Start a fire

The mind is not a vessel to be filled,
        but a fire to be kindled.

                Plutarch, On Listening to Lectures

 

 

 

 

 

Sacred words

I don't think writers are sacred, but words are. They deserve respect.
If you get the right ones in the right order, you might nudge the world a little
or make a poem that children will speak for you when you are dead.

            Tom Stoppard, The Real Thing

 

 

 

 

 

 

Created things

A created thing is never invented and it is never true:
         it is always and ever itself.

             Frederico Fellini, I'm a Born Liar: A Fellini Lexicon 

 

 

 

 

Not bad

Badness is only spoiled goodness.

        C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

 

 

 

 

 

Paying attention

Attention, taken to its highest degree,
is the same thing as prayer.

        Simone Weil, Gravity and Grace

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Poem: Beneath Irish Skies

 

Whatever you say, say nothing

To speak ill of others is a dishonest way of praising ourselves;
let us be above such transparent egotism.
If you can't say good and encouraging things, say nothing.
Nothing is often a good thing to do, and always a clever thing to say.

             Will Durant, 1958 commencement address 
                                   Webb School of Claremont, California