Time & hindsight

What is the most important lesson life has taught you?

155 answers answered between 1956 and 2026 one of 25 in The Q&A

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Read by field Everyone Science and medicine 10 Arts and letters 118 Politics and public life 12 Business and finance 7 Technology 3 Sport 5
Read by age Any age Before thirty 2 In their thirties 24 In their forties 21 In their fifties 33 In their sixties 26 Seventy and beyond 26
Oliver Sacks Neurologist and writer
And now, weak, short of breath, my once-firm muscles melted away by cancer, I find my thoughts, increasingly, not on the supernatural or spiritual, but on what is meant by living a good and worthwhile life — achieving a sense of peace within oneself. I find my thoughts drifting to the Sabbath, the day of rest, the seventh day of the week, and perhaps the seventh day of one’s life as well, when one can feel that one’s work is done, and one may, in good conscience, rest.
Recorded The New York Times, Sunday Review, 14 August 2015 source ↗
Henry Marsh Neurosurgeon and writer
A close, loving family and work position in society which is meaningful, which is about making the world a better place rather than getting a bigger - having a bigger bank account.
Recorded Scott Simon, Weekend Edition Saturday, NPR, 21 January 2023 source ↗

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