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 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fine October

In the entire circle of the year
        there are no days so delightful
                as those of a fine October.

        Alexander Smith, Last Leaves: Sketches and Criticisms

 

 

 

 

 

Leaving ourselves behind

The soul of a journey is liberty, perfect liberty, to think, feel, do, just as one pleases.
We go a journey chiefly to be free of all impediments and of all inconveniences;
to leave ourselves behind, much more to get rid of others.
It is because I want a little breathing-space to muse on indifferent matters. . .

            William Hazlitt, On Going a Journey

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The great affair

For my part, I travel not to go anywhere, but to go.
I travel for travel's sake. The great affair is to move.

            Robert Louis Stevenson, Travels with a Donkey in the Cévennes 

 

 

 

 

 

More to go

It seems that the more places I see and experience, the bigger I realize the world to be. The more I become aware of, the more I realize how relatively little I know of it, how many places I have still to go, how much more there is to learn. Maybe that's enlightenment enough - to know that there is no final resting place of the mind, no moment of smug clarity. Perhaps wisdom, at least for me, means realizing how small I am, and unwise, and how far I have yet to go.

Anthony Bourdain, No Reservations - Machu Picchu