out art from previous years: 2013 `\pi` Day and 2014 `\pi` Day, 2015 `\pi` Day, 2016 `\pi` Day, 2017 `\pi` Day, 2018 `\pi` Day and 2019 `\pi` Day.
Testing for rare conditions
All that glitters is not gold. âW. Shakespeare
The sensitivity and specificity of a test do not necessarily correspond to its error rate. This becomes critically important when testing for a rare condition — a test with 99% sensitivity and specificity has an even chance of being wrong when the condition prevalence is 1%.
We discuss the positive predictive value (PPV) and how practices such as screen can increase it.
▲ Nature Methods Points of Significance column: Testing for rare conditions.
(read)
Altman, N. & Krzywinski, M. (2021) Points of significance: Testing for rare conditions. Nature Methods 18:224–225.
Standardization fallacy
We demand rigidly defined areas of doubt and uncertainty! âD. Adams
A popular notion about experiments is that it's good to keep variability in subjects low to limit the influence of confounding factors. This is called standardization.
Unfortunately, although standardization increases power, it can induce unrealistically low variability and lead to results that do not generalize to the population of interest. And, in fact, may be irreproducible.
▲ Nature Methods Points of Significance column: Standardization fallacy.
(read)
Not paying attention to these details and thinking (or hoping) that standardization is always good is the "standardization fallacy". In this column, we look at how standardization can be balanced with heterogenization to avoid this thorny issue.
Voelkl, B., Würbel, H., Krzywinski, M. & Altman, N. (2021) Points of significance: Standardization fallacy. Nature Methods 18:5–6.