Don't deprive yourself cuz life's too short.

I was "reading" a book lately and found this great paragraph. Actually I was listening to it in the car. With a long commute every day, I'm all about audio books. Here's the quote:

"I call that the fanaticism of sympathy," said Will, impetuously. "You might say the same of landscape, or poetry, of all refinement. If you carried it out you ought to be miserable in your own goodness, and turn evil that you might have no advantage over others. The best piety is to enjoy -- when you can. You are doing the most then to save the earth's character as an agreeable planet. And enjoyment radiates. It is of no use to try and take care of all the world; that is being taken care of when you feel delight -- in art or in anything else. Would you turn all the youth of the world into a tragic chorus, wailing and moralizing over misery? I suspect that you have some false belief in the virtues of misery, and want to make your life a martyrdom."

What do you think? Wish I'd had this rationale handy back in college and needed a few excuses for feeling delight--very often. It's from Chapter 22 of Middlemarch, by our lady George Eliot.

Playlist from last week's radio show: It was an exploration of song, with a couple poems thrown in for Poetry Month (the cruellest month).

• Cibell in C: Henry Purcell
  
• Viens, Mallika... Dôme épais, from Lakmé: Delibes, performed by Mady Mesplé and Danielle Millet
  
• Wachet Auf, ruft uns die Stimme, Chorale: J.S. Bach, performed by the Bach Ensemble (Joshua Rifkin)
  
• Thing Singing Club: Thomas Arne, performed by the Hilliard Ensemble
  
• Casta Diva, from Norma: Bellini, performed by Maria Callas
  
• Zefiro Torna: Monteverdi, performed by Tragicomedia
  
• next to of course god america: e.e. cummings
  
• Hélas Madame: Henry VIII, performed by I Fagiolini & Concordia
  
• Der Vogel fänger bin ich ja, from the Magic Flute: Mozart, performed by Gerald Finley
  
• Chi il Bel Sogno di Doretta, from La Rondine: Puccini, performed by Kiri Te Kanawa
  
• Come Again--Sweet Love doth now invite: John Dowland, performed by Virelai
  
• The Old Flame: Robert Lowell
  
• Cruda sorte! Amor tiranno!, from L'Italiana in Algeri: Rossini, performed by Cecilia Bartoli
  
• The Lass of Patie's Mill/I Like the Fox, from The Beggar's Opera: John Gay, performed by The Broadside Band