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I’ve been familiar with the first sentence of this quote for years, but only this week did I stumble across the whole thing. I had no idea there was a nautical theme to the rest of it, nor that Mark Twain was responsible for it.
My first thought was ‘I love this, but I can’t put it on my blog or that will make three Twain quotes and I’ll have to rename the blog: One Life. One Chance. Multiple Odes to the Genius of Mark Twain.’
Or will I need to rename it?
Here is the quote posted, as you can see, but without an attribution to Twain. It seems there is some dispute about whether he did indeed say it or write it. You can read some arguments against him being the author here.
I particularly like the disparaging dismissal of Twain ever indulging in those three one-word sentences so reminiscent of 20th century psychobabble!
And yet … what does it matter who wrote it first?
As with the “A reader lives a thousand lives … ” quote, this exhortation to take a chance obviously resonates with people, regardless of who wrote it. It urges us to step outside our ordinary lives, to weigh in our minds which is more important: to stay safe, or to dare?
I’ve recently had to weigh that very question. Since my return to Australia three years ago, my job security has been somewhat rocky, but for the past year I’ve had a well-paying, largely enjoyable job that seems to offer long-term stability. Yet I’m prepared to give it up, also to give up my apartment if the landlord objects to an absent tenant, in order to go sailing.
Ah, but not just any sailing!
Seven weeks in the Indian Ocean on a tall ship, over waters that are new to me, with stops at exotic tropical islands en route. I wish I could say something about the stars overhead also being new, because that would sound romantic and exotic too, but I do live in the Southern Hemisphere so they will be familiar old friends.
Do I need to go on this voyage? Of course not. My tall ship sailing experience includes two transatlantic crossings and numerous shorter voyages; there will be few surprises. And yet it calls to me, in the way that some people are drawn to climb mountains and others to paint, or to write.
So the question was, which will I regret more? Doing the voyage, and its possible consequences of unanswered job applications, apartment hunting, dwindling financial resources – or not doing the voyage and wondering, when I’m older and retired, or no longer physically able to do such voyages, what I missed?
No contest. I’m on that ship. (Just don’t tell my boss.)
I won’t tell your boss, I promise. You’ll be sailing for alot of other folks, including me, and we’re waiting to hear about your adventures.
Lovely blog, BTW.
Thanks for stopping by mine.
I did actually read a vampire novel. It made me laugh out loud and that was definitely in its favor! Now, that I’m over our fanged friends, I’ll move on to another genre I swore I’d never read. For me, it’s a form of adventure. Nothing like sailing, but interesting all the same!
Thanks for the return visit. As for telling my adventures, I suppose I could always write another ‘tall ship sailing romance novel’, and make that my personal genre!
You’ve piqued my curiosity — what is this other ‘form of adventure’ genre you’re moving on to?
The Secret Servant, Daniel Silva. A contemporary spy novel set in Amsterdam.The writing is exceptional. The backstory is complicated, but the author has a clarity in his description that makes a non-spy story fan like myself pay attention. This was another book recommended by a friend. Lately, I’ve also tried American Gods-American fantasy blended with mythology (Neil Gaiman) and Game of Thrones (GRR Martin). I’m not usually a fantasy reader, but I enjoyed both books. Martin, however, is so long winded I felt as though I was reading the Gone With the Wind of medieval fantasy!