In our life there is a single color – it is the color of love. – Marc Chagall
Christmas isn’t a season, it’s a feeling. – Edna Ferber
All paths lead to you where’er I roam. You are the lark song calling me home. – Blanche Wagstaff
Never shall I forget the time I spent with you. Please continue to be my friend, as you will always find me yours. – Beethoven
For this is wisdom: to love, to live. – Lawrence Hope
Life is the flower for which love is the honey. – Victor Hugo
All the knowledge I possess everyone else can acquire, but my heart is all my own. – Goethe
I am yours. You are mine. Of this we are certain. You are lodged in my heart, the small key is lost. You must stay there forever. – Frau Ava
There’s nothing worth winning but laughter and the love of friends. – Hillaire Belloc
Light tomorrow with today! – Elizabeth Barrett Browning
Thus shall you go to the stars. – Virgil
Happiness is in the taste, not the things. – Rouchefoucauld
How goodness heightens beauty. – Hannah More
Joy was a flame in me too steady to destroy. – Sara Teasdale
Parting is such sweet sorrow. . . – Shakespeare
Music has charms to soothe a savage beast, to soften rocks, or bend a knotted oak. – William Congreve
Friends share each other’s gladness and wipe each other’s tears. – Charles Jeffreys
Life is a pure flame, and we live by an invisible sun within us. – Thomas Browne
The truly generous is the truly wise, and he who loves not others, lives unblest. – Homer
Gladness can scarcely be a solitary thing. The very life of praise seems choral; it is more than one bounded heart can utter. – Dora Greenwell
I am no longer what I was. I will remain what I have become. – Coco Chanel
The world, after all our sciences, is still a miracle: wonderful, inscrutable, magical and more, to whoever will think of it. – Thomas Carlyle
Faith is not something to grasp, it is a state to grow into. – Gandhi
Things past belong to memory alone. Things future are the property of hope. – John Home
Dreams are the touchstones of our character. – Thoreau
Things of great wonder come to those who give their all to love. – Hadewijch of Brabant
Beauty itself is but the sensible image of the infinite. – George Bancroft
The first fall of snow is not only an event, it is a magical event. You go to bed in one kind of world and wake up in another quite different, and if this is not enchantment then where is it to be found? – JB Priestley
I do hope your Christmas has had a little touch of Eternity in among the rush and pitter patter and all. It always seems such a mixing of this world and the next – but that after all is the idea! – Evelyn Underhill
Exuberance is beautiful. – William Blake
“Schools will only succeed when they stop trying to be all things to all people” - Levin
“Life is what we make it, always has been, always will be.” – Grandma Moses
“This is the miracle that happens every time to those who really love; the more this give, the more they possess.” – Rilke
It is with life as with a play – it matters now how long the action is spun out, but how good the acting is. – Seneca the Younger
It is not in the stars to hold our destiny but in ourselves. – Shakespeare
Who would live and not love? – Rachel Russell
What wisdom can you find that is greater than kindness? – Jean Jacques Rousseau
Things are beautiful if you love them. – Jean Anouilh
The grand essentials to happiness in this life are something to do, something to love, and something to hope for. – Joseph Addison
I need your calm all other things above, after the stress of life. – Charles Towne
A friend is a gift you give yourself. – Robert Louis Stevenson
Paving the cow path - Craig
As a matter of fact. . . - Mario
Learn how to live spherically – Tuscan Sun
You, yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection. – Buddha
An articulation of the soul in any form possible – ML
Scratching at a thin wall of categories – ML
There will come a time when I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread or a drought of water, but a famine of truth. – Amos
The life of the dead rests in remembrance of the living. – Cicero
We are ambitious to secure the contradictory components of good health in great luxury, complete freedom with absolute security, and emotional peace from an undisciplined and uncommitted mind. – Joe Phillips
My friends had no idea I was smart, until like Junior Year. - random classmate
McSteel Mill - Matt R-K.
Hold fast your dreams
within your heart
keep one still, secret spot
where dreams may go
and sheltered so
may thrive and grow.
-Louise Driscoll
M. Forstater:
“Below my feet, underground trains speed through the bowels of the earth.”
“We are faced with a world that is suffering at our own hands.”
“Throughout history technological development has always moved itself forward, leaving the moral order trailing behind. In our time technological change and innovation have been so swift and transformative that the moral order has lagged well behind and is now struggling to catch up.”
“It stands for the growing awareness that we and the planet are part of a single system; that we can no longer think of ourselves as in some way separate from the natural world.”
“[T]he sole object of [Marcus’] government. . . was the happiness of its people.”
“[I]t remains an exceptional period in the recorded history of leadership and power.”
“he detested war as a disgrace and calamity of human nature”
“This is not a book to be read in a single sitting, but one to be dipped into, perhaps at night before going to bed, to find some new thoughts or consolations, or early in the morning before starting the day. Even opening the book at random can lead you to reflect of your existence, the course of your life, the events that are happening to you and how best to handle them.”
