Put yourself in the position of an up-and-coming artist living in early-sixteenth-century Italy. Now imagine trying to distinguish yourself from the other artists living in your town: Michelangelo, Raphael, Leonardo, or Titian. Is it any wonder that the Italian High Renaissance lasted only 30 years?
That's what so many people didn't understand about life. The real world is the one within the walls of homes; the outside world, of careers and politics and money and fame, that was the fake world, where nothing lasted, and things were real only to the extent they harmed or helped people inside their homes.
Obviously its a good feeling to know that something you've done has lasted.
I resolved that, like the sun, as long as my day lasted, I would look on the bright side of everything.
If you've had a cough that lasted weeks, a cough that just doesn't seem to go away, chances are it was pertussis.
They entered there into the unconscious philosophy of the town; that life was an incomprehensible marvel, since it was incessantly wasted and spent, yet none the less it lasted and endured 'like the bridge on the Drina'.
Do you think Christianity could have lasted for nearly two thousand years on its promises unless the Lord could deliver on them?
I had slumps that lasted into the winter.
What is it, Angel?" she said, starting up. "Have they come for me?" "Yes, dearest," he said. "They have come. " "It is as it should be," she murmured. "Angel, I am almost glad—yes, glad! This happiness could not have lasted. It was too much. I have had enough; and now I shall not live for you to despise me!" She stood up, shook herself, and went forward, neither of the men having moved. "I am ready," she said quietly.
If that condition of mind and soul, which we call inspiration, lasted long without intermission, no artist could survive it. The strings would break and the instrument be shattered into fragments.
No, friends were like clothes: fine while they lasted but eventually they wore thin or you grew out of them.
I know the one time I tried therapy, I did after a month or two, and I only lasted a few months, because I started to worry about being entertaining. I kept driving there once a week for an hour and I'm thinking "What am I going to talk about today?"
I've had diseases that lasted longer than my marriages.
Once you've heard the joke, it's not funny anymore, but it's the way it's told. And I think that's the same with the music: The reason some of my songs have lasted longer is there's a lot of stuff packed in there. You want to hear them more than once.
How do I explain a life that has lasted for billions of years? It is almost as if I must start with an apology for being alive when everyone I once knew is dead.
It was fun while it lasted, but it never seemed real to me. I could not believe I was in Van Halen.
I haven't a clue why I've lasted so long. There's no reason. There are many people more talented than me. I think it's luck.
Be pleased with your real garden, don't persue the perfection of a picture. What you see in a photo lasted only as long as the shutter snap.
I feel successful when the writing goes well. This lasts five minutes. Once, when I was number one on the bestseller list, I also felt successful. That lasted three minutes.
If I had to say what my one greatest achievement is, it's that I lasted, and I'm still happy. I hope that comes through.
