Synthesized answer
The passages suggest that those who are not long to live exhibit certain signs, though these are not always overtly visible. One observed sign is the presence of "grave gestures" and footsteps that seem to tend toward a near goal [1]. There can also be "presentiments that chilled the blood" and a "fixed, immovable look" [1]. Their faces are described as the same as others, but life is fraught with more seriousness for them than for those who will live their full span [1]. A "careful, silent watchfulness" marks their actions, as they feel they have no time to lose and must be in readiness [1].
The passages also indicate a form of communication among these individuals. They "furtively exchange solemn signals of silence" and may be seen seeking and avoiding each other, "like people who are afflicted with the same infirmity" [5]. They might be found together in remote corners, with a "mysterious smile" that conceals a "gravity beneath" and a "curious fear lest a secret should escape" [5]. Silence often falls upon them when those who are to live draw near [5]. Despite their attempts to mislead others with an "eager smile" and "burning interest in life," their fate looms large [3]. The…
Synthesized from the book passages below. Chat with the book on Feynman for follow-up.
From the book
meet them? Whence is it that they come to us; and why are they shaped in our image, as though they were our brothers? Are their workings in the past or in the future; and are the more powerful of them those that are no longer, or those that are not yet? Is it to-day or to-morrow that moulds us? Do we not all spend the greater part of our lives under the shadow of an event that has not yet come to pass? I have noticed the same grave gestures, the footsteps that seemed to tend towards a goal that was all too near, the presentiments that chilled the blood, the fixed, immovable…
ay be convinced of the utter aimlessness of life? It is a mystery that ever eludes us, and all our searchings are vain. I have often seen these things happen; one day they were so near to me that I scarcely knew was it myself or another whom they concerned.... For it was thus that my brother died. And though he alone had heard the warning whisper, be it ever so unconsciously—for from his earliest days he had concealed the message of disease within him—yet surely had the knowledge of what was to come been borne in upon us also. What are the signs that set apart the creatures for whom…
meet those who are not to live long, we are only conscious of the fate that is hanging over them; we see nothing else. If they could they would deceive us, so that they might the more readily deceive themselves. They do all in their power to mislead us; they imagine that their eager smile, their burning interest in life, will conceal the truth; but none the less does the event already loom large before us, and seem indeed to be the mainstay, nay, the very reason of their existence. Death has again betrayed them, and they realise, in bitter sadness, that nothing is hidden from us,…
he radiance or sorrow or death, is it towards truth or error that one has taken the last steps one is allowed to take? Is it the living or the dying who can see and are in the right? Ah! thrice happy they who have thought, spoken, and acted so as to receive the approval of those who are about to die, or to whom a great sorrow has given clearer insight! The sage, to whom none would hearken in life, can meet with no sweeter reward. If you have lived in obscure beauty, you have no cause for disquiet. At the end there must always sound within the heart of man an hour of supreme justice;…
not discover, that they furtively exchange solemn signals of silence. They are the eager children of precocious death. At school we were vaguely conscious of them. They seemed to be at the same time seeking and avoiding each other, like people who are afflicted with the same infirmity. They were to be seen together, in remote corners of the garden, under the trees. Their mysterious smile flew fitfully across their lips, and there lurked a gravity beneath, a curious fear lest a secret should escape. Silence would almost always fall upon them, when those who were to live drew near. Were…