Morning Reading 25 January 2024

 

The Bum (story) by W. Somerset Maugham. (kindle and Audible audiobook).

A section I noted:

Time, because it is so fleeting, time, because it is beyond recall, is the most precious of human goods and to squander it is the most delicate form of dissipation in which man can indulge. Cleopatra dissolved in wine a precious pearl, but she gave it to Antony to drink; when you waste the brief golden hours you take the beaker in which the gem is melted and dash its contents to the ground. The gesture is grand and like all gestures absurd, that of course is its excuse.