“philosophers, whose truths are undimmed by age”
“They saw philosophy as a therapy, as a method for healing souls. As Epicurus said, “Our only occupation should be the cure of ourselves.”
“Can Greek philosophy provide a remedy for our twenty-first-century malaise?”
“Philosophy, as a way of reclaiming our minds, is perhaps the first and most important step on the road to regaining some form of control over our lives.”
“He practiced his philosophy daily so that he could command the empire without losing his treasured ideals of justice and humanity. The philosophy he lived by is one of empowerment, independence, and self-reliance.” – on Marcus Aurelius
It's been a while since I've posted quotes from the calendar. Here's the latest collection of notables:
"Tranquil pleasures last the longest" - Christian Bovee
"The loving are the daring" - Bayard Taylor
"Let us love without reasoning about it, and we shall find ourselves filled with love before others have found out the reasons that lead to loving" - Jeanne-Marie de la Motte Guyon
"Man is free at the moment he wishes to be" - Voltaire
"More than kisses, letters mingle souls" - John Donne
Quotes from Marcus Aurelius' Mediations, Chapter 2: Cultivating the Self
The perfection of character consists in living each day as if it were the last and being neither violently excited, nor apathetic, nor insincere.
Nature hasn’t blended your mind so completely with your body, as to deny you the power to limiting yourself and bringing under your control everything that you are. Always bear that in mind, and remember how little is needed to live a happy life.
It is quite possible to become a great sage and yet never be recognized.
Never to abandon philosophy no matter what happens to us is a principle of all the schools. Just be intent on what you are doing now and how you are doing it.
For to continue to live as you are, to be torn and soiled by your present way, shows the character of a fool who clings to life, like gladiators half-eaten by lions.
No one was ever injured by the truth, but a man injures himself if he lives with self-deception and ignorance.
The warrior spirit. . .
Don’t waste your life thinking about other people, unless it’s to help them in some way. For, by wondering what so-and-so is up to and why, you lose the chance to do something useful for yourself, and let your mind get clogged with thoughts like these.
A rational mind should be so engaged that if someone should suddenly ask, “What are you thinking about?” you could with complete freedom and spontaneity say what was on your mind.
No Time to Waste: Think about how many years you have been putting things off, and how often the gods have given you extra periods of grace, and still you don’t use them.
You have been given only a limited period of time, and if you do not use it for blowing away the clouds from your mind, it will pass away and you will go with it, never to return.
Survival by simplicity: Don’t disturb yourself by ruminating on your entire life; don’t dwell on the many troubles that may happen to you.
Remember: The past and future can’t harm you – only the present can.
Aim and Purpose: The person who does not have one steady and unvarying aim in life, cannot be the same person all through that life.
On my last day in London this summer, I came across an English translation of Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations, in a little bookshop near Bloomsbury Square (another entire story in itself). It is a book of philosophical writings that I have been wanting to read since I first came across mention of it during my Novels class in high school. (Argh, that’s a long time ago I realize. I confess I’m a bit of a procrastinator, but what I lack in speed I try to make up for in deliberateness.)
Anyway, I was thinking about that book tonight, knowing that I had finished reading it but hadn’t posted anything on it, and decided to put off my Finance homework to finally make that post.
SIDENOTE:
Marcus Aurelius Antoninus was the emperor of Rome from 161-180 A.D. Out of curiosity, I asked Jeeves about him tonight and learned that he inherited the throne, once-removed, from Emperor Hadrian. This intrigued me further and brought a piece of my summer abroad full circle. You see, about mid-June I stood on Hadrian’s Wall in northern England. It is a 75 mile stone wall built around 122 A.D. (Yes, that makes it almost 2,000 years old. Damn they knew how to build some quality stuff.) It’s 15 feet high, about 6 feet wide, and was anchored by several fortresses.
Hadrian ordered its construction to mark the border of the Roman Empire and “keep the barbarians out.” (Those barbarians just happen to be my Celtic warrior ancestors in Ireland.)
Below is a shot of said wall. You may have also seen it in the movie Robin Hood. (One of my all-time favorite flicks.)
About two days before visiting Hadrian’s Wall, I had come across a bust of Lucius Versus in the National Gallery in Edinburgh, Scotland. The plate on which indicated that Lucius was Marcus’ weak twin brother and co-emperor. Tonight, I learned that Lucius was co-emperor only between 161 and 169 A.D., the year of his death.
Meditations is a collection of journal entries Marcus Aurelius wrote throughout his life to remind himself of the right way to live. Apparently, they were often written at night in his tent on the battlefield during wars he led to defend the borders of the Roman Empire, the most powerful empire of his time.
I am intrigued by his thoughts and the spiritual conflicts faced by leaders throughout history. As M. Forstater states in his introduction to Meditations, “As emperor of Rome, Marcus Aurelius was the most powerful man in the world. Yet his personal and professional life was dominated by a desire for virtue, justice, and peace, not money, possessions, power, or fame” (9).
Albeit a long entry, below are my favorite excerpts from the first chapter of Marcus Aurelius' Meditations, Living in the World. . .
