I was scanning the bookshelves in my library, looking for some inspiration for today's post- and I found some. I spotted a book by Ayn Rand, and it took me back to my day of book report writing for my dad. I remember reading 'Atlas Shrugged' awhile back and while it was not my favorite book, it wa beneficial to my schooling. In honor of that, here are some of the best quotes from Ayn Rand that I've found.
“The question isn't who is going to let me; it's who is going to stop me.” “If you don't know, the thing to do is not to get scared, but to learn.” “Learn to value yourself, which means: fight for your happiness.” “Freedom (n.): To ask nothing. To expect nothing. To depend on nothing.” “A creative man is motivated by the desire to achieve, not by the desire to beat others.” “To say "I love you" one must know first how to say the "I".” “Why do they always teach us that it's easy and evil to do what we want and that we need discipline to restrain ourselves? It's the hardest thing in the world--to do what we want. And it takes the greatest kind of courage. I mean, what we really want.” “The smallest minority on earth is the individual. Those who deny individual rights cannot claim to be defenders of minorities.” “The man who does not value himself, cannot value anything or anyone.” “Have you felt it too? Have you seen how your best friends love everything about you- except the things that count? And your most important is nothing to them; nothing, not even a sound they can recognize.” “Contradictions do not exist. Whenever you think that you are facing a contradiction, check your premises. You will find that one of them is wrong.” “My happiness is not the means to any end. It is the end. It is its own goal. It is its own purpose.” “The truth is not for all men but only for those who seek it.” “Never think of pain or danger or enemies a moment longer than is necessary to fight them.” “I regret nothing. There have been things I missed, but I ask no questions, because I have loved it, such as it has been, even the moments of emptiness, even the unanswered-and that I loved it, that is the unanswered in my life.”
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I just read my dad's most recent post, and as they often do, it inspired me to go digging for quotes about a certain topic. In his post, he spoke of how he gets lost during conversations at times, and that he misses having Mom to validate that he "isn't the crazy one". I feel this, I really do- because I'm the same way with my close friends. We'll be standing in the same circle of friends listening to the same speech, but we can both tell that we aren't fully paying attention. All it takes is a quick glance when a controversial topic comes about and we already know the other's opinion. Having a connection like that with people is great (and I am in no way comparing that to the relationship between my Mom and Dad).
In any case, it got me thinking about validation- how some of us only need small amounts of it (such as a shared glance in a boring conversation) and how some of us... some of us thrive off of the opinions of others. Sadly, I have friends who dwell only on what others think of them and it's quite depressing. Their own self-worth has declined so greatly because they only care what others think, and it is my lack of approval for this behavior that inspired me (along with my dad's post, of course) to find quotes about validation. Enjoy. “What the superior man seeks is in himself; what the small man seeks is in others.” ― Confucius “Do not wait for someone else to validate your existence; it is your own responsibility.” ― Jasz Gill “The one person you'll be spending the rest of your life with is you. Treat yourself with love and respect.” ― Elle Sommer “The only permission, the only validation, and the only opinion that matters in our quest for greatness is our own.” ― Steve Maraboli "If you live for people's acceptance, you will die from their rejection." "If you persistently seek validation from others, you will inadvertently invalidate your own self worth." "You're only invisible to those who don't deserve to see you." "Beware of those who seek constant crowds; they are nothing alone." I don't think I have much explaining to do on this topic. I apologize if it hits close to home for some people; but my mom was an alcoholic and she passed away 3 years ago after many complications from her illness. With Christmas on the rise, I've been thinking about her more and more... so here are some quotes about alcoholism that I find to be incredibly true.
"Alcoholism: the disease that makes you too selfish to see the havoc you created and care about the people you shattered." "You cannot save everyone. Some people are going to destroy themselves no matter how much you try to help them." “A man who drinks too much on occasion is still the same man as he was sober. An alcoholic, a real alcoholic, is not the same man at all. You can't predict anything about him for sure except that he will be someone you never met before.” "Alcohol is basically for those who wish to be dead, yet lack the courage to kill themselves." "When you have a choice to make and don't make it, that is in itself a choice." "Sorry is not enough. Sometimes, you have to actually change." "Everyone tells you that the alcoholic will hit bottom. What they fail to tell you is that 'bottom' could be the bottom of a grave." "A mistake repeated more than once is a decision." "What is the opposite of two? A lonely me, a lonely you." That is a quote by Richard Wilbur. Wilbur is an American poet and college professor who has won two Pulitzer Prizes for his poetry; one in 1957, and another in 1989. Unfortunately, I have never read any of Wilbur's work, although I plan to correct that error at some time in the near future.
