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“I always see the skull beneath the skin, which, incidentally, is the title of one of my books. I have always been preoccupied with death and nowadays I think of my own death often. But as Shakespeare said ‘the readiness is all.’ I don’t fear death; what I fear is loss of mind and limb, a long protracted painful dying. At seventy-four I have had my biblical three score and ten. I feel I have been privileged with a long life. Those of us who lived through the last war, or have watched younger friends die of cancer or heart attack, are particularly aware of being lucky. My father used to say, I’m on borrowed time now. I’m grateful for every extra day I have. But I do love life, and as long as I stay healthy I hope I’ll go on for a long time.”
-- P. D. James
Wow, I actually recall reading that detective novel, "The Skull Beneath the Skin". If my memory is not mixing things up, I was just beginning college and I was in my miserable efficiency apartment. I was someone else, someone who had a future, still a teenager, more than a little deluded.
If I could go back to that time, and had it all to do over again, I'm not sure what I would do to try to make things different. I don't think I could simply try harder as a student; I am just not that gifted. I would certainly get a much earlier start into my serious reading, but that is not a living. I may as well forget about college, but it is not like I would be interested in getting a job at the grocery store or a fast food joint. Nor can I take seriously the idea of trying to make my way as a writer. I don't think there is any way for me to win, me being me and the world being the world, no matter how many tries I get. Maybe it is a good thing that you only have to die once.
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-- P. D. James
Wow, I actually recall reading that detective novel, "The Skull Beneath the Skin". If my memory is not mixing things up, I was just beginning college and I was in my miserable efficiency apartment. I was someone else, someone who had a future, still a teenager, more than a little deluded.
If I could go back to that time, and had it all to do over again, I'm not sure what I would do to try to make things different. I don't think I could simply try harder as a student; I am just not that gifted. I would certainly get a much earlier start into my serious reading, but that is not a living. I may as well forget about college, but it is not like I would be interested in getting a job at the grocery store or a fast food joint. Nor can I take seriously the idea of trying to make my way as a writer. I don't think there is any way for me to win, me being me and the world being the world, no matter how many tries I get. Maybe it is a good thing that you only have to die once.
.