[T]he time that is past is gone forever. No one can lose the past or the future, for if they don’t belong to you, how can they be taken from you?
[T]he person that lives the longest life and the one who lives the shortest lose exactly the same thing.
Gaze in wonder at the ever-circling stars, as if you were floating among them; and consider the alterations of the elements, constantly changing one into another. Thinking such thoughts you wash away the dust of life on earth.
[A]ll of present time is but a pinpoint in eternity.
Discard everything except these few truths: we can live only in the present moment, in this brief now; all the rest of our life is dead and buried or shrouded in uncertainty. Short is the life we lead, and small our patch of earth.
When you are disturbed by events and lose your serenity, quickly return to yourself and don’t stay upset any longer than the experience lasts; for you’ll have more mastery over your inner harmony by continually returning to it.
[L]ife is warfare
[P]hilosophy means keeping that vital spark within you free from damage and degradation, using it to transcend pain and pleasure, doing everything with a purpose, avoiding lies and hypocrisy, not relying on another person’s actions or failings. To accept everything that comes, and everything that is given, as coming from that same spiritual source.
No one can impose on me what is degrading.
Taking Aim: Are you distracted by the things of the world? Give yourself some quiet time to discover something new, and learn how to stop this restlessness. And beware that you don’t fall into another kind of error: the folly of those who wear out their lives in ceaseless business, but have no aim on which their every action or thought is focused.
Maintain your contentment and tranquility. . .
Your efforts fall short of your abilities
It’s also necessary to take rest.
[S]uch people, when they have a strong affection for something, choose not to eat or sleep but rather to perfect the things they care for.
Accept prosperity without pride, and always be ready to let it go.
Meeting Challenges: Just because you find something difficult to do, don’t think that it’s humanly impossible. If something is humanly possible and appropriate, believe that it can also be attained by you.
You’re behavior in all spheres of life should be like this: let’s overlook many things in those who are our fellow contestants. For it’s in our power to avoid them, and to have no suspicion or ill will.
Reflect also on what qualities nature has given us to counter every vile act. For she has given us compassion as an antidote to brutality...
Shouldn’t you be content that you have done the right thing, and not feel you have to be paid for it? It’s as if your eyes demanded a fee for seeing. . . . [We are] created by Nature to act benevolently, and when we have done something helpful or in some way conducive to the common interest, we have acted in harmony with our own inherent makeup, and also come into our own.
Then you must teach them and show them rather than get so indignant.
Social Unity: Since you are an integral part of a social system, let every act of yours contribute to the harmonization of social life. Any action that is not related directly or remotely to this social aim disturbs your life, and destroys your unity.
Tolerance: People were created for the sake of one another. Either teach them or bear with them.
Life and Destiny: Adapt yourself to the life you have been given; and truly love the people with whom destiny has surrounded you.
Nothing should be done without a purpose.
Talking and Being: Stop talking about what the good person should be, and just be that person.
The body ought to be fit and composed, not agitated either in motion or in rest. We should require that the whole body exhibit the mind, as the face does when it maintains an expression of intelligence and symmetry. And all these must be maintained without posing.
You need to be prepared for firm decisions and action, without losing gentleness toward those who obstruct or abuse you. It’s as great a weakness to be angry with them as it is to abandon your plan of action and give up through fear. These are both like deserting soldiers: the one who panics, as well as one alienated from his natural brothers and friends.
A person’s character immediately shines in the eyes, just as one who loves reads everything in the gaze of the beloved.
On the way to the mountains last weekend I watched Dead Poets Society for the first time since junior high. Back then, I recall it leaving a powerful impression, but surprisingly didn’t feel the same watching it this time. It does have some great quotes though, and I captured some here. . .
from John Keating (Robin Williams)
“There is a time for daring and there is a time for caution, and a wise man knows the difference.”
“Sucking the marrow out of life doesn’t mean choking on the bone.”
“We are food for worms, boys.”
“Seize the day. Make your lives extraordinary.”
“This is a battle, a war, and the casualties could be your hearts and souls.”
“You will learn to think for yourselves again. You will learn to savor words and language. Words and ideas can change the world.”
“The human race is filled with passion. Romance, beauty, love, this is what we live for.”
“. . .that you may contribute a verse. What will your verse be?”
“Just when you think you know something, you have to look at it in another way. We must constantly look at things in a different way.”
“Most men lead lives of quiet desperation.”
“You must struggle to find your own voice. The longer you wait, the less likely you are to ever find it.”
A few random quotes:
"There is no greater joy than the joy of the heart." - Solomon
"We shall never know all the good that a simple smile can do." - Mother Theresa
"No love, no friendship can cross the path of our destiny without leaving some mark on it forever." - Francois Mauriac
"Networking is both an art and a science" - Career Services
"So I sat down on the East, where things begin." - Amy Tan, The Joy Luck Club
"This feather may look worthless, but it comes from afar and carries with it all my good intentions." - Amy Tan, The Joy Luck Club
"Parents creating slippery kids" - Carolyn
"I was a consultant. You get paid in miles." - Mike, on having one million frequent flyer miles.
"Take a ratio of two random numbers" - M. R-K
"I was praying to the gods of partial credit" - Eric
"Help me, help you." - C. Maglaras
"I'm not going to be grading for style" - C. Maglaras on the Stats Midterm
“To love a person is to learn the song that is in their heart, and to sing it to them when they have forgotten.”
“Built for the students that religion and learning go hand in hand and character grow with knowledge.” - Etched above the door to Earl Hall
"The truest question to ask one's self is whether you feel that life is passing you by." - me.
Here's a random collection of quotes I've collected over the past four weeks.
(Hopefully this doesn't break any kind of copyright laws.)
“It’ll work if everyone comes to the table with a skill to contribute.” – M. Feiner
“Window jumping meetings” – M. Feiner
“A team is not always necessary” – M. Feiner
“This one time, at Math Camp. . .”
“Pedantic, quadratic, derivative” – C. Maglaras
“No one wants to admit they don’t think for themselves” – R. Horton on blind followers
“Profit margins don’t matter” – A. Citanna (followed by a huge gasp from his Micro class)
“Was Clip helping you out?” – Ariel M. to Dave H. on creating Iterations
“It’ll make a lot more sense if you try to do it logically” – M. Rhodes-Kropf on Pro Forma Financial Statements
“What’s the morality of silence?” – R. Horton on Ethics
“Throw down your musket and run.” – R. Horton on Standing in the face of adversity
“Anybody can hire an undergrad” – R. Horton on the value of an MBA
“The goal is to struggle” – R. Horton on ensuring none of us are the next Clifford Baxter
“Stick with it. We will all get it. I promise” – M. Rhodes-Kropf on Understanding Finance.
“When they start “why”ing you, that’s when you learn the edge of your own knowledge” – M. Rhodes-Kropf on the Wisdom of Toddlers
“Does it have to hurt in order to make a difference?” – R. Horton on Corporate Responsibility
“Who am I to make decisions for you?” – P. Azoulay
“Wow. I am learning so much today” – Overheard in a bathroom at the Law School
“This isn’t real Math. It’s quasi-math.” – Ira (aka Professor Weiss) on Accounting
“Don’t be dull.” – Someone at Orientation
“n’Kay?” - Safwan
“Your sense of entitlement will grow exponentially. Guard against it” – Safwan and Dean Feldberg
“Don’t be that guy. He’s in every one of us.” - Safwan
“Honor your commitments” – Someone at Orientation
“Learn where to put your effort” – Someone at Orientation
“At the end of the day” – Perhaps the most overused phrase at CBS
“Business is a team sport.” – M. Feiner
“The last thing to cool was a ray of sunlight, a diamond” – C. Schorer quoting Acres of Diamonds
“glocal” – Someone at Orientation
“Grow the currency of your degree” – Dean Feldberg
“Selective negligence” – Someone at Orientation
“Sallie Mae is now a really expensive girlfriend” – An alum on school loans.
“Get out of your comfort zone, be an active, engaged member of this community” – Everyone at Orientation
“I will not return from this the same as I began” – An anonymous wide-eyed first year MBA.
“Unremitting” – Dean Feldberg on the Culture of CBS
“6 continents, 64 countries, 50 languages, on 34 acres, with 125 faculty and 35 adjuncts” – L. Meehan on the staggering statistics of our “Quintessentialness” (ala Dean Feldberg)
“Is it ignorance, or is it malice?” – R. Horton on Cultural Sensitivity.
“Draw a beade” – R. Horton using another hunting analogy
“Any presentation is about sales” – Communication consultant
“Patience and tolerance to go back and dig deeper” – M. Rhodes-Kropf on Re-reading Case Studies for the 800th time.
“In New York, first plans never work.” – Lynne Sagalyn
“Market reversals (cycles) complicate risk” – L. Sagalyn on Real Estate
“Intense and fractious development politics” – L. Sagalyn on the Realities of Real Estate Developing
“Quality and depth of professionals make this a tough town” – L. Sagalyn on Competition
“Large scale projects are political suicide” – L. Sagalyn
“Read the politics of an event or you’re missing something” – L. Sagalyn on Reality
“Do what you love. The rest will follow.” – Safwan
“Go get a customer first” – C. Schorer on Investing in new ideas
“Real teams are their own reward” – M. Feiner on Teams
“Top floor performance” – M. Feiner on Leadership
“Einstein said, ‘It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression.’” – Someone at Orientation
“Businesses that have become stale have lost their battle with the learning curve” – P. Azoulay on Strategy
“Prioritize your time. Navigate feeling pressed.” – Someone at Orientation
“Team leadership can be dynamic” – M. Feiner on leadership
“You don’t want your first call to be ‘Can you help me?’” – Wisdom from Career Services
“Name tags in the woods. It sounds like a business school horror movie.” – Kameron to another Social Enterpriser at Horton’s Retreat
“Sense the festering problems as they’re building” – A faculty member on learning the lay of the land and working in groups
“Find a way to organize and keep track of this.” – A word of advice from Career Services
“We sense who the drivers are” – M. Rhodes-Kropf
“Test your ideas, admit your failures” – C. Schorer on Becoming a Successful Entrepreneur
“We’re bringing new meaning to dysfunctionality” – A faculty member during a brainstorming session with 1st years
Top 12 Insights overheard, Fall 2003
Business is an art.
