Mastodawn

O man! as a citizen thou hast lived, and conversed in this great city the world. Whether just for so many years, or no, what is it unto thee? Thou hast lived (thou mayest be sure) as long as the laws and orders of the city required; which may be the common comfort of all.

[Ἄνθρωπε, ἐπολιτεύσω ἐν τῇ μεγάλῃ ταύτῃ πόλει: τί σοι διαφέρει, εἰ πέντε ἔτεσιν ἢ τρισί; τὸ γὰρ κατὰ τοὺς νόμους ἴσον ἑκάστῳ.]

Marcus Aurelius (AD 121-180) Roman emperor (161-180), Stoic philosopher
Meditations [To Himself; Τὰ εἰς ἑαυτόν], Book 12, ch. 36 (12.36) (AD 161-180) [tr. Casaubon (1634), 12.27]

More about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/marcus-aureleus/8280…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #marcusaurelius #marcusaureliusmeditations #death #destiny #equality #existence #life #lifespan #living #mortality #naturalcourse #nature #purpose

Marcus Aurelius - Meditations [To Himself; Τὰ εἰς ἑαυτόν], Book 12, ch. 36 (12.36) (AD 161-180) [tr. Casaubon (1634), 12.27] | WIST Quotations

O man! as a citizen thou hast lived, and conversed in this great city the world. Whether just for so many years, or no, what is it unto thee? Thou hast lived (thou mayest be sure) as long as the laws and orders of the city required; which may be…

WIST Quotations

WIST Quotations Mar 9

A quotation from Kurt Vonnegut

The most important thing I learned on Tralfamadore was that when a person dies he only appears to die. He is still very much alive in the past, so it is very silly for people to cry at his funeral. All moments, past, present and future, always have existed, always will exist. The Tralfamadorians can look at all the different moments just that way we can look at a stretch of the Rocky Mountains, for instance. They can see how permanent all the moments are, and they can look at any moment that interests them. It is just an illusion we have here on Earth that one moment follows another one, like beads on a string, and that once a moment is gone it is gone forever.

Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. (1922-2007) American novelist, journalist
Slaughterhouse-Five, ch. 2 (1969)

More about this quote: wist.info/vonnegut-kurt-jr/557…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #vonnegut #kurtvonnegut #kurtvonnegutjr #slaughterhousefive #death #lifespan #passageoftime #past #perspective #present #simultaneity #time

Vonnegut, Kurt, Jr. - Slaughterhouse-Five, ch. 2 (1969) | WIST Quotations

The most important thing I learned on Tralfamadore was that when a person dies he only appears to die. He is still very much alive in the past, so it is very silly for people to cry at his funeral. All moments, past, present and future, always have existed, always…

WIST Quotations

WIST Quotations Mar 6

A quotation from Rilke

The longer I live, the more urgent it seems to me to endure and transcribe the whole dictation of existence up to its end, for it might just be the case that only the very last sentence contains that small and possibly inconspicuous word through which everything we had struggled to learn and everything we had failed to understand will be transformed suddenly into magnificent sense.

Rainer Maria Rilke (1875-1963) German poet
Letter (1913-12-21) to Ilse Erdman [tr. Baer (2005)]

More about this quote: wist.info/rilke-rainer-maria/8…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #RainerMariaRilke #experience #life #lifespan #living #meaningoflife #understanding #mortality #death

WIST Quotations Mar 5

A quotation from Josh Billings

Every time a man laffs he takes a kink out ov the chain ov life, and thus lengthens it.

[Every time a man laughs he takes a kink out of the chain of life, and thus lengthens it.]

Josh Billings (1818-1885) American humorist, aphorist [pseud. of Henry Wheeler Shaw]
Josh Billings’ Farmer’s Allminax, 1871-07 (1871 ed.)

More about this quote: wist.info/billings-josh/82540/

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #joshbillings #goodcheer #goodhumor #goodlife #humor #laughter #lifespan #living #longlife #senseofhumor

Billings, Josh - Josh Billings' Farmer's Allminax, 1871-07 (1871 ed.) | WIST Quotations

Every time a man laffs he takes a kink out ov the chain ov life, and thus lengthens it. [Every time a man laughs he takes a kink out of the chain of life, and thus lengthens it.]

WIST Quotations

Stefan F. Wirth Mar 5

RE: https://mastodon.social/@sundogplanets/116138358977573385

What happens to all the man-made #satellites in #Earth's #orbit, of which approximately 15,000 are active, while the #lifespan of a satellite is usually only a few years? L. Revell et al. (2026) express concern in their #Conversation #article that the #throwawaymentality is causing so many decommissioned satellites to finally land in the #outeratmosphere that their #fragments and burnt #dust are #exacerbating #climatechange and #ozonedepletion.
© this text #StefanFWirth 2026

Lukas VFN 🇪🇺Mar 4

Radiocarbon dating rewrites angiosperm #trees' lifespan records worldwide https://phys.org/news/2026-03-radiocarbon-dating-rewrites-angiosperm-trees.html paper: https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/radiocarbon/article/abs/radiocarbon-dating-opens-up-new-frontiers-in-the-study-of-tree-longevity-insights-from-angiosperm-trees/D0B293603AB4AB049F67EB26400A8C0F

"tree rings may have been underestimating the #lifespan of many trees—sometimes by centuries... #RadiocarbonDating can dramatically extend the known maximum age of broadleaved trees... maximum lifespans of 400–500 years are not exceptional among many species... 20 species exceeded 500 years, and five surpassed 1,000 years."

WIST Quotations Feb 16

A quotation from Santayana

There is no cure for birth and death save to enjoy the interval.

George Santayana (1863-1952) Spanish-American poet and philosopher [Jorge Agustín Nicolás Ruíz de Santayana y Borrás]
Essay (1916 ca.), “War Shrines,” Soliloquies in England, ch. 24 (1922)

More about this quote: wist.info/santayana-george/344…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #santayana #georgesantayana #death #enjoyment #fun #life #lifespan #mortality

Education & Knowledge Feb 19

The Metamorphosis of a Dragonfly

https://tube.blueben.net/w/okcdQjcAqqjx5df9cFuHS9

The Metamorphosis of a Dragonfly

PeerTube

WIST Quotations Feb 14

A quotation from Robert Penn Warren

You live through time, that little piece of time that is yours, but that piece of time is not only your own life, it is the summing-up of all the other lives that are simultaneous with yours. It is, in other words, History, and what you are is an expression of History, and you do not live your life, but somehow, your life lives you, and you are, therefore, only what History does to you.

Robert Penn Warren (1905-1989) American poet, novelist, literary critic
Band of Angels, ch. 6 (1955)

More about this quote: wist.info/warren-robert-penn/8…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #robertpennwarren #agency #destiny #history #humancondition #humanity #life #lifespan #living #meaning #meaningoflife #time

Warren, Robert Penn - Band of Angels, ch. 6 (1955) | WIST Quotations

You live through time, that little piece of time that is yours, but that piece of time is not only your own life, it is the summing-up of all the other lives that are simultaneous with yours. It is, in other words, History, and what you are is an expression…

WIST Quotations

indianflash Feb 10

#Genetic Influence on #Lifespan May Be Twice as High as Previously Predicted
https://indianf.com/genetics-how-much-do-genes-determine-lifespan/

Genetic Influence on Lifespan May Be Twice as High as Previously Predicted

Recent research in the journal Science reveals that genes might determine up to 55% of your lifespan variation today, doubling previous estimates

Indian Flash