One brilliant flash

I would rather be ashes than dust! I would rather that my spark burn out in a brilliant blaze than it be stifled by dry-rot. I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet.

Jack London

The two wings of perfection

“Merely to shine is futile; merely to burn is not enough; to burn and to shine is perfect.

--Bernard of Clairvaux