2008.10.24 01:00 - No man is an island

Gaya and Faenik sat quietly at the pavilion and mulled over the phrase, "No man is an island"


Meaning

Human beings do not thrive when isolated from others. Donne was a Christian but this concept is shared by other religions, principally Buddhism.

Origin

This is a quotation from John Donne (1572-1631). It appears in Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions, Meditation XVII:

"All mankind is of one author, and is one volume; when one man dies, one chapter is not torn out of the book, but translated into a better language; and every chapter must be so translated...As therefore the bell that rings to a sermon, calls not upon the preacher only, but upon the congregation to come: so this bell calls us all: but how much more me, who am brought so near the door by this sickness....No man is an island, entire of itself...any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind; and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee."