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Post by Tamrin on Dec 23, 2013 8:28:29 GMT 10
Eventually, all things merge into one, and a river runs through it. The river was cut by the world's great flood and runs over rocks from the basement of time
Yet even in the loneliness of the canyon I knew there were others like me who had brothers they did not understand but wanted to help. We are probably those referred to as "our brother's keepers," possessed of one of the oldest and possible one of the most futile and certainly one of the most haunting instincts. It will not let us go
At sunrise everything is luminous but not clear. It is those we live with and love and should know who elude us. You can love completely without complete understanding
Each one of us here today will at one time in our lives look upon a loved one who is in need and ask the same question: We are willing to help, Lord, but what, if anything, is needed? For it is true we can seldom help those closest to us. Either we don't know what part of ourselves to give or, more often than not, the part we have to give is not wanted
In our family, there was no clear line between religion and fly fishing. We lived at the junction of great trout rivers in western Montana, and our father was a Presbyterian minister and a fly fisherman who tied his own flies and taught others. He told us about Christ's disciples being fishermen, and we were left to assume, as my brother and I did, that all first-class fishermen on the Sea of Galilee were fly fishermen and that John, the favourite, was a dry-fly fisherman
As for my father, I never knew whether he believed God was a mathematician but he certainly believed God could count and that only by picking up God's rhythms were we able to regain power and beauty. Unlike many Presbyterians, he often used the word "beautiful”
A mystery of the universe is how it has managed to survive with so much volunteer helpNorman Fitzroy MacleanAmerican author and scholar ( A River Runs Through It) (Born this day 1902) All there is to thinking is seeing something noticeable which makes you see some- thing you weren't noticing which makes you see something that isn't even visible
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Post by Tamrin on Dec 23, 2013 8:29:33 GMT 10
Look and think before opening the shutter. The heart and mind are the true lens of the camera
I try to photograph people's spirits and thoughts. As to the soul-taking by the photographer, I don't feel I take away, but rather that the sitter and I give to each other. It becomes an act of mutual participation
If there is a single quality that is shared by all great men, it is vanity. But I mean by "vanity" only that they appreciate their own worth. Without this kind of van- ity they would not be great. And with vanity alone, of course, a man is nothing
I have found that great people do have in common an immense belief in themselves and in their mission. They also have great determination as well as an ability to work hard. At the crucial moment of decision, they draw on their accumulated wisdom. Above all, they have integrity
I’ve also seen that great men are often lonely. This is understandable, because they have built such high standards for themselves that they often feel alone. But that same loneliness is part of their ability to create
Within every man and woman a secret is hidden, and as a photographer it is my task to reveal it if I can
There is a brief moment when all there is in a man's mind and soul and spirit is reflected through his eyes, his hands, his attitude. This is the moment to recordYousuf KarshTurkish-born, Canadian portrait photographer (Born this day 1908) Character, like a photograph, develops in darkness
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Post by Tamrin on Dec 23, 2013 8:30:26 GMT 10
It is surely a great calamity for a human being to have no obsessions
By the time a man is 35 he knows that the images of the right man, the tough man, the true man which he received in high school do not work in life
I know a lot of men who are healthier at age fifty than they have ever been before, because a lot of their fear is gone
When a father, absent during the day, returns home at six, his children receive only his temperament, not his teaching
So I am proud only of those days that we pass in undivided tenderness
Reclaiming the sacred in our lives naturally brings us close once more to the wellsprings of poetry
It’s all right if you grow your wings on the way downRobert BlyAmerican poet and author ( Iron John) (Born this day 1926) They wrote to me and said something about it, and I said that if it doesn't involve any work, I'll do it(On being named Minnesota's first Poet Laureate)
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Post by Tamrin on Dec 23, 2013 8:33:30 GMT 10
The final frontier is perhaps the most difficult, but it's also the most important — and that's the frontier of the human spirit. For too long, people have allowed differences on the surface — differences of color, ethnicity, and gender — to tear apart the common bonds they share. And the human spirit suffers as a result
Imagine a world in which we saw beyond the lines that divide us, and celebrated our differences, instead of hiding from them. Imagine a world in which we finally recognized that, fundamentally, we are all the same. And imagine if we allowed that new understanding to build relations between people and between nations
I think we should be very clear on this ... this country was founded on the principles of the Enlightenment ... It was the idea that people could talk, reason, have dialogue, discuss the issues. It wasn't founded on the idea that someone would get struck by a divine inspiration and know everything right from wrong. I mean, people who founded this country had religion, they had strong beliefs, but they believed in reason, in dia- logue, in civil discourse. We can’t lose that in this country. We've got to get it back
But you don't have a chance if you can't find a job. I don't think it penetrates the minds of this Administration what it must be like for a factory worker to arrive home to his family with the news that he's been laid off. What it must be like not to know what the future holds for your children, because you don't know what the future holds for you.
