"I don't know what you mean by 'glory'," Alice said. Humpty Dumpty smiled contemptuously. "Of course you don't --- till I tell you. I meant 'there's a nice knock-down argument for you!'" "But 'glory' doesn't mean 'a nice knock-down argument,'" Alice objected. "When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said in a rather scornful tone, "it means just what I choose it to mean --- neither more nor less." "The question is", said Alice, "whether you CAN make words mean so many different things." "The question is," said Humpty Dumpty, "which is to be master --- that's all." Humpty Dumpty and Alice may just as well have been talking about life. "I don't know what you mean by '[life]'," Alice said. Humpty Dumpty smiled contemptuously. "Of course you don't --- till I tell you. I meant 'there's a nice knock-down argument for you!'" "But '[life]' doesn't mean 'a nice knock-down argument,'" Alice objected. "When I [speak of life]," Humpty Dumpty said in a rather scornful tone, "it means just what I choose it to mean --- neither more nor less." "The question is", said Alice, "whether you CAN make [life] mean so many different things." "The question is," said Humpty Dumpty, "which is to be master --- that's all." We each bring our history to the creation of meaning and value of life.
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