One of my compulsions is to 'collect' quotations. I'd like to share a few which have struck me over recent months . . .
I could not simplify myself.
IVAN TURGENEV From Nezhdanov’s suicide note in Virgin Soil
We work in the dark — we do what we can — we give what we have. Our doubt is our passion, and our passion is our task. The rest is the madness of art.
HENRY JAMES From The Middle Years
The deeper the feeling, the greater the pain.
LEONARDO DA VINCI
How many times now
have I crossed over hill crests
with the image
of blossoms leading me on —
toward nothing but white clouds?
FUJIWARA NO SHUNZEI (1114-1204)
The Lord walks among the pots and pans.
ST TERESA OF AVILA
At this stage in my life, I think it's all about the soft stuff. I don't give a damn about what you know or what you do if you can't be kind. I want the art of you before I'll tangle with the science of you. Talk to me so that I might know who you are. Be naked in the vocabulary of kindness.
SANDY CARLSON
Everbody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.
ALBERT EINSTEIN
A writer is not so much someone who has something to say
as . . . someone who has found a process that will bring about new
things he would not have thought of if he had not started to say
them.
My morning writing would begin for me by getting up about four
o'clock . . . I lie down on the living room couch in front of a
big picture window which looks out on our quiet neighbourhood.
The giant fir trees, . . . rhododendrons and so on outside. I'm lying
there relaxed, I have a blank sheet in front of me. I put the date on
top, and I start letting whatever swims into my attention get
written down on the page . . . I welcome anything that comes along.
I don't have any standards . . . I am not trying to contend for a
place in magazines or in books. I'm just letting my attention flow
where it wants to flow. And the relaxation of it is part of the charm
for me.
. . . if you're lost enough, then the experience of now is your guide
to what comes next. None of us knows what comes the next second.
Let me plead, not for ignoring advice from wherever it comes, but
for allowing in your own life the freedom to pay attention to your
feelings while finding your way through language . . . Into the
unknown you must plunge, carrying your compass . . . You must
make 'mistakes'; that is, you must explore what has not been
mapped out for you . . . Like Don Quixote . . . you must loosen the
reins and go blundering into adventures that await any traveller
in this multilevel world . . . and like Don Quixote you must expect
some disasters. You must write your bad poems and stories; for to
write carefully as you rove forward is to guarantee that you will
not find the unknown, the risky, the surprising. Art is an activity in
which the actual feel of doing it must be your guide; hence the
need for confidence, courage, independence.
WILLIAM STAFFORD
Armor is fine, but it keeps you from knowing what the weather is like.
WILLIAM STAFFORD
You're perfect as you are — and there's always room for improvement.
SHUNRYU SUZUKI
7 comments:
" someone who has found a process that will bring about new
things..." Absolutely. And it applies whatever one is creating.
What a fabulous and welcome gift on this fine Sunday morning! As a fellow collector of quotes, I don't think I have never seen most of these quotes, and each one is a delight. I would comment on a favorite, but I think they are all favorites at this point.
Here are a couple of my favourites:
Human language is like a cracked kettle on which we beat out tunes for bears to dance to, when all the time we are longing to move the stars to pity.
All of us are standing in the gutter but few of us are looking at the stars.
You must add the first line of Dante's Inferno!!! Remember, he ended up in Heaven by the end ;)
Nel mezzo del cammin di nostra vita,
mi ritrovai per una selva oscura,
ché la diritta via era smarrita.
Midway upon the journey of our life
I found myself in a dark forest,
For the straightforward path had been lost.
Dante Alighieri
Thanks for these extra quotations.
I like your quotations. Here is another, it is in French and I’ll try to translate it.
La vie c'est de l'eau.
Si vous mollissez le creux de la main,
vous la gardez.
Si vous serrez les poings,
vous la perdez." Jean Giono
Life is like water
If you soften the palm of your hand,
You keep it.
If you tighten your fist,
You lose it. – Jean Giono
And here is another good one by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry: "On ne peut montrer le chemin
à celui qui ne sait où aller." (We cannot show a path to the one who does not know where to go.)
Thanks, Vagabonde, for this further quotation.
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