Three passions

Three passions have governed my life:
The longings for love, the search for knowledge, And unbearable pity for the suffering of [humankind].

Love brings ecstasy and relieves loneliness.

In the union of love I have seen In a mystic miniature the prefiguring vision Of the heavens that saints and poets have imagined.

With equal passion I have sought knowledge.
I have wished to understand the hearts of [people].

I have wished to know why the stars shine.
Love and knowledge led upwards to the heavens,
But always pity brought me back to earth;

Cries of pain reverberated in my heart Of children in famine,
of victims tortured And of old people left helpless.
I long to alleviate the evil, but I cannot, And I too suffer.

This has been my life; I found it worth living.

Bertrand Russell (adapted)