To get back to Wilbur's quote, it really hits too close to home for me. In my mind, I need to modify it a bit though to really make it fit. "A lonely me, a dead you." The holidays have been a tough time for me over the past few years, and no matter what I do, it doesn't really change. I seem to be the type that can be lonely in a crowded room. I don't seem to be lonely due to a lack of people... I am more lonely due to a lack of people to share my heart with. I miss the closeness of knowing one person really well. So well, that I can say anything to them. That feeling is the main thing missing in my life right now, and at times it can make me sad. Sharon and I had our troubles, but we always had the ability to communicate with each other with just a look or touch. To know someone understands where you are coming from on all levels is a great comfort. It's a comfort that I find very hard to come by. Sure, I talk with people. Although I jokingly say I am a recluse at karate, due to the fact that I work from home, and rarely go out during the week accept to go for coffee or to workout at the dojo, I am not really a recluse. I can easily talk with most people and keep up my end of the conversation. What throws me off occasionally, is the why of the matter. Usually, I understand why a conversation is going in the direction that t is going, and whether it is something serious or just idle chit chat, I usually know what's what. It is those odd times when a conversation takes a step towards the bizarre where I really get lost and feel lonely (oddly enough). Something will be said, and I will feel like I should be getting some kind of connection from what was just said, and instead I get this feeling of confusion and nothingness. Those are moments that are best shared with someone you love. A look or a nod would be enough to let me know that I wasn't really the crazy one. Now, I hit that point, and I just feel like what happened was really weird and I have no clue what is going on and no way to really check to see WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED! You know, the sad part is, that really isn't it. That seemed like a way to start to describe what I am missing, but it really isn't that. There just seems to be a really huge empty hole in me where my feelings used to reside that is now just an empty cavern. My thoughts go to where these feelings used to be and gets lost there. They wander for hours in a cavern of what was and what might have been. Memories can be a great comfort, but they can be a private hell as well. I guess what I am trying to say is that there is a type of loneliness that being around people really can't cure... and it happens a lot around the holidays. At least for me. Sometimes being busy can be a balm. At the same time, it can also be a scourge. I think at the holidays many people miss the power of two. I know I do. Today is a very gray and rainy day where I live. I've been up in my room all day, both sleeping and writing and honestly, I lack motivation. I haven't done a post about happiness in a while, and I think it's long overdue. Everyone could use some motivation and good vibes for a rainy and dreary day. This being said, I've dug up some quotes about happiness from the corners of the internet that you've hopefully never heard before. Enjoy.
“For every minute you are angry you lose sixty seconds of happiness.” ― Ralph Waldo Emerson “It's so hard to forget pain, but it's even harder to remember sweetness. We have no scar to show for happiness. We learn so little from peace.” ― Chuck Palahniuk “You will never be happy if you continue to search for what happiness consists of. You will never live if you are looking for the meaning of life.” ― Albert Camus “It's been my experience that you can nearly always enjoy things if you make up your mind firmly that you will.” ― L.M. Montgomery “Now and then it's good to pause in our pursuit of happiness and just be happy.” ― Guillaume Apollinaire “Generally speaking, the most miserable people I know are those who are obsessed with themselves; the happiest people I know are those who lose themselves in the service of others...By and large, I have come to see that if we complain about life, it is because we are thinking only of ourselves.” ― Gordon B. Hinckley “I, not events, have the power to make me happy or unhappy today. I can choose which it shall be. Yesterday is dead, tomorrow hasn't arrived yet. I have just one day, today, and I'm going to be happy in it.” ― Groucho Marx “Happiness is not a goal...it's a by-product of a life well lived.” ― Eleanor Roosevelt Last week, my Dad wrote a post based around a quote from Helen Keller. If you don't know who she is... go look her up. She's an incredible woman who became deaf and blind soon after birth, and who learned to speak, read using braille, and attained a bachelor's degree. This aside, she was also an activist for the disabled like herself and a phenomenal lecturer. Reading the quote my dad used inspired me to go find more quotes from her- and they truly inspired me. I wish to share this inspiration with you as well- so below are some of my favorite quotes that I found.
