We were together, I forget the rest.
Walt Whitman, poet
“I use this quote all the time now. I say to people, if I was ever to have a gravestone, which I do not intend to have, this would be what I would want on it as a summation of my own work and my own life. It originated in a poem by Walt Whitman but he was using it in a very personal, romantic context of describing a time when he was with his great love and was describing the intensity of a romantic relationship. The phrase was given to me by a student who was using it in the context that I now use it: as what is the importance about community, what is the importance of a life truly well-lived. For me it’s all about our relationship. It’s all about how well we can live together and at the end of my life I want to be able to say ’we were together, I forget the rest.’”
Margaret J. Wheatley, Ph.D., author of
Who Do We Choose To Be: Facing Reality,
Claiming Leadership, Restoring Sanity
