Thursday, July 10, 2014

And One Grows Old

Mme. de Sevigne writes to the Comte du Bussy-Rabutin, August 6, 1675:
You also know about my life: five or six friends whose company pleases me, a thousand little duties, and that's something. But what upsets me is that the days go by in doing nothing, and one grows old, and one dies, and our poor life is made up of these days.
I can't say that many of my days pass in doing nothing; but enough seem to pass in accomplishing nothing, and given Mme. de Sevigne's thousand duties, perhaps that's what she meant.

1 comment:

  1. Perhaps it depends upon how one defines an accomplishment. Isn't it all rather personal and subjective? For example, what I accomplished today would pale in comparison to what my friend, a helicopter pilot in Afghanistan, accomplished during his day off -- he simply rested.

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