A recent article had a doctor refer to our ‘short, breakable lives’, reminding us of this fragility. Here is Nicolson’s take on Homer:

Homer knows that life is fragile, love suffers hurt and death comes; and that the moments on a hillside in the springtime, when the flowers are emerging in the turf, the sheep are giving milk and what looks like a mist of new leaves just breathed into the dark of a winter wood are more precious than any gathering of metal from slaughtered enemies …

All the more reason to seize its bounteous, beauteous moments. See also Keats, who knew more than most of life’s fragility, on the need to seize happiness whenever it comes.

And enjoy our quote-packed celebration of Nicolson’s bestellar, The Mighty Dead, also available in audio.

Source: Adam Nicolson, The Mighty Dead: Why Homer Matters (London: William Collins, 2015), p. 112

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