Jane Hirshfield Quotes

Between us and heaven or hell there is only life, which is the frailest thing in the world.

We civilizations now know ourselves mortal.

All good things in life are fragile and easily lost

A human being is only breath and shadow.

A mass of dust, world's momentary slave, Is man, in state of our old Adam made, Soon born to die, soon flourishing to fade.

Life is an incurable disease.

This planet Earth, the act of putting a roof over our heads, our flesh and blood existence, it's all very temporary.

Beauty is a fragile gift.

It was despairing to find out that I am mortal.

What, if as said, man is a bubble.

The days of our lives, for all of us, are numbered. We know that. And yes, there are certainly times when we aren't able to muster as much strength and patience as we would like. It's called being human.

I feel our relationship to life, to the rest of the world, is very tenuous. It feels fleeting.

I hate Sridevi. I hate her for making me realise that she, too, is finally only just a human being. I hate that her heart, too, has to beat to live.

This life of ours...human life is like a flower gloriously blooming in a meadow: along comes a goat, eats it up---no more flower.

How odd to watch a mortal kindle / Then to dwindle day by day / Knowing their bright souls are tinder / And the wind will have its way

The sparrow still falls.

What do we have in common with the rosebud, which trembles because a drop of dew lies on its body?

Life is a frail moth flying Caught in the web of the years that pass.

It is strange how fragile this man-creature is.....in one second he's just garbage. Garbage, that's all.

We're all expendable. We think the world's going to stop when a pope dies, or a king. And then... life goes on.

Five years after Aerosmith got back together, I realized how fragile we are as humans. There was a time I thought we were bulletproof, but then things happened and I came to the realization that I had to play every gig as if it was my last show. You have to start thinking that way, because you never know what's going to happen next.

Treaties are like roses and young girls. They last while they last.

And introduce an element of cynicism and darkness into it and just realize that we're all vulnerable. We are humans. There is a finite end to this life and we're all going to face it and a little silliness can help.

I have always been very obsessed with time. Time's passage makes us all very vulnerable and because we all experience it in our own way, it can make us feel very alone.

I always know I can die at any moment.