How paltry are the traces left behind by a life, even one concentrated around those supposed things of permanence called words. We spend our time upon the earth and then disappear, and only one one-thousandth of what we were lasts. We send all those bottles out into the ocean and so few wash up on shore.John Darnton
About This Quote
When people write their memoirs and regale their experiences, they focus on the time they spent with friends and family. Some spend as much as a day or two on the weather and the circumstances of their lives, but very little time is given to the actual words which people use. The words may be spoken but the thoughts behind those words are left unspoken. The writer leaves out those moments because those words do not seem important enough to hold a place in a book.
But if a person goes back and listens to those moments, they would realize that the thoughts behind those words were really quite important. Similarly, we spend our time at work and then disappear, but few of us think about the things we say. We send our bottles out into the ocean and so few wash up on shore.
Source: Almost A Family: A Memoir
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