"The years pass in their hundreds and their thousands, and what does any man see of life but a few summers, a few winters? We look at mountains and call them eternal, and so they seem … but in the course of time, mountains rise and fall, rivers change their courses, stars fall from the sky, and great cities sink beneath the sea. Everything changes."

"Birds born in a cage think flying is an illness."

"Now that my house has burned down, I have a better view of the sky."