“Although the world is full of suffering, it is full also of the overcoming of it.” “Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, vision cleared, ambition inspired, and success achieved.” “Keep your face to the sun and you will never see the shadows.” “Be of good cheer. Do not think of today's failures, but of the success that may come tomorrow. You have set yourselves a difficult task, but you will succeed if you persevere; and you will find a joy in overcoming obstacles. Remember, no effort that we make to attain something beautiful is ever lost.” “The most pathetic person in the world is some one who has sight but no vision.” “The highest result of education is tolerance” “A bend in the road is not the end of the road…Unless you fail to make the turn.” “No pessimist ever discovered the secret of the stars or sailed an uncharted land, or opened a new doorway for the human spirit.” “Believe, when you are most unhappy, that there is something for you to do in the world. So long as you can sweeten another's pain, life is not in vain.” "Nothing can be done without hope and confidence." That is a quote by Helen Keller. For those of you who have been living under a rock, Helen was a deaf and blind women born in 1880, who became the first deaf and blind person to earn a college degree. Her life story is truly amazing and should be read by everyone, in my opinion.
If anyone has the right to talk about hope, it was Helen. She was born in rural Alabama and at the age of 19 months contracted an illness that left her deaf, mute, and blind. At the age of seven, her parents brought her to the Perkins Institute for the Blind, where she met Anne Sullivan, a visually impaired student who became Helen's teacher. After many months, she had a breakthrough with Helen that helped to change her life forever. If you are interested in the story, you can watch the film "The Miracle Worker" which tells Anne's story about working with Helen. Over time, Helen learned to sign, read braille, and even speak. In her later years, she became a prolific author and an activist for many causes. After learning to speak, she became a prolific lecturer as well. Imagine, through all of that adversity, she kept a sense of hope and optimism. Not only that, she put her education to good use trying to help people with similar disabilities, as well as for political causes she believed in. Note that Helen was a pacifist and opposed Woodrow Wilson's policies in domestically, in Europe and in Latin America.. About Woodrow Wilson she stated: ""Could it be that we don't want to think badly of Woodrow Wilson... We don't want complicated icons. "People do not like to think. If one thinks, one must reach conclusions, and conclusions are not always pleasant."" It is hard for me to imagine being blind and deaf and still being able to learn how to speak and write, let alone doing so as eloquently as Helen did. On top of that, she had the empathy to stand up for and fight for people with similar disabilities. On this day of thanks giving, I find I am thankful for people like Helen Keller and Anne Sullivan who use what God has given them to the best of their abilities. They prove that hope and optimism can go a long way towards helping people. In the end, Helen lived her beliefs and fought for them nonviolently, Isn't that something we can all aspire to? "Silence is the most powerful scream." I read this anonymous quote while looking for something to write about this evening. It reminded me of a poem I wrote to include in Sharon's book of poems. Sharon was a beautiful writer, and she left a large number of poems behind. On her death bed, I promised her that I would publish her poems. It took a while to gather all of the poems and get them ready for publishing, but they are finally ready. I have included a couple of my poems in the book, as well as one by Maddie. With any luck, the book will be ready to be published on Amazon for Christmas. The book is called "Butterfly Screams." Below, is one of the poems I wrote for the book, that the quote above reminded me of. Enjoy! Scream In Silence
I scream in silence, So my loved ones will not hear, I cry inside, So my eyes won’t shed a tear. I live my life, With a heart that’s broken bad. I have no emotions Except one… and that is sad. I do my best To get on with living life, But God knows How much I miss my wife. I scream in silence, And carry on like nothing’s wrong, I sing the lyrics, Though I really don’t like the song, Living life without you, Brings me unending pain, No one can see though, I’m like a tear drop in the rain. 6/26/14 With Thanksgiving just tomorrow, there is a good amount of stress surging through my house. Even though there is literally no one coming over, the house is abuzz with cleaning, baking, and unfortunately, arguments. These arguments are getting started over the stupidest shit, too- such as windows being cleaned or how many apples are going into a pie. It's ridiculous and I'm getting quite tired of it. In honor of this- here are some quotes about stress (and why you should avoid it, particularly over small things.)