What it must be like to see the government take hundreds of billions of dollars that could be used to fund job training, unemployment benefits, or jobs programs — and instead to send that money off to people who have such staggering wealth that the new money won't make the tiniest improvement in their lifestyle. What it must be like to be told that tax cuts for the rich are necessary to create jobs for working people, and then to see jobs fall month after month for more than 30 months. If that doesn't break your heart, you don't have a heart
I think General Eisenhower was exactly right, I think we should be concerned about the military-industrial complex. I think if you look at where the country is today you've consolidated all these defense firms into just a few large firms — like Halliburton — and with contracts and contacts at the top level of government
Working together, we can build a world in which the rule of law — not the rule of force — governs relations between states. A world in which leaders respect the rights of their people, and nations seek peace, not destruction or domination. And neither we nor anyone else should live in fear ever againWesley ClarkAmerican politician, a retired four-star general of the U.S. Army, and a former Supreme Allied Commander of NATO (Born this day 1944) Nothing could be a more serious violation of public trust than to consciously make a war based on false claims
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Post by Tamrin on Dec 24, 2013 12:01:34 GMT 10
Tuesday’s Quotes:Go forth and set the world on fire
The picture. A great plain, comprising the entire Jerusalem district, where is the supreme Commander-in-Chief of the forces of good, Christ our Lord: another plain near Babylon, where Lucifer is, at the head of the enemy
Imagine that leader of all the enemy, in that great plain of Babylon, sitting on a sort of throne of smoking flame, a horrible and terrifying sight. Watch him calling together countless devils, to dispatch them into different cities till the whole world is covered, forgetting no province or locality, no class or single individual
The enemy is like a woman, weak in face of opposition, but correspondingly strong when not opposed. In a quarrel with a man, it is natural for a woman to lose heart and run away when he faces up to her; on the other hand, if the man begins to be afraid and to give ground, her rage, vindictiveness and fury overflow and know no limit
The safest and most suitable form of penance seems to be that which causes pain in the flesh but does not penetrate to the bones, that is, which causes suffering but not sick- ness. So the best way seems to be to scourge oneself with thin cords which hurt super- ficially, rather than to use some other means which might produce serious internal injury
We should always be prepared so as never to err to believe that what I see as white is black, if the hierarchic Church defines it thus
Act as if everything depended on you; trust as if everything depended on God
Ignatius of Loyola Spanish founder of the Jesuits (Counter Reformation) ( one sick puppy) (Born this day 1491) Let me look at the foulness and ugliness of my body. Let me see myself as an ulcerous sore running with every horrible and disgusting poison
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Post by Tamrin on Dec 24, 2013 12:05:45 GMT 10
Better to love amiss than nothing to have loved
Fashion, though Folly's child, and guide of fools, Rules e'en the wisest, and in learning rules
Against her foes Religion well defends Her sacred truths, but often fears her friends
A great lie is like a great fish on dry land; it may fret and fling and make a frightful bother, but it cannot hurt you. You have only to keep still, and it will die of itself
Anger makes us strong, Blind and impatient, And it leads us wrong; The strength is quickly lost; We feel the error long
Habit with him was all the test of truth, “It must be right: I've done it from my youth”
The game is never lost till wonGeorge Crabbe, English poet and naturalist (Born this day 1754) Be there a will, and wisdom finds a way
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Post by Tamrin on Dec 24, 2013 12:09:02 GMT 10
No frogs croak as divinely as Polish ones do
But there is one proviso: you salvage your honour if done not for revenge, but pro publico bono
Courtesy's not a science too easy, or small. Not easy, for it is not sufficiently done with a deftly bent knee, smile at just everyone; For meseems, such politeness a merchant's is only, and is not of old Poland, nor yet gentlemanly
