“There is an ecstasy that marks the summit of life, and beyond which life cannot rise. And such is the paradox of living, this ecstasy comes when one is most alive, and it comes as a complete forgetfulness that one is alive.”
Jack London
The Call of the Wild (Primary source)
The Call of the Wild is a short novel by Jack London set during the Klondike Gold Rush. It follows Buck, a large domesticated dog living comfortably in California, who is stolen and sold into the brutal world of sled dogs in the Yukon.
More about “The Call of the Wild” →
“There is an ecstasy that marks the summit of life, and beyond which life cannot rise. And such is the paradox of living, this ecstasy comes when one is most alive, and it comes as a complete forgetfulness that one is alive. This ecstasy, this forgetfulness of living, comes to the artist, caught up and out of himself in a sheet of flame; it comes to the soldier, war-mad on a stricken field and refusing quarter; and it came to Buck, leading the pack, sounding the old wolf-cry, straining after the food that was alive and that fled swiftly before him through the moonlight.”
Jack London
“Life achieves its summit when it does to the uttermost that which it was equipped to do.”
— Jack London Primary source“The proper function of man is to live, not to exist. I shall not waste my days in trying to prolong them. I shall use my time.”
— Jack London Secondary source“Love, genuine passionate love, was his for the first time.”
— Jack London Primary source“The ghostly winter silence had given way to the great spring murmur of awakening life.”
— Jack London Primary source“Spend each day trying to be a little wiser than you were when you woke up. Discharge your duties faithfully and well. Step by step you get ahead, but not necessarily in fast spurts. But you build discipline by preparing for fast spurts. Slug it out one inch at a time, day by day, and at the end of the day—if you live long enough—like most people, you will get out of life what you deserve.”
— Charlie Munger Primary source“He that lies down with dogs, shall rise up with fleas.”
— Benjamin Franklin Primary source“If you don’t get elementary probability into your repertoire, you go through a long life like a one-legged man in an ass-kicking contest.”
— Charlie Munger Primary source“No one comes back from the dead; no one has come into the world without weeping. No one asks when one wants to come in; no one asks when one wants to go out.”
— Søren Kierkegaard Primary source