A Hazardous Life
I have a horror of rest;
Possessions encourage one to indulge in it.
And there is nothing like security
For making one fall asleep.
I like life well enough
To want to live it awake.
And so in the very midst of my riches
I maintain the sensation of a state of precariousness,
By which means I aggravate,
Or at any rate, intensify
My Life.
I will not say I like danger
But I like life to be hazardous.
And I want it to demand at every moment
The whole of my happiness
My courage
My health.
From André Gide's L'immoraliste (1902)/The immoralist (1953)
I have a horror of rest;
Possessions encourage one to indulge in it.
And there is nothing like security
For making one fall asleep.
I like life well enough
To want to live it awake.
And so in the very midst of my riches
I maintain the sensation of a state of precariousness,
By which means I aggravate,
Or at any rate, intensify
My Life.
I will not say I like danger
But I like life to be hazardous.
And I want it to demand at every moment
The whole of my happiness
My courage
My health.
From André Gide's L'immoraliste (1902)/The immoralist (1953)
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