“You must learn to let go. Release the stress. You were never in control anyway.” “I promise you nothing is as chaotic as it seems. Nothing is worth diminishing your health. Nothing is worth poisoning yourself into stress, anxiety, and fear.” “In times of stress, the best thing we can do for each other is to listen with our ears and our hearts and to be assured that our questions are just as important as our answers.” “Pain is a relatively objective, physical phenomenon; suffering is our psychological resistance to what happens. Events may create physical pain, but they do not in themselves create suffering. Resistance creates suffering. Stress happens when your mind resists what is... The only problem in your life is your mind's resistance to life as it unfolds. ” “If you really want to escape the things that harass you, what you’re needing is not to be in a different place but to be a different person.” “Stress is the trash of modern life-we all generate it but if you don't dispose of it properly, it will pile up and overtake your life.” "You cannot free someone who is caged in their own self." "In order for you to live life like it is golden, you must love the life you are living." "An absence of tears is not the same as an absence of feeling." Okay, so this is a bastardized quote by me! It is bastardized because the quote I was looking at was: "But the absence of tears wasn't the same as an absence of feeling." They are very close, so I will give credit to Lisa Kleypas for this one. Lisa is a best-selling author of romance novels. I have never read any of her work, it is not really a genre I follow. Even so, her quote inspired my thought.
The above quote sort of fits my mood over the past few days. This mood hits me every once in a while, particularly around the holidays. It's a feeling of not really sadness but emptiness. For me, absence is as much an emotional state as sad or happy. In fact, absence to me is like the lack of any real emotion. I am not happy, sad, satisfied, or unsatisfied. I'm not angry, frustrated, optimistic, or pessimistic. In fact, it just seems that everything is gray. Nothing is good enough or bad enough to elicit a response. Three things seem to drive this feeling in me. First and foremost, things that remind me about my wife. Sometimes, I just can't seem to get past that she is dead and that I won't be seeing her again. I'll hear something that reminds me of her, or smell something. Sometimes it's just a memory or something that I remember seeing with her. The holidays also seem to drive this feeling in me. At times, I feel joyless and just want to hide. I want my daughters to enjoy the holidays and have a good time... and I try to make sure they do so. But oftentimes, underneath my veneer of mirth and joy, I feel empty. It is far worse than feeling sad. Finally, the last thing that makes me feel absence is when I am not actively working towards my goals. Oftentimes, I will bury myself with projects when I am in absence mode to keep myself too busy to think. I will work on a number of goals all at once so that no one feels neglected or excluded. It's at these times that I need everyone I love to be involved for at least a little while each week. Time to spend with my family helps me to slowly kill the absence that I feel inside. Things to do, memories to make... Talks of inconsequential things, all of these are some of my favorite things! Am I nuts? Who knows. Do you experience the emotion I call absence? If so, how do you beat it? Leave me a comment if you have any ideas, because it really does suck. "Most of the change we think we see in life is due to truths being in and out of favor." That's a quote by my favorite poet, Robert Frost. Frost had a way of looking at the world that made you stop and think. Many of his poems, at first, make you think he is writing about the most inconsequential of things. If you thought this, you would be right... at least on the surface.