Spend imagination, not money.
Discipline. It’s all about discipline.
Grow and refine your intuition.
Create your own destiny.
Understand what isn’t being said.
Nothing takes the place of persistence and resilience.
Nothing happens without enthusiasm. It’s contagious.
Bringing people together requires democracy, respect and sensitivity.
The key to success is understanding humanity.
Intellect without action doesn’t get you anywhere.
Don’t look at what’s next – look just beyond what’s next.
I'm way behind in posting the quips I've collected over the past few weeks. I spent most of the weekend listening to Mario Fangoulis and trying to clean through my stacks and stacks of paper, although I admit I didn't get far. I did, however, buy groceries for the first time in two months.
Here are a few quotes that have been gathering dust. . .
"Let us be grateful to people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom." - Marcel Proust
"Each friend represents a world in us, a world possibly not born until they arrive, and it is only by this meeting that a new world is born." - Anais Nin
"Friendship is genuine when two friends can enjoy each other's company without speaking a word to one another." - George Ebers
"Friendships that have stood the test of time and change are surely best." - Joseph Parry
"When shall we live, if not now?" - Seneca the Younger
Two great quotes from movies I watched today:
"I'm a wave maker and you have a fear of drowning."
"I stayed in my room. . . hoping I could keep the world from slipping in through the windows."
Some quotes I’ve collected in the past few weeks while going blogless:
*Question of the Summer: “Is there anymore room, for me, in those jeans?” - Ginuwine
Gilby’s Quote of the Summer: “She threw it at me like I was a short stop.” -
“Shakespeare was fucked when he said, ‘It’s better to have loved and lost than to never have loved at all.’ Fuck that shit.” – My brother, reflecting on having his heart broken
“I’m super, thanks for asking.” – My sister, quoting a movie
“Hi, I don’t care. Thanks.” – Lenny, mocking my sister
“We gotta get you to Florida. You guys wanna see the sand, don’t you.” - My sister talking to her favorite pair of black sandals
“It’s pretty bad when the bar whore doesn’t want to dance with you.” – Carrie @ the Wild Onion
From the calendar:
“The sun shines not on us, but in us.” – John Muir
“Wisdom begins in wonder” – Socrates
“Teach us to delight in simple things” – Rudyard Kipling
“You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation” – Plato
“The truth is, friendship is every bit as sacred and eternal as marriage” – Katherine Mansfield
“Look to this day, for it is life – the very life of life.” – Kalidasa
“It is never too late to be what you might have been” – George Eliot
“For we fight not for glory, nor riches, nor honours, but for freedom alone, which no good man gives up except with his life.” – from the Scottish National Museum (William Wallace, I assume.)
“I write for myself and strangers.” – Gertrude Stein
“One word frees us of all the weight and pain of life. That word is ‘love’.” – Sophocles
“Very little is needed to make a happy life. It is all within yourself, in your way of thinking.” – Marcus Aurelius
“not the outside – the aesthetics, I wanted to capture the insides.” – M. Ladd
“It’s not finished – it will never be finished. You make room and move things around.” – M. Ladd
“You need to find your space inside the music.” – Vijay Iyer
“We all grow gills in time.” – M. Ladd
“You’re like a Phoenix” – pmb
"Does someone have to die in order for the rest of us to value life more?“ Meryl Streep, “The Hours”
"But I still have to face the hours, don’t I?" – Ed Harris, “The Hours”
"You cannot find peace by avoiding life." – Virginia Woolfe
"I don’t remember where I came from." – Angelica
“I wish people would stop sculpting me naked” – Michael
“They made shot glasses a lot bigger then” – Siff
“God, can you imagine playing quarters with those?” – Michael
“Is anyone else’s butt sweating?” – Kent
“I’ve seen bigger” – Spencer
“Unfortunately, you can’t have Paris without France” – Kent
“I’d never tell anybody they looked like a Who” – Tim
“Interesting.” – Wayne
“Cause I’m King of the Pimps” – Professor Dion
"...kinda shady..." - Cyle
“...ejaculation...” – Lord Williams of Mostyn, Parliament’s House of Lords
“Dream like you’ll live forever, live like you’ll die today.” – spread by Kalie
"I wanna live in a big old castle and complain about it being drafty." - me.
