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Were he to die we should not take it to heart, if we were wise, for more than a single day.

— Semonides of Amorgos

τοῦ μὲν θανόντος οὐκ ἂν ἐνθυμοίμεθα,
εἴ τι φρονοῖμεν, πλεῖον ἡμέρης μιῆς.

Original text (Ancient Greek)

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Variants

/ Of souls departed, if our minds were strong, We'd think no longer than a day is long. —Anonymous, "The Dead", OBGVT (1938), no. 121

More quotes by Semonides of Amorgos

In the beginning God made woman’s mind apart from man’s.

There's none alive but thinketh he will come home winged with wealth and good things next year; yet one of us ere he reach his goal is taken with unenvied Age, another's mind is wasted by miserable Disease, or Death sendeth him below dark Earth whelmed by War.

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Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Semonides of Amorgos (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.