Sigs

Because I’d like to have them all in one place, here are the quotes I've used for email signatures:

The biggest danger, that of losing oneself, can pass off in the world as quietly as if it were nothing; every other loss, an arm, a leg, five dollars, a wife, etc., is bound to be noticed.
—Søren Kierkegaard, The Sickness Unto Death

Be near me, Lord Jesus; I ask Thee to stay
Close by me forever, and love me I pray.
Bless all the dear children in Thy tender care,
And fit us for heaven to live with Thee there.
—John Thomas McFarland

The perplexity of life arises from there being too many interesting things in it for us to be interested properly in any of them.
—G. K. Chesterton

If we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that Our Lord finds our desires, not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us. … We are far too easily pleased.
—C. S. Lewis, “The Weight of Glory”

If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.
—Romans 12:18 (NIV)

Among all vanities of life, there is only one thing that the spirit loves and craves… It is an awakening within the spirit; he who knows it, is unable to reveal it by words; and he who knows it not, will never think upon the compelling and beautiful mystery of existence.
—Kahlil Gibran, “The Tempest”

This event advertises me that there is such a fact as death,—the possibility of a man’s dying. It seems as if no man had ever died in America before; for in order to die you must first have lived. … Only half a dozen or so have died since the world began. … These men, in teaching us how to die, have at the same time taught us how to live.
—Henry David Thoreau, “A Plea for Captain John Brown”

I don’t change them very often. Perhaps with a storage space for them, I will.

I also sign off with an “ASCII ichthus”: <><
which I haven’t really seen elsewhere.* I avoid bumper stickers, so I won’t put it on my car, but at the end of an email works for me.

*Addendum (15 July): Last night, I encountered the ASCII fish on the package of a spicy chicken sushi roll I got at Wegmans, in the following context: “<>< Raw not used.” Who’d’ve thought sushi packaging would meet Christian symbolism? One of life’s little inevitabilities, I guess.