Desiderius Erasmus was a Christian teacher who lived between the times of the Middle Ages and the birth of the Renaissance. These words are attributed to him. I share these words as they were shared with me upon my graduation from High school
’Tis a brave world, my young doctor!
Do not be afraid of it; do not calculate your chances so closely
That you miss your chance;
Do not pretend to know what you do not know.
Work and laugh and give thanks for these three are one.
You did not make the world. You cannot remake it.
You cannot even spoil it.
You may, however, know the wonder of improving some small corner of it,
But (do not forget that) before you arrived
The world was pronounced “very good.”
Go now and enter into its joy.
’Tis a brave world, my young doctor!
Do not be afraid of it; do not calculate your chances so closely
That you miss your chance;
Do not pretend to know what you do not know.
Work and laugh and give thanks for these three are one.
You did not make the world. You cannot remake it.
You cannot even spoil it.
You may, however, know the wonder of improving some small corner of it,
But (do not forget that) before you arrived
The world was pronounced “very good.”
Go now and enter into its joy.