"At my years, and with my disposition, or rather, constitution, one gets to care less and less for everything except downright good feeling. Life is so short, and so ridiculous and irrational (from a certain point of view) that one knows not what to make of it, unless—well, finish the sentence for yourself."
—
Herman Melville (1819-1891), U.S. author
in a letter, Mar. 31, 1877, to his brother-in-law, John C. Hoadley
