But I warn you,
That I am living for the last time.
Not as a swallow, nor as a maple,
Nor as a reed, nor as a star,
Nor as spring water,
Nor as a peal of bells,
I shall not trouble people
And visit other people's dreams
With an unquenched moan.
Literal translation
Anna Akhmatova. 1940
At the close of the Strugatskys' "Roadside Picnic" the Golden Sphere is asked for this: "Happiness for everybody, free, and let nobody go away unsatisfied!" I do not promise to leave no one aggrieved, but the digest really does come free. So, here is the
Frederic Leighton. “Daedalus and Icarus”, 1869 Daedalus warns his son not to climb too high: the heat of the sun may melt the wax, but Icarus is already gazing into the distance, and the lamentations of a foolish old man interest him not in the least