“Ordinary riches can be stolen; real riches cannot. In your soul are indefinitely precious things that cannot be taken from you.” – Oscar Wilde
“Where there is love, there is life.” – Ghandi
“Joy may you have, and gentle hearts content.” – Edmund Spenser
“Live the life you’ve imagined!” – Thoreau
“There is no delight in owning anything unshared.” – Seneca the Younger
“Life is to be fortified by many friendships. To love and be loved is the greatest happiness of existence.” – Sydney Smith
“Love is but the discovery of ourselves in others, and the delight in the recognition.” – Alexander Smith
“Some men see things as they are and ask why. Others dream things that never were and ask why not.” – George Bernard Shaw
“If there were dreams to sell, what would you buy?” – Thomas Lovell Beddoes
“I like laughter that opens the lips and the heart...” – Victor Hugo
“Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one’s courage.” – Anais Nin
“Joy is a light that fills you with hope and faith and love.” – Adela Rogers St. Johns
Random quotes I ran into yesterday:
Explore the past, address the now, and choose your future.
You can’t fling the truth in someone’s face; the only real truth is the truth we discover for ourselves. (Yalom)
“Spring is the season of hope. . .” – Countess of Blessington
“Music produces a pleasure the world cannot do without.” – Confucious
Some quotes I collected over the last ten days...
(To H.C. – for painting me a rainbow.)
“For hope is but a dream for those that wake.” – Matthew Prior
“Be glad of life because it gives you the chance to love and to work and to play and to look at the stars.” – Van Dyke
“Laughter is the closest thing to the grace of God.” – Karl Barth
“It is extraordinary how music sends one back to the memories of the past, and it is the same with smells.” – George Sand
“To accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also dream; not only plan, but also believe.” – Anatole France
“Why are haikus so intensely creative? Because you have to compact the infinite creativity of the mind into a limited space.” - Foust
“You cannot solve any problem by the same consciousness in which the problem was created.” - Albert Einstein
“It’s like trying to construct the house from the roof downward.” – Youn Kim
“propelling teaching and learning”
“Never, never, never give up.” – Winston Churchill
“life isn’t all academics”
98% of life is showing up.
“turning into sheer logic v. having a human side”
“diseases of poverty”
“it’s people like these people that change the world”
“[Understand the needs and patterns of] paper ideas that never pan out in implementation and application.”
Find inspired leaders to work with.
The week before last, I attended a small q&a on campus with Salman Rushdie. His Midnight's Children was being performed at the Apollo in Harlem by the Royal Shakespeare Company and the University. (Incidentally, the novel was begun when he was 27. It was one of his first.)
It was inspiring to be in a room with the man that the Ayatollah Khomeini considered dangerous enough to issue a fatwa for in 1989. (Incidentally, the death sentence wasn't lifted until 1998.)
It was a very interesting evening, despite the fact that several questions taken from the audience offended him incredibly. In fact, he was so offended that when the hour was up, he just walked out.
Here are the great quotes I captured during the session. . .
“A number of my books have met an unforeseen fate.”
“You know, I really miss September the 10th.” – Gary Trudeau
"one of whose major processes is digression"
Question from the audience: What advice would you give beginning writers? Rushdie's answer: "If you need my advice, don’t do it."
"admiration of their tenacity, fortitude, confidence"
"that something is inside writers and will either make you do it..."
"finding their voices as writers"
"under the descending heel"
"the difficulty with a 50-50 problem is that when you enter a war, it becomes a 100-0 problem."
"America has a problem with follow through. We’ve been good at deconstruction..."
"Now I’m glad I wrote the book when I did. It captured a moment that is now gone. There is now an entirely different spirit of the city."
"it is like that because that’s what it’s like"
"cast one’s mind back to creative decisions made decades ago"
"pantheon of writers"
Pulled the plastic off the windows this afternoon - I'm no longer feeling like such a prisoner in my own abode. Yea!
I celebrated by buying a bright bouquet of fresh flowers on the street. (Goal in life: Fresh flowers in the house often.)
Two quotes from this past week:
"Let us be grateful to people who make us happy." - Marcel Proust
"I am not afraid of storms, for I am learning how to sail my ship." - Louisa May Alcott
Today's quotes are filled with much wisdom. . .
"I wish you sunshine on your paths and storms to season your journey. I wish you peace - in the world in which you live and in the smallest corner of the heart where truth is kept.... More I cannot wish you - except perhaps love - to make all the rest worthwhile." - Robert A. Ward
"The only thing that can beat being alone is being alone with someone else." - Anon
Sun is out, the Hudson is blue, the steam curls up from rooftops. It's beautiful.
The quotes on today's calendars are:
"The secret to success is knowing something no one else knows." - Aristotle Onassis
"Love is something eternal - the aspect may change, but not the essence." - Van Gogh
I like them both.
Wish me luck, major policy presentation today.
Miscellaneous anecdotes in random order. . .
The other night the wind was so intense that it blew through and tore the plastic off my windows. (yes, the plastic was on the inside.) I was up at 4am with a roll of packaging tape securing it back in place. It was cold. There were swear words involved.
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Last weekend on our way to the movies, I saw a girl asking a national guardsman with a machine gun where the bathroom was. Isn't there some kind of deep satirical irony in that?
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My Writing Center clients have been growing at a rate of one a day. Today's person is an English Language Learner whose native language is Persian. I didn't even know Persian was a language. I'm not sure he should be seeking my help.
