““How long does a building stand before it falls? How long does a contract last? How long will brothers share the inheritance before they quarrel? How long does hatred, for that matter, last? Time after time the river has risen and flooded. The insect leaves the cocoon to live but a minute. How long is the eye able to look at the sun? From the very beginning nothing at all has lasted. See how the dead and the sleeping resemble each other. Seen together, they are the image of death. The simple man and the ruler resemble each other. The face of the one will darken like that of the other.””
