"Well, then, shall
mere glory distract you? Look at the swiftness of the oblivion
of all men; the gulf of endless time, behind and before; the
hollowness of applause, the fickleness and folly of those who
seem to speak well of you, and the narrow room in which it is
confined. This should make you pause.
For the entire earth is
a point in space, and how small a corner thereof is this your
dwelling place, and how few and how paltry those who will sing
your praises here!....The Universe is change, life is opinion."
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations
"There are no longer
'dancers.' the possessed. The cleavage of men into actor and
spectators is the central fact of our time. We are obsessed with
heroes who live for us and whom we punish. If all the radios
and televisions were deprived of their sources of power, all
books and paintings burned tomorrow, all shows and cinemas closed,
all the arts of vicarious existence...
We are content in the 'given'
in sensation's quest. We have been metamorphosised from a mad
body dancing on hillsides to a pair of eyes staring in the dark."
Jim
Morrison , The Lords and the New Creatures
