“One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh: but the earth abideth for ever.”
The Book of Ecclesiastes, 1611 · Ecclesiastes 1:4, King James Version
Chapter 7
On the Long View
“For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night.”
The Book of Psalms, 1611 · Psalm 90:4, King James Version
“For we are but of yesterday, and know nothing, because our days upon earth are a shadow.”
The Book of Job, 1611 · Job 8:9, King James Version
“The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever.”
The Book of Isaiah, 1611 · Isaiah 40:8, King James Version
“Nothing, Lucilius, is ours, except time. While we are postponing, life speeds by.”
Seneca, c. 62 AD · Roman Stoic philosopher, in the first of his letters to Lucilius
“If a man take no thought about what is distant, he will find sorrow near at hand.”
Confucius, c. 479 BC · Chinese teacher and philosopher
“My soul, refusing to be kept down, ever fixed its eyes upon future ages, as though from a conviction that it would begin to live only when it had left the body.”
Cicero, c. 44 BC · Roman statesman, writing in the voice of Cato on old age
Following thousands of adults for fourteen years, researchers found that those who reported a clear sense of purpose outlived those who did not, at every age they measured.
Patrick Hill and Nicholas Turiano, 2014 · longitudinal analysis of the MIDUS study
In a Japanese study following more than 40,000 adults, those who said they had ikigai, a sense that life is worth living, were less likely to die over the following years.
Toshimasa Sone and colleagues, 2008 · the Ohsaki Study, a large Japanese cohort
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