Many of Frost's poems would seem to be about small everyday things. Yet it was the meaning that he saw in these things, and his ability to make you see these meanings that make Frost's poems so compelling and haunting. One poem that comes to mind where you can see this in action is with the poem "The Exposed Nest." The poem is about a farmer who is usually very jocular, who is found out in a field trying to place hay in such a way so that it is standing up. His friend finds that this isn't one of the farmer's typical jokes, though. While mowing the field, the farmer accidentally exposed a bird's nest with some young birds in it. He builds the shelter in the hopes that it will give them some relief from the exposure of the sun and some cover from their enemies. He then notes that after doing this, the farmer then never checks on the birds again. To me it seems like the farmer really didn't care about the birds per se, but was instead trying to assuage his own guilt about what was likely to happen to the birds. The birds in the nest were too young to fly away, and without the shelter and the cover of the long grass were likely going to die. The farmer felt bad about this, but not bad enough to take them to his barn and nurse them until they were strong enough to fly away. The truth of the matter was that these young birds were likely going to die now. The farmer did not want to face this truth though, so he built the shelter to at least be able to say to himself that he gave them a fighting chance. He never checked on them again, because he didn't want to ever check on the truth of the matter. To bring this discussion back to the original quote, the change that we see is that these young birds that had the promise of life, were now likely going to die... either from exposure or from a predator. The reality of this change in fortune did not sit well with the farmer, and he felt guilty about it since in effect his reaping had brought this change of fortune about for the young birds (I guess you could say he was the grim reaper). Frost shows that the farmer is aware of what he has done, but doesn't really want to just leave the birds to their fate, and thus he is found building the screen. By not returning to the nest the next day, it seems he doesn't really want to confirm that his actions led to the bird's deaths, but would rather go along with the thought that his subsequent action may have saved the birds, Without checking, he'll never know, and thus it softens the blow to his psyche from his accidental deed. Is this the correct meaning of this poem? I don't know. Some people believe the poem is about a father finding his child in a field trying to help the birds. While this theory makes sense for most of the poem, it loses its potency once he mentions that the person never goes back to check on the birds. Most children I know would do so. Not only that, they would continue to go back and check on the birds until they were no longer there. Most children would return with worms and bugs to toss to the birds to make sure they wouldn't starve. This definitely is not the case in the poem, and thus it leaves me to believe that it is the farmer who spies his mistake and tries to assuage his guilt. In the end, the only constant is change. Changes do occur. In fact, they happen regularly. Truths remain truths, whether we choose to believe them or not. For me, my daughters will always be my little girls... even when they are grown women. My eldest daughter is now 15. When I look at her, I see her, but I still see the little girl who used to hold my hand and reveled in the stories I used to make up on the fly and tell her on long car trips. For Ashleigh, she is now six, and still holds my hand. When I look at her I can see that, but I also see the small little bundle that slept in a cradle next to my desk while I worked, or stood in the playpen at the front of the dojo while I took my karate classes. The changes occur, yet we will always see the truths that live in our hearts. ""Years of love have been forgot, in the hatred of a minute." That is quote by Edgar Allen Poe... In fact, Maddie used this quote in one of her blog posts earlier today. I wanted to touch upon this quote because I think he got it wrong. Not wrong exactly, but just not quite right.
Years of love can be forgotten in a minute, but I don't think it is driven by hatred. Instead, I think it can be driven by hurt, sorrow, despair, misunderstanding and fear. You see, I've seen it happen, and I know that while it can and does happen, that the love can still be remembered again and acted upon. My wife's illness once drove a wedge between me and her as well as with others in the family as well. Sharon's disease was complex, and difficult for an adult to understand let alone a child. Although her actions hurt her, and ultimately killed her, her action's also hurt other family members. We couldn't understand what made her drink, and her actions and the lies surrounding them definitely led to anger, pain and sorrow. At some points, those emotions would rise up and obscure the love that Sharon had for all of us. It sometimes blinded me to the pain that Sharon was in and the pain that our reactions had on her. You see, the pain worked both ways. We were hurting from her actions and the stress and emotions they brought out in us, and while we witnessed the physical pain her addictions were causing her. The emotional turmoil it was causing her was often overshadowed by our feelings about what was happening to our family. Resentment and anger would come to the forefront and become hard to overcome. Sometimes to the point where it obscured the years of love that were there hiding just beneath the surface. The love was being obscured by the pain that we were all feeling. Anger, and frustration would, at times, seep to the surface, and the years of love were forgotten for a time. To be honest, I think the emotional pain and suffering was felt by all. None of us were immune to its effects. We all suffered our own private hell. What times takes away, it can also heal. I think with closure, memory comes back. At first in trickles and small rivulets, finally in a torrent. While not all memories return, I think enough good ones come back to remind us that love was there, and that it can, with time, overcome despair, anger and sorrow. In the end, years of love cannot be forgotten. Obscured for a short time? Yes. But forgotten completely? I don't think so. In fact, I know so. So don't despair. No matter how much true love can be obscured and forgotten, with time the long years of love will be remembered... and bring comfort. I was actually introduced to Wordsworth in my English 1 class. I had to do an analysis of his poem 'I Wandered Lonely As A Cloud', which I found to be strange yet quite enjoyable. I do love metaphors; and the poem contained a bunch of them. Analyzing it was fun for me and it opened up my curiosity to a new poet who I hadn't heard of before. I recommend reading at LEAST 'I Wandered Lonely As A Cloud', just to see what you make of it. In fact, if you do read it, please leave me a comment giving me your interpretation of it! I'd be curious to see if anyone else saw it the way I did.
