the book of disquiet

you who hear me and who barely listen, you do not know what this tragedy is : to lose both father and mother, not to achieve glory or happiness, not to have a friend or a lover – it’s possible to withstand all that. what we cannot withstand is to dream a beautiful thing and not be able to attain it in actions or words. the awareness of the perfect work the abundance of the obtained work – how smooth it is to sleep in the shade of this tree in the calm summer.

p.277