A blog about words, meaning-making, and impact.


"They lived and laughed
and loved and left."
- James Joyce

This is a on a card. The inside says "And the world will never be the same."

I collect cards, and lately, I have been buying sympathy cards. I love the simplicity and gravity of this quote. That last word "left" and what it implies is almost a surpise. I got all choked up when I read it. Part of its power is in the format. Two lines slow you down and tells you where to pause so you feel the repetition and rhythm of "and laughed / and loved and left."