Span

Famous quotes containing the word span:

    School-days, I believe, are the unhappiest in the whole span of human existence. They are full of dull, unintelligible tasks, new and unpleasant ordinances, brutal violations of common sense and common decency. It doesn’t take a reasonably bright boy long to discover that most of what is rammed into him is nonsense, and that no one really cares very much whether he learns it or not.
    —H.L. (Henry Lewis)

    A large volume of adventures may be grasped within this little span of life, by him who interests his heart in everything.
    Laurence Sterne (1713–1768)

    To me, however, the question of the times resolved itself into a practical question of the conduct of life. How shall I live? We are incompetent to solve the times. Our geometry cannot span the huge orbits of the prevailing ideas, behold their return, and reconcile their opposition. We can only obey our own polarity.
    Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)