C.N. Douglas, comp. Forty Thousand Quotations: Prose and Poetical. 1917.
Goodbye
Why should we hesitate to say “good-by” to each other? Are we not Pagans, to think that a word has power over God’s quiet purposes, and that saying “good-by” smells of death? Must men die intestate because they think that making their wills is cutting out their shrouds? If we were old Romans, who thought “vale!” meant “forever,” we might be shy of such a word, but “good-by,” even if it should be for the last time on earth, is only the difference between “good-night” and “good-morning.” Say it, then, like a Christian, and, if it still comes hesitatingly, stretch it out into the loveliest of wishes, “God be with you.”