My heart stopped, my breast frozen, my lips and eyes barred. Still in the world, but not of the world. Here, yet already departed
I and motherland are one. My name is Million, because for millions do I love and suffer agonies
O Spring, who'd seen you blossom abundantly then with corn and with green grasses, and glittering with men, profuse with events, pregnant with hope unful- filled! O fair phantom of dreamland, I can see you still! I, in slavery born, and then swaddled with chain, only one such spring knew, and will not know again
Holy Virgin who shelters our bright Częstochowa and shines in Ostra Brama!Adam MickiewiczPolish writer and poet ( Crimean Sonnets) (Born this day 1798) Who never touch the earth, can never be in heaven
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Post by Tamrin on Dec 24, 2013 12:10:11 GMT 10
The freethinking of one age is the common sense of the next
Not a having and a resting, but a growing and becoming, is the character of perfection as culture conceives it
The true meaning of religion is thus, not simply morality, but morality touched by emotion
It is almost impossible to exaggerate the proneness of the human mind to take miracles as evidence, and to seek for miracles as evidence
Use your gifts faithfully, and they shall be enlarged; practice what you know, and you shall attain to higher knowledge
Resolve to be thyself: and know that he who finds himself, loses his misery
And we forget because we must and not because we will Matthew ArnoldEnglish poet ( Literature and Dogma) (Born this day 1822) Greatness is a spiritual condition
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Post by Tamrin on Dec 24, 2013 12:11:26 GMT 10
I would rather make my name then inherit it
The world is a looking-glass, and gives back to every man the reflection of his own face. Frown at it, and it will in turn look sourly upon you; laugh at it and with it, and it is a jolly kind companion; and so let all young persons take their choice
The two most engaging powers of a good author are to make new things familiar and familiar things new
When one fib becomes due as it were, you must forge another to take up the old acceptance; and so the stock of your lies in circulation inevitably multiplies, and the danger of detection increases every day
Mother is the word for God on the hearts and lips of all little children
Never lose a chance of saying a kind word
To endure is greater than to dare; to tire out hostile fortune; to be daunted by no difficulty; to keep heart when all have lost it; to go through intrigue spotless; to forgo even ambition when the end is gained — who can say this is not greatness?William Makepeace ThackerayEnglish writer ( Vanity Fair) (Died this day 1863) All is vanity, nothing is fair
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Post by Tamrin on Dec 24, 2013 12:12:19 GMT 10
All idols must be overthrown; all sacred dogmas exposed to criticism; the windows thrown open; the cobwebs swept away!
All governments lie, but disaster lies in wait for countries whose officials smoke the same hashish they give out
The only kinds of fights worth fighting are those you are going to lose, because somebody has to fight them and lose and lose and lose until someday, somebody who believes as you do wins. In order for somebody to win an important, major fight 100 years hence, a lot of other people have got to be willing — for the sheer fun and joy of it — to go right ahead and fight, knowing you're going to lose. You mustn't feel like a martyr. You've got to enjoy it
Our capacity for overlooking the obvious is enormous. Even one of the best and most independent reporters here was shocked by the anti-Americanism of recent demonstrations in Saigon and in Hué and Danang. He shares the naïve view that we are there to help the Vietnamese and regards the demonstrations as sheer ingratitude. The simple fact that occupying armies, whether allied or enemy, always become unpopular hardly ever figures in official calculation
Every emancipation has in it the seeds of a new slavery, and every truth easily becomes a lie
If you live long enough, the venerability factor creeps in; you get accused of things you never did and praised for virtues you never had
Rich people march on Washington every dayI.F. StoneUS journalist ( IF Stone's Weekly, Columbia Award 1971) (Born this day 1907) You may just think I am a red Jew son-of-a-bitch, but I'm keeping Thomas Jefferson alive
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