Monday, December 28, 2015

Little Things


Little things comfort us because little things distress us. 

- Blaise Pascal 


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 


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 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 


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 

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  


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   


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 


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


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

One More Time

The right time 
is any time 
that one is still so lucky as to have.

- Henry James

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

Simplify




Our life is frittered away by detail.  
Simplify, simplify.  

-Henry David Thoreau


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


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