Can you imagine what it would be like to live during three centuries?

Walter Breuning was born in 1896. According to Wikipedia, he is the fourth-oldest living person in the world, and the world’s oldest living male. Mr. Breuning turned 114 years old on September 21, 2010.

His reflections of memorable events are wonderful. What most inspired me about his interview, though, is his clarity of thinking and his energy and enthusiasm. I don’t know about you, but I plan to live a long, healthy life. A life in which I love deeply and never stop learning. My hope is that it will be one in which I have helped others, and left the world a better place for having lived.

That reminds me of one of my favorite quotes. I first read a slightly different version of it, a version attributed to Ralph Waldo Emerson. This was written in 1905 by Mrs. A.J. Stanley and was the winning entry of a essay contest on “What constitutes success” run by the George Livingston Richards Co. of Boston, MA.

“He has achieved success who has lived well, laughed often and loved much; who has gained the respect of intelligent men and the love of little children; who has filled his niche and accomplished his task; who has left the world better than he found it, whether by an improved poppy, a perfect poem, or a rescued soul; who has never lacked appreciation of earth’s beauty or failed to express it; who has always looked for the best in others and given them the best he had; whose life was an inspiration; whose memory a benediction.” ~ Bessie Stanley