No man is an
island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the
continent, a part of the main. If a
clod be washed away by the sea,
Europe is the less, as well as if a
promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friend's or of thine own were. Any man's death diminishes me because I am involved in
mankind; and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee. . . .
--John Donne from Meditation XVII