Little things comfort us because little things distress us.
- Blaise Pascal
- Blaise Pascal
Monday, December 28, 2015
Monday, December 21, 2015
Wiser Today
A man should never be ashamed to own
that he has been in the wrong,
which is but saying in other words
that he is wiser today than he was yesterday.
-Alexander Pope
Monday, December 14, 2015
Now To Think
And now I thought:
till now I had only heard, seen, moved -
followed up or down where I was lead or dragged -
watched event rush on event,
disclosure open beyond disclosure:
but now, I thought.
- Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre
till now I had only heard, seen, moved -
followed up or down where I was lead or dragged -
watched event rush on event,
disclosure open beyond disclosure:
but now, I thought.
- Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre
Monday, December 7, 2015
Bravery in Increments
When you have mastered numbers,
you will in fact no longer be reading numbers
any more than you read words when you read books.
You will be reading meaning.
W.E.B. DuBois
Monday, November 30, 2015
Monday, November 23, 2015
Your Reward
And he writhed inside
at what seemed the cruelty
and unfairness of the demand.
He had not yet learned that if you do one good deed
your reward is usually to do
another and harder and better one.
- C.S. Lewis
Monday, November 16, 2015
The Heroine's Couch
And now I may dismiss my heroine to the sleepless couch,
which is the true heroine's portion -
to a pillow strewd with thorns and wet with tears.
- Jane Austen, Northanger Abbey
which is the true heroine's portion -
to a pillow strewd with thorns and wet with tears.
- Jane Austen, Northanger Abbey
Monday, November 9, 2015
Monday, November 2, 2015
In the Shadow of the Black Horse
The Lord's mercy often rides to the door of our heart
upon the black horse of affliction.
- Charles Spurgeon
Monday, October 26, 2015
She Who Travels with Another (& Another)
The man who goes alone can start today;
but he who travels with another
must wait till that other is ready.
- Henry David Thoreau
but he who travels with another
must wait till that other is ready.
- Henry David Thoreau
Monday, October 19, 2015
Late Nights with Yeti and Nietzsche
When we are tired,
we are attacked by ideas we conquered long ago.
- Friedrich Nietzsche
Monday, October 12, 2015
Midnight Confessions
A man's very highest moment is, I have no doubt at all,
when he kneels in the dust,
and beats his breast,
and tells all the sins of his life.
- Oscar Wilde
when he kneels in the dust,
and beats his breast,
and tells all the sins of his life.
- Oscar Wilde
Monday, October 5, 2015
The Virtue of Displeasure
If you would attain to what you are not yet,
you must always be displeased by what you are.
For where you are pleased with yourself,
there you have remained.
Keep adding, keep walking, keep advancing.
-Saint Augustine
you must always be displeased by what you are.
For where you are pleased with yourself,
there you have remained.
Keep adding, keep walking, keep advancing.
-Saint Augustine
Monday, September 28, 2015
Monday, September 21, 2015
Eighty-Nine Years of Song
Even in the mud and scum of things,
something always, always sings.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
something always, always sings.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
Monday, September 14, 2015
Notes on Irrigation
Literature adds to reality, it does not simply describe it.
It enriches the necessary competencies
that daily life requires and provides;
and in this respect,
it irrigates the deserts that our lives have already become.
- C.S. Lewis
It enriches the necessary competencies
that daily life requires and provides;
and in this respect,
it irrigates the deserts that our lives have already become.
- C.S. Lewis
Monday, September 7, 2015
If There Were Only Joy
We could never learn to be brave and patient,
if there were only joy in the world.
-Helen Keller
Monday, August 31, 2015
A Word Before School
It is the mark of an educated mind
to be able to entertain a thought
without accepting it.
-Aristotle
Monday, August 24, 2015
The Problem with People
I felt for the tormented whirlwinds
Damned for their carnal sins
Committed when they let their passions rule their reason.
- Dante Alighieri
Monday, August 17, 2015
Monday, August 10, 2015
The Summer Straddle
I saw myself sitting in the crotch of this fig tree, starving to death, just because I couldn't make up my mind which of the figs I would choose.
I wanted each and every one of them, but choosing one meant losing all the rest, and, as I sat there, unable to decide, the figs began to wrinkle and go black, and, one by one, they plopped to the ground at my feet.
-Sylvia Plath, The Bell Jar
Monday, August 3, 2015
Redeeming Ruth
If you can't explain it to a six year old,
you don't understand it yourself.
-Albert Einstein
Monday, July 27, 2015
Monday, July 20, 2015
Monday, July 13, 2015
Monday, July 6, 2015
Lessons from the Brits
Life is divided into three terms -
that which was, which is, and which will be.
Let us learn from the past
to profit by the present,
and from the present,
to live better in the future.
- William Wordsworth
that which was, which is, and which will be.
Let us learn from the past
to profit by the present,
and from the present,
to live better in the future.
- William Wordsworth
Monday, June 29, 2015
Monday, June 22, 2015
Monday, June 15, 2015
Saturday, June 6, 2015
Monday, June 1, 2015
Monday, May 25, 2015
Monday, May 18, 2015
Monday, May 11, 2015
Monday, May 4, 2015
Use Your Words
". . . the law begins with language.
Legal language must eschew uncertainty,
and uncertainty thrives when language is gauzy.
- Justice Don Willett