No Man is an Island

I'm starting a couple of books--Anna Karenina (starting for the 3rd time, never got past chapter 2) and For Whom the Bell Tolls (for the 4th reading).

I usually jump right into the book, but when I started the Hemingway book, I noticed the John Donne quote on the introductory page--It was kind of cool, so here it is:

No man is an Iland, intire of it selfe; every man is a peece of the Continent, a part of the maine; if a Clod bee washed away by the Sea, Europe is the lesse, as well as if a Promontorie were, as well as if a Mannor of thy friends of thine owne were; any mans death diminishes me, because I am involved in Mankinde; And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; It tolls for thee.

John Donne

It's one of those things that I've seen snippets of that now seem out of context, but maybe I wasn't far enough down the road of life to grasp it yet...