"How strange is the lot of us mortals! Each of us is here for a
brief sojourn; for what purpose he knows not, though he sometimes
thinks he senses it. But without deeper reflection one knows from
daily life that one exists for other people -- first of all for
those upon whose smiles and well-being our own happiness is wholly
dependent, and then for the many, unknown to us, to whose destinies
we are bound by the ties of sympathy. A hundred times every day
I remind myself that my inner and outer life are based on the labors
of other men, living and dead, and that I must exert myself in order
to give in the same measure as I have received and am still receiving...
"I have never looked
upon ease and happiness as ends in themselves -- this critical basis
I call the ideal of a pigsty. The ideals that have lighted my way,
and time after time have given me new courage to face life cheerfully,
have been Kindness, Beauty, and Truth.
clipped from: www.aip.org 