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On the way home from the movies, I saw a transvestite trying to prostitute himself to a blind man. Isn't there some kind of deeply disturbing commentary about the human condition in that?
***
The line from my latest song. (Yes, the only line.)
"You're my WonderBread - I want to be your peanut butter."
Catchy isn't it? Okay, maybe not.
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A friend at lunch, on realizing what he wanted too late... "If I were him, I'd be quick. I personally don't understand what the dude is going."
***
Walking down the hall to class with a friend of mine and a friend of hers comes through the door and says, "Hi! Where've you been? We haven't hung out in soooo long."
My friend replies, "Yea, you people don't have enough melanin for me."
***
Paul to Pete: "That's right, it's all about keeping the tinted man down."
My favorite quote of the day: "To the extent that a bivariate distribution departs from linearity, the Pearson r coefficient will underestimate that relationship."
Today's quotes are an odd combination. . .
"It seems to me we can never give up longing and wishing while we are thoroughly alive. There are certain things we feel to be beautiful and good and we must hunger after them." - George Eliot
"God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference." - Niebuhr
What's spinning: Wilco - "Promisin'", Ryan Adams - "Wild Flowers", Incubus - "Echo", Sister Hazel - "Champagne High", Guster - Lost and Gone Forever
Today's quotes: "When friendships are real, they are not glass threads or frost work, but the solidest things we know." - Ralph Waldo Emerson
"Express yourself completely, then keep quiet." - Lao-Tzu
Still haven't found a poem for Econ.
"Accept the things to which fate binds you, and love the people with whom fate brings you together, but do so with all your heart." - Marcus Aurelius Antoninus
The first one I lifted from Adam, just because I liked it. I wish I had time to go see the Picasso Matisse exhibit that's going on at the Museum of Modern Art.
"Art is a lie that tells the truth." -Picasso
The second is from the calendar, and I'd like to think it's true.
"The best portion of a good (wo)man's life is (her) his little nameless, unremembered acts of kindness and of love." - Wordsworth
For Christmas, my godmother gave me one of those little calendars with photos and quotes on each page. I know it's girly, but I like things like that. Each day it's like reading a fortune cookie (only without the calories!)
Here's two from last week that I kept:
"Precious are all things that come from friends." - Theocritus
"The only gift is a portion of thyself." - Emerson
"Music is love in search of a word." - Sidney Lanier
"Do what feels right, it's the best way to be wrong." - PMB 2/4/03
Came across two quotes last week that I like. They kind of remind me of fingerpaintings or glitter and noodle self-portraits hung proudly on the refrigerator.
"A good heart is better than all the heads in the world." - Sir Henry Bulwer
"'Tis the heart of the giver that makes the gift dear and precious." - Martin Luther
Lacking original thought today. . .
but I found these quotes in some stuff I was going through and thought I'd share.
"You must be the change you wish to see in the world." - Gandhi
"Destiny is not a matter of chance, it is a matter of choice; it is not a thing to be waited for, it is a thing to be achieved." - William Jennings Bryan
"The greater the difficulty, the more the glory in surmounting it." - Epicurus
"The happiness of your life depends on the quality of your thoughts." - Marcus Aurelius
"Stop a moment and look around you." - Thomas Carlyle
"I love you not only for what you are, but for what I am when I am with you." - Roy Croft
Sifting through my paper scraps, I came across some quotes from my vacation that I thought I'd share. Hope you enjoy.
“If I can’t take it down with a shotgun, it scares the hell out of me.” – My brother. I don't remember what it was in reference to, perhaps it was just after we finished watching a Discovery Channel piece on killer hippotami.
“Rodeo shit” – The uncle we call "Big Larr" in reference to using the outhouse during winter.
“Dad, were there dinosaurs in the woods when you were little?” – My dad reminiscing on the things my brother used to ask when he was young.
“I like ya, but not that much.” – Grama, while trumping my ace with a nine playing three-handed euchre. (She made up for it by making cookies to take with on the plane.)
“Hey, that’s not my forklift.” – Dad, looking through pictures on his new digital camera.
“Whose forklift is that?” – Dad, still bewildered twenty minutes later.
"Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication." Leonardo Da Vinci - No, I didn't run into him. It was on the wall of a store in the Mall of America.
Watched The Brothers the other night. There are two quotes from the middle of the movie that are still stuck in my head…
“A woman is strength. . .not just the giver of life and all that, but more. Men don’t even know who they are until they know what kind of woman they want.”
“Be fearless. Don’t be timid with love.”
Little chunks of inspiration or perspective that cause me to pause, reflect, appreciate and try again. . .
1. May you have enough happiness to make you sweet, enough trials to make you strong, enough sorrow to keep you humble, enough faith to give you hope.
2. 99% of friction in daily life is caused by the wrong tone of voice.
