Harry Chapin quote

My grandfather was a painter. He died at age 88. He illustrated Robert Frost's first two books of poetry.

He was looking at me one day and he said, `Harry, there's two kinds of tired. There's good tired and there's bad tired. Ironically enough, bad tired can be a day in which you won, but you won other people's battles, you lived other people's days, other people's agendas and dreams, and when it's all over, there's very litte you in there, and when you hit the hay at night, you toss and turn, you don't settle easy....

Good tired can be a day in which you lost, but you knew you fought your battles, you chased your dreams, you lived your days. And when you hit the hay at night, you settle easy, you sleep the sleep of the just, and you can say, "Take me away."

Harry, all my life I wanted to be a painter. So I painted. God, I would have loved to have been more successful. But I painted and painted. And I am good tired, and they can take me away.

-Harry Chapin