Because I have loved life, I shall have no sorrow to die.

Three passions have governed my life:
The longings for love, the search
for knowledge,
And unbearable pity for the suffering of [humankind].

Love brings ecstasy and relieves loneliness.
In the union of love I have
seen
In a mystic miniature the prefiguring vision
Of the heavens that
saints and poets have imagined.

With equal passion I have sought knowledge.
I have wished to understand
the hearts of [people].
I have wished to know why the stars shine.

Love and knowledge led upwards to the heavens,
But always pity brought me
back to earth;
Cries of pain reverberated in my heart
Of children in
famine, of victims tortured
And of old people left helpless.
I long to
alleviate the evil, but I cannot,
And I too suffer.

This has been my life; I found it worth living.

Tags: Life Quote Friendship

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