Supposing there is no life everlasting. Think what it means if death is really the end of all things. They've given up all for nothing. They've been cheated. They're dupes." Waddington reflected for a little while. "I wonder if it matters what they have aimed at is illusion. Their lives are in themselves beautiful. I have an idea that the only thing which makes it possible to regard this world we live in without disgust is the beauty which now and then men create out of the chaos. The pictures they paint, the music they compose, the books the write, and the lives they lead. Of all these the richest beauty is the beautiful life. That is the perfect work of art. W. Somerset Maugham
About This Quote

In this quote, Waddington finds beauty in all of the things that people do. He finds beauty in the messiness of life – the “chaos,” as he calls it – and finds beauty in the imperfections of our lives. And he finds beauty even in death, which he says is just a part of life. In other words, if there is no life everlasting, then we have been cheated.

If death is really the end of all things, then we have been duped into believing that life has meaning and purpose when it doesn’t. But what if there is a life everlasting? What if death is not the end of all things? Then we can look at our lives and see how beautiful they are.

Source: The Painted Veil

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