In the Time of Your Life

In the time of your life, live – so that in that good time, there shall be no ugliness or death for yourself or for any life that your life touches.

Seek goodness everywhere and, when it is found, bring it out of its hiding-place and let it be free and unashamed.

Discover in all things that which shines and is beyond corruption.

Encourage virtue in every heart where it may have been driven into secrecy and sorrow by the shame and terror of the world.

Ignore the unimportant, for it is unworthy of the clear eye and the rational mind.

Be not the inferior of any man, nor aspire to superiority over men. Remember that every man is a variation on the same theme, but let no man’s guilt be yours, nor allow yourself claim to another man’s innocence.

Despise evil and wickedness, and fight it by the power of your own virtue – with every fiber of your being. For the men who turn to evil will prey upon your understanding, your generosity, and your love of life.

Have no shame in being gentle, but if the time comes in the time of your life to kill, kill. And have no regret.

In the time of your life, live – so that in that wondrous time, you shall not add to the sorrow and misery of the world, but experience the infinite delight of achieving the happiness possible only to you while in it.


-- William Saroyan (1939) / revised by Eros (2005)