"I would rather be ashes than dust! I would rather that my spark should burn out in a brilliant blaze than it should be stifled by dry-rot. I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet. The function of man is to live, not to exist. I shall not waste my days trying to prolong them. I shall use my time."
"Mercedes nursed a special grievance - the grievance of sex. She was pretty and soft, and had been chivalrously treated all her days. But the present treatment by her husband and brother was everything save chivalrous. It was her custom to be helpless. They complained. Upon which impeachment of what to her was her most essential sex pregorative, she made their lives unendurable."
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Source: Jack London (2017). “Jack London for Kids – Breathtaking Adventure Tales & Animal Stories (Illustrated Edition): Children’s Book Classics, Including The Call of the Wild, White Fang, Jerry of the Islands, The Cruise of the Dazzler, Michael Brother of Jerry & Before Adam”, p.134, e-artnow
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