Thoreau

I enjoyed "Walden" in my early years. Thoreau's chapter on "Reading" was the start of my lifelong reading habit. A quote:
"Books are the treasured wealth of the world and fit inheritance of generations and nations."

Miss Lillian

A reporter once asked Miss Lillian, Jimmy Carter's mother, if Jimmy ever told a lie. She said maybe a little white lie now and then. Pressed for an example Miss Lillian replied: "Like when I met you at the door and told you how nice you looked and how glad I was to see you."

Kipling

In his theme of growing toward maturity, Kipling challenges us with this thought:
"If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two imposters just the same."

Verse

A verse I learned when I was young:
"Yesterday upon the stair
I saw a man who wasn't there.
He wasn't there again today.
I wish that man would go away."

Emerson

My earliest reading was of Emerson's essays. I was hooked by the inspirational words of his essay "Self Reliance": "A man should learn to detect and watch that gleam of light which flashes across his mind, more than the lustre of the firmament of bards and sages."

Blake Again

"He who binds to himself a joy
Does the winged life destroy;
But he who kisses the joy as it flies
Lives in Eternity's sun rise."

Goof

Sorry about the triplicate - one of us is weird (me or the computer) - guess which?

William Blake

"Joy and woe are woven fine,
A clothing for the soul divine,
Under every grief and pine
Runs a joy with silken twine.
It is right it should be so;
Man was made for joy and woe;
And when this we rightly know,
Through the world we safely go."

William Blake

"Joy and woe are woven fine,
A clothing for the soul divine,
Under every grief and pine
Runs a joy with silken twine.
It is right it should be so;
Man was made for joy and woe;
And when this we rightly know,
Through the world we safely go."

William Blake

"Joy and woe are woven fine,
A clothing for the soul divine,
Under every grief and pine
Runs a joy with silken twine.
It is right it should be so;
Man was made for joy and woe;
And when this we rightly know,
Through the world we safely go."

Birthday

Tomorrow I will play the last key on my piano, there are only 88 you know.

Galileo

On March 5 1616, to counter Galileo's claims, the Holy Office of the Church issued this edict: "The view that the earth is not the center of the universe and even has a daily rotation is philosophically false, and at least an erroneous belief." 200 years later, in 1835, the Church quietly withdrew the works of Galileo from her Index of Prohibited Books.

Shakespeare

Palonius's advice to Laertes in "Hamlet":
"This above all: to thine ownself be true,
And it must follow, as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any man."

Blogging is fun, but email is my lifeline.

Little Jeb

David Heller, in his book "Just build the Ark and the Animals will Come" asked children " Why does God love us?" Jeb, age 9, with maturity beyond his years, replied: "We make him laugh - especially when we try to figure out the whole universe."

Ambition

The beatiful words of Mother Teresa come to mind: "We can do no great things, only small things with great love."

Our Brain

I don't know who said it: "The brain is a mass of cranial nerve tissue, most of it in mint condition."

Paradox

Man, with ingenuity, has made practical application of the photon, for example radio, TV, microwave ovens, satellite communication. And yet, to quote scientist Gerald Schroeder: "Rest assured, no one has a clue as to what makes a photon, the basic 'particle' of energy."

Time

Spurious definition: Time is what keeps everything from happening all at once.

Happiness

Helen Keller knew us well - she said:

"When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has been opened for us."

Just For Fun

Some words defy definition
in lexicographic lore,
Consider the word "forever",
an enigma forevermore.

Or think of the word "infinity",
another conceptual snare.
No one has ever seen it,
and very few seem to care.

Alexander Pope

In his 18th century "An Essay On Criticism" so many words of wisdom - so many timeless lines - to wit:
"A little learning is a dangerous thing;
Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian Spring,
There shallow draughts intoxicate the brain,
And drinking largely sobers us again."
But he also says:
"To err is human, to forgive divine."

The Aphorism

I love aphorisms. Here are some from Stanislaw Jerzy Lec's "Unkempt Thoughts":
"With a eunuch you can have a long chat, said the lady from the harem"
"Is it progress if a cannibal uses knife and fork?"
"It is only a meteor, said the candle with contempt"

A Wish

If I could replay a flawed segment
of my life even though I would dread
to see how I really responded,
I would say what I should have said.

Seeds of Contemplation

In this book by Thomas Merton, Roman Catholic Trappist Monk, he argues persuasively for the honesty, integrity, commitment, and thereby strength of the truly humble who must be sure he is true to himself and not that false personality - the creature of his appetite for esteem. A quote: "A man who is truly humble cannot despair, because in the humble man there is no longer any such thing as self-pity."

Condoleezza Rice

I greatly admire this gracious lady, a sports fan, a classical pianoist, a brilliant mind whose thoughts are so well organized that, it is said, she speaks not in sentences but in whole paragraphs.

Chess

I had to buy a new chess CD. My old one is not compatible with my newer computer. I like to challenge the computer - keeps me humble.

The Ultimate Resource 2

This book by Julian L. Simon is an inspiring message of his faith in the resource of human ingenuity. He debunks the doomsayer's concerns that the media expounds as generally accepted truths. His powerful weapon: stubborn facts. Lots of pages but but good reading for the cynical and depressed.

I practice daily with my cane and on a slow treadmill. I hope to be able to graduate from my walker some day. I will keep trying.