In any case, on to some quotes! "Life is divided into three terms- that which was, which is, and which will be. Let us learn from the past to profit by the present, and from the present to live better in the future." "Fill your paper with the breathings of your heart." "With an eye made quiet by the power of harmony, and the deep power of joy, we see into the life of things." "Suffering is permanent, obscure and dark, and shares the nature of infinity." "That best portion of a man's life, his little, nameless, unremembered acts of kindness and love." "Your mind is a garden, your thoughts are the seeds, the harvest can either be flowers or weeds." "The human mind is capable of excitement without the application of gross and violent stimulants; and he must have a very faint perception of its beauty and dignity who does not know this." "We will grieve not, rather find strength in what remains behind." "Wisdom is oftentimes nearer when we stoop than when we soar." I've only read a few poems from Edgar Allen Poe- but what I did read, I recall enjoying. I believe he's another poet who I analyzed in a school assignment for my dad. Regardless, I think that reading some of his poetry is a good idea for anyone who's looking to broaden their horizons a little. He's a classic poet whose work is still appreciated to this day- and that has to stand for something, doesn't it? In any case, this post isn't meant to focus on his poetry so I'll move off of it. Let's get into some quotes!
"The scariest monsters are the ones that lurk within our souls." "There is no exquisite beauty without some strangeness in the proportion." "I do not suffer from insanity; I enjoy every minute of it." "Years of love have been forgot, in the hatred of a minute." "I was never insane except upon occasions when my heart was touched." "Words have no power to impress the mind without the exquisite horror of their reality." "The boundaries which divide life from death are at best shadowy and vague. Who shall say where the one ends, and where the other begins?" "All I loved, I loved alone." One poet who I haven't written about on this blog is Robert Frost- and it's long over-due. Frost is one of the first poets I ever read at my dad's request and he's the poet who truly got me into reading poetry and not just writing it. 'The Road Not Taken' is the first poem I read and to this day I believe it to be one of the best poems I've read. I highly recommend giving Frost a read, and if not hi other work; at least The Road Not Taken.
In any case, I'll leave you some quotes now. "In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life- it goes on." "How many things would you attempt, if you knew you could not fail?" "Half the world is composed of people who have something to say and can't, and the other half who have nothing to say and keep on saying it." "Don't ever take a fence down until you know why it was put up." "A diplomat is a man who always remembers a woman's birthday; but never her age." "Accept no one's definition of your life; define yourself." "Happiness makes up in height for what it lacks in length." "Freedom lies in being bold." "The best way out it always through." "Never cut what you can untie." "I am not a teacher, but an awakener." "You're searching for things that don't exist: ends and beginnings. There are no such things- there are only middles." "I write to find out what I didn't know I knew." "Two paths diverged in a wood and I- I took the one less traveled by; and that has made all the difference." Bronte is both a poet and an author! In fact, I've read one of her books before for schooling- Jane Eyre. It wasn't one of my favorites and I must say that I've found her poetry much more likable. She comes from a family of writers, with her sister Emily Bronte being renowned for the book Wuthering Heights. I believe I've also read that, and didn't enjoy that any much more that Jane Eyre. Ah well. At least her poetry is good. While I don't appreciate it as much as I do Shakespeare or Dickinson, I'd still recommend giving her a read just for the exposure. But this blog post isn't about poetry- it's about quotes and unearthing the wisdom behind poets/authors.
