La moitie de ma vie a mis l'autre au tombeau.

Les hommes valeureux le sont du premier coup.

Jamais nous ne goutons de parfaite allegresse: Nos plus heureux succes sont meles de tristesse.

A vaincre sans peril, on triomphe sans gloire.

We come from a dark abyss, we end in a dark abyss, and we call the luminous interval life. As soon as we are born the return begins, at once the setting forth …

It was as though some stubborn god spent their time in an immutable and absurd balancing act between life and death, prosperity and poverty.

I am. I was. I am not. I never am.