3. Ask yourself if what you're doing today is getting you closer to where you want to be tomorrow.
4. "So she poured out the liquid music of her voice to quench the thirst of his spirit." - Hawthorne, "The Birthmark"
5. "An envious heart makes a treacherous ear." - Hurston
6. It's difficult to see the whole picture if you're standing on a pixel. - Me.
7. "Her soul crawled out from its hiding place." - Hurston
8. Nothing is so strong as gentleness; nothing is so gentle as real strength.
9. "She sat a long time with the walls creeping in on her. Four walls sqeezing her breath out." - Hurston, Their Eyes Were Watching God
10. Believe in fantasy, aspire to miracles, experience the magic, savor the journey.
11. "She plunged into the abyss and descended to the ninth darkness where light has never been." - Hurston
12. "People ugly from ignorance and broken from being poor." - Hurston
13. "Multiply it by infinity, take it to the depths of forever, and you'll still only feel a fraction of what it is. . ." - from "Meet Joe Black"
14. Be instead of do. - S. Covey
15. Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.
16. I'm getting on, and getting going, but getting nowhere.
17. Dream with your eyes wide open.
18. "The effect, therefore, will be the surging, flitting, instantaneousness of a mind questing over its own surfaces and into its depths." - Miller, "After the Fall"
19. "Is this a good use of my life? I ask myself." - Jan Anderson
20. I will not give up on myself.
21. "If language were liquid, it would be rushing in to catch the blur in the brain that flies by and is gone." - Suzanne Vega
22. Loving you is easy.
23. "True happiness cannot be reached without risking total annihilation." - Billy Vera
24. "Nothing that you have not given away will ever truly be yours." - CS Lewis
25. "There are no unimportant tears." - Miller
26. All people smile in the same language.
27. "The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams." - Eleanor Roosevelt
28. Making a living is not the same as making a life.
29. "Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work." - Thomas Edison
30. Kickin' ass and takin' names.
31. Be the flower that dares to grow in the cracks of sidewalks.
32. "Love stretches your heart and makes you big inside." - Margaret Walker
33. Freedom is not the right to do as you please, but the liberty to do as you ought.
34. Here we are in a silence more eloquent than words could ever be.
35. "And in the end the love you take is equal to the love you make." - Lennon
36. Peace within makes beauty without.
37. Sadness comes in many forms. Most of mine are silence.
38. Don't worry about things that haven't happened yet.
39. The rainbows are always there, waiting to be combed out of the light.
40. "Happiness should be doled out by the shovelful." -P.M. Buechner
41. "Make the most of yourself, for that is all there is of you." - Emerson
42. Sometimes the heart sees what is invisible to the eye.
43. Never let the odds keeps you from pursuing what you know in your heart you were meant to do.
44. "Peace is not an easy thing to find." - from some episode of "Buffy, the Vampire Slayer"
45. "The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy." - Martin Luther King, Jr.
46. Other people struggle too.
47. "Heaven isn't above the clouds, it's just beyond the fear." - Garth Brooks, "Sevens"
48. Dare.
49. "Put on a shirt and tie, and maybe you'll go on vacation, maybe you won't." - Steve O.
50. "The apartment faces an alley and is entered by a fire escape, a structure whose name is a touch of accidental poetic truth, for all of these huge buildings are always burning with the slow and implacable fires of human desperation." - Tennessee Williams, "The Glass Menagerie"
51. Today was cancelled due to lack of interest.
52. Respect is the greatest gift you can give someone.
53. "Don't do what I'm saying, do what I'm thinking." - Brent F.
54. "Battles are ugly when women fight." - Father Christmas, Lion the Witch & the Wardrobe
55. "There are some things you learn best in the calm, and some in the storm." - Willa Cather
56. "A dungeon is never harder to bear than when the door is open and the sunshine and birdsong float in." - C.S. Lewis
57. "Another drunken trek alone in a foreign country." - P.M. Buechner
58. "Thinking defines me, action doesn't." - Brent F.
59. "Don't think about elephants." - Adam B.
60. "Live the life you have imagined." - Thoreau
61. "Goals are not achieved by accident." - Dad.
62. "Everything in this book may be wrong." - Richard Bach
63. "You never know when someone may catch a dream from you." - Helen Marshall
64. "There's something uniquely calming about eating Grape Nuts cereal while watching Elmo from Seseme Street sing the Banana Song." - Kevin Thompson, as posted recently on his blog, Observations. Check it out.
65. "Open can, put spam in pan, cook" - Adam and Kevin
66. "My love is wasted on you." - the ex-boyfriend
67. "The blue screen of death" - what happens to nearly every computer I touch.
68. A 45 second lone guitar song by Coldplay:
In a haze, a stormy haze,
I'll be 'round, I'll be loving you - always.
Always.
Here I am and I'll take my time.
Here I am and I'll wait in line - always.
Always.
69. "Baffle them with bullshit" - Mom
70. "Someday when you have a house, I'm going to come over and eat Cheetos and jump on your couch" - Dad (sometime during my younger years)
71. "Looks like you got oceans in there" - Simon
72. "Hitch your wagon to a star." - Emerson
73. "Colour my world with hope of loving you." - Chicago