Life.

“I went to the woods because I wanted to live deliberately, I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, To put to rout all that was not life and not when I had come to die Discover that I had not lived.” ~ Dead Poets Society ~

Lovely...

Absolute favorite quoted scene from the movie Nickolas Nickleby (a Dickens tale)...

Nickolas: My life collapsed like a house of sticks the day my father died. I clung to my mother and sister, then Smike and Noggs...hoping, waiting, for I knew not what. I knew not what until that day, when I opened my eyes and the darkness was replaced with the sight of your face. It was the island towards which I had been sailing, unguided, my whole life, the dream my father had promised me before I could even imagine its existence. I have been happy for times, little times, since he died...but never at peace. Not until I looked at your face...and saw the universe in order behind it.

Madeline: Nickolas...I feel you know what it’s like to be without happiness. But do you know what it’s like to be afraid of it? To see the world as so conniving, you cannot take pleasure in the appearance of something good...because you suspect...it is only a painted drop behind which other troubles lie. That has been my life. Every good thing has been a trick. Until you. Yet I am afraid to take your hand. What if you cannot or will not save me? I can bear to maltreated by the greedy or the weak, but to be let down by an angel...

Nickolas: I am not an angel. I live as far from that lofty perch as any man. My temper alone, my impatience...well, perhaps I should not list all my faults in case I am too persuasive. You are the one who is so admirably able and strong.

Madeline: I am tired of being strong.

Nickolas: As am I. Weakness is tiring, but strength is exhausting. You see, I cannot save you...for I need saving too.

Madeline: What are you proposing?

Nickolas: Only this. That we save ourselves together.

(Nickolas leans and kisses Madeline)

Madeline: Nickolas, please. Think of the others. People might see.

Nickolas: I don’t care.