Abandoned

A poem is never finished,
only abandoned.
– W. H.Auden, “quoting” Valéry

Aux yeux de ces amateurs d’inquiétude et de perfection, un ouvrage n’est jamais achevé, – mot qui pour eu n’a aucun sens, – mais abandonné; et cet abandon, qui le livre aux flammes ou au public (et qu’il soit l’effet de la lassitude ou de l’obligation de livrer), leur est une sorte d’accident, comparable à la rupture d’une réflexion, que la fatigue, le fâcheux, ou quelque sensation viennent rendre nulle.
– Paul Valéry, au sujet du Cimetière marin.

After a break, I find the blog needs a bit of a wash and brush up. Sorry for any quirks. And thanks for the kind messages in my absence.

Today You Are You

Today you are you! That is truer than true!
There is no one alive who is you-er than you!

− Dr. Seuss

Many happy returns to Laura on a very special birthday!

Peace

Nobody can bring you peace
but yourself.

− Ralph Waldo Emerson

Lightness

History is as light as individual human life,
unbearably light,
light as a feather, as dust swirling into the air,
as whatever will no longer exist tomorrow.

― Milan Kundera

Small

All difficult things have their origin
in that which is easy,
and great things
in that which is small.

− Lao Tzu

Respect

The final test of a gentleman
is his respect for those
who can be of no possible service to him.

— William Lyon Phelps

Sometimes

Sometimes I sits and thinks,
and sometimes I just sits.

— A.A.Milne

Glorious Afternoon

To sit with a dog on a hillside
on a glorious afternoon
is to be back in Eden,
where doing nothing was not boring
– it was peace.

— Milan Kundera

Hope

Hope
is the only universal liar
who never loses his reputation for veracity.

— Robert Green Ingersoll

Distance

Everywhere
is in walking distance
if you have the time.

— Steven Wright

Tension

The world is all gates,
all opportunities,
strings of tension
waiting to be struck.

— Ralph Waldo Emerson

Morning Line-up

Morning is wonderful.
Its only drawback
is that it comes at such an
inconvenient time of day.

― Glen Cook

Dreaming

Yesterday
is but today’s memory,
and tomorrow
is today’s dream.

— Khalil Gibran

Taking Flight

When fears are grounded
Dreams take flight

– Unknown

Happy New Year

The sun is new each day.

— Heraclitus

I wish you a very happy 2014!

The Far Horizon

Only he who keeps his eye fixed
on the far horizon
will find the right road.

— Dag Hammarskjold

A Very Happy Birthday to Laura!

Merry Christmas

And the Grinch, with his Grinch-feet ice cold in the snow,
stood puzzling and puzzling, how could it be so?
It came without ribbons. It came without tags.
It came without packages, boxes or bags.
And he puzzled and puzzled ’till his puzzler was sore.
Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn’t before.
What if Christmas, he thought, doesn’t come from a store?
What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more?

— Dr. Seuss

Piece of Perfection

Every particular in nature,
a leaf, a drop, a crystal, a moment of time
is related to the whole,
and partakes of the perfection of the whole.

— Ralph Waldo Emerson

Waste Not, Want Not

I cannot endure
to waste anything so precious
as autumnal sunshine
by staying in the house.

― Nathaniel Hawthorne

Misery’s Reflection

Part of every misery is
the misery’s shadow or reflection:
that you don’t merely suffer,
but keep on thinking about the fact that you suffer.

— C. S. Lewis

Open Windows

In making theories,
always keep a window open
so you can throw one out.

— Bela Lugosi

In the Box

I’ll be more enthusiastic

about encouraging thinking outside the box

when there’s evidence of any thinking going on

inside it.

– Terry Prachett

Holding On

Funny how we can’t hold on to time,
even when it’s strapped to our wrists.

― Emily Murdoch

Small

No act of kindness,
no matter how small,
is ever wasted.

— Aesop

Seeing Wisely

The value of experience
is not in seeing much,
but in seeing wisely.

— William Osler