Every one of us is called upon, probably many times, to start a new life. A frightening diagnosis, a marriage, a move, loss of a job or a limb or a loved one, a graduation, bringing a new baby home: it's impossible to think at first how this will all be possible. Eventually, what moves it all forward is the subterranean ebb and flow of being alive among the living. I don't recall how I found that quote by Barbara Kingslover, in her book High Tide in Tuscon, but it moved me enough to
1. Buy and read the book
2. Send the quote to friends
3. Write to the author
4. Create this blog post about it
5. Add it to my book of quotes
Isn't it funny how some books, people, songs or quotes speak to your soul? They touch you at a level reserved for wonder and awe.
In my journal I keep a list of quotes and favorite passages. Here are some of my favorites:
If we had no impulse towards caution, our curiosities would probably kill us. ~ Gregg Levoy in Callings
Stored within your cells, each one constructed of recycled atoms as old as the earth, is the timeless truth women have always known; all life is sacred, seamless, endless, connected. ~Victoria Moran Living a Charmed Life
You are not here merely to make a living. You are here in order to enable the world to live more amply, with greater vision, with a finer spirit of hope and achievement. You are here to enrich the world. And you impoverish yourself if you forget the errand. ~ Woodrow Wilson
Guard well your spare moments. They are like uncut diamonds. Discard them and their value will never be known. improve them and they will become the brightest gems in a useful life. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson
What are some of yours?
5 comments:
When I was at my best friend's house last school year, we were standing in her kitchen and suddenly she said "Catch them quickly before they fly away. I'm blowing scattered thoughts in your direction."
She's a writer and often talks differently then other people so it's not like the quote weirded me out, but I liked it so much that I grabbed a sticky note and wrote it down.
I love it! Very original. Thanks for sharing that (and writing it down!). It reminded me of a writer friend of mine who put this on facebook "Isn't it funny how when you're gardening with a non-writer husband and you hit something hard, the husband says "we hit a rock" but you think, "Oh no! We dug up a skull! Or maybe Grandma's broken tea pot! Or maybe the ...pirates buried some diamonds here! (they could have come to Wisconsin you know!). But of course you don't say, "skull, tea pot or diamonds" because you don't want to give away all your ideas!" I added that to my book of quotes too:)
I like the idea of helping 'the world live more amply'. Someone I know once told me to always leave where I'd been a better place. A similar sentiment. I live near an Asda, am intrigued to find the bargain fountain pen you mentioned in a previous post.
I have always loved Eleanor Roosevelt's line: "No one can make you feel inferior without your consent."
Woody Guthrie's opinion about songs can be applied these days to our popular culture more generally: "I hate a song that makes you think that you're not any good. I hate a song that makes you think that you are just born to lose. Bound to lose. No good to nobody. No good for nothing. Because you are either too old or too young or too fat or too slim or too ugly or too this or too that....songs that run you down or songs that poke fun of you on account of your bad luck or your hard traveling. I am out to fight those kinds of songs to my very last breath of air and my last drop of blood."
Thanks for sharing your quotes, countrymommy and Jonathan. I like the Eleanor Roosevelt one too. Had not heard the Woody Guthrie song, but like what he has to say.
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