Curse The Shortness of Life

The politician Helen Violet Asquith (later Bonham Carter) was once attending a dinner with Winston Churchill, who initially seemed lost in abstraction for an awkwardly long period of time. Abruptly he awakened from his stupor and looked at the young woman. He then asked Asquith how old she was.

Nineteen came the reply. “ ‘And I,” he said with a tinge of despair, “am thirty-two already.” After a few moments he continued, “Younger than anyone else who counts, though.” Then, almost out of nowhere, he proceeded to bemoan how little time we have to cement our legacies:

“Curse…