Source identified
Read & copy the quotation
“After all, life is short, and the great thing is to do for others.”
- Source
- The Minister's Wooing
- Date
- 1859
- Local voice
- Fictional character · Mary Scudder
Meaning of “After all, life is short, and the great…”
Mary tries to orient a difficult personal decision toward usefulness and service to others, revealing both her moral seriousness and the pressures shaping her choice.
Where does it come from?
The Minister's Wooing, represented by Project Gutenberg #47958. Mary Scudder says the line while discussing marriage, duty and usefulness with her mother. The surrounding scene shows real emotional conflict, so the quotation is not presented as a blanket instruction to suppress one’s own needs for others.
Why the local voice matters
The Minister's Wooing. Mary says this while discussing duty, marriage and usefulness with her mother; it is fictional dialogue in a conflicted personal and religious decision, not a blanket command to self-sacrifice.