"Crying does not indicate that you are weak. Since birth, it has always been a sign that you are alive." "If we would build on a sure foundation in friendship, we must love friends for their sake rather than our own." "Life is so constructed that an event does not, cannot, will not, match the expectation." "Life appears to me too short to be spent on nursing animosity, or registering wrongs." "I believe in some blending of sunshine and hope sweetening the worst lots. I believe that this life is not all; neither the beginning nor the end. I believe while I tremble; I trust while I weep." "Conventionality is not morality. Self-righteousness is not religion." "I would always rather be happy than dignified." "I feel monotony and death to be almost the same." "Cheerfulness, it would appear, is a matter which depends fully as much on the state of things within, as on the state of things without and around us." Carrying on my theme from last week, I think I'm going to write a few more posts exhibiting the quotes of poets this week! So often I think good quotes go overlooked because these people are known only for their beautiful poetry, and not for the wisdom they also possessed. Don't get me wrong- their wisdom shows through in their poetry as well. You know what I mean. There were more layers to who they were than what most people choose to appreciate. Since that's the case; I've decided to go and dig through the quotes of Emily Dickinson first.
I remember reading some of Dickinson's poetry a couple of years ago and analyzing it as a school project for my dad- I also remember deeply enjoying it. She's a wonderful poet who I strongly recommend to anyone taking the time to read this post. Enough rambling, though- let's get into some quotes! "If I can stop one heart from breaking, I shall not live in vain." "Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul and sings the tune without the words and never stops at all." "Saying nothing, sometimes says the most." "Pardon my sanity in a world insane." "Truth is so rare, it is delightful to tell it." "I dwell in possibility." "They might not need me; but they might. I'll let my head be just in sight; a smile as small as mine might be precisely their necessity." "That it will never come again is what makes life so sweet." Shockingly, I don't think I've written a post about this yet! I loved reading Shakespeare's sonnets when I was younger, and I particularly enjoyed analyzing them. While I have no clue where the files are now, I did want to re-visit Shakespeare a bit and take my readers with me. I already let out my long rant for the day- it's titled 'The Election' if you care to read it. Nothing too offensive, don't worry! That being said, here are some Shakespeare quotes for you to think about throughout your day.
"Have more than you show, speak less than you know." "The earth has music for those who listen." "We know what we are, but know not what we may be." "Give every man thy ear, but few thy voice." "It is always the wrong person who gives you the right lesson in life." "Love me or hate me, both are in my favor- If you love me, I'll always be in your heart; if you hate me, I'll always be in your mind." "Let no one who loves be unhappy... even love unreturned has its rainbow." "Suspicion always haunts the guilty mind." "It's not enough to speak, but to speak true." "Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind." I could honestly go on forever with these quotes. They're quite wonderful, in my opinion. If you've never read Shakespeare, particularly his sonnets, I'd recommend that you do so. It seems they're slightly under-rated in this generation and I don't think that anyone should miss out on reading anything from this wonderful poet and playwright. - Maddie " I'm incredibly sleepy right now, regardless of it being the middle of the day. I was woken up early and I've been on and off sleeping all day. However, I do want to get some blogs out since I'm currently behind a day, and upon pondering for awhile I decided to search for quotes about the stars! One thing I love about where I live is the fact that on clear nights, you can walk outside and have a gorgeous view of most of the sky. The stars are inumerable and I love it. Some of my best memories, both with friends and family, have occurred while looking up at the stars. I just wish there were more people who took the time to appreciate them, rather than just saying that they're the type of person that loves watching the stars. There's a major difference.
"If people sat outside and looked at the stars each night, I'll bet they'd live a lot differently. When you look into infinity, you realize that there are more important things than what people do all day." "We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars." "There wouldn't be a sky full of stars if we were all meant to wish on the same one." "Only in the darkness can you see the stars." "I don't want someone who promises me the moon and stars. I want someone who promises to lay out on the grass and watch them with me." "Though my soul may set in darkness, it will rise in perfect light, I have loved the stars too fondly to be fearful of the night." "We must unlearn the constellations to see the stars." "They witnessed her destruction, they were left to wonder why, she saw nothing but the darkness, though the stars shone in her eyes. But maybe they'd forgotten, when they failed to see the cracks, that a star's light shines the brightest, when it's starting to collapse." - Maddie "If there is anything we wish to change in the child, we should first examine it and see whether it is not something that could be better changed in ourselves." That is a quote by Carl Jung. Jung was the founder of analytical psychology. He was a firm believer in individuation. One of the unique things about Jung is that at a very early age he believed he had two personalities. One was that of your typical Swiss school boy at the time, while the other was that of a dignified, authoritative and influential man from the past. This belief would go on to influence much of his groundbreaking future work.
Getting back to Jung's quote, I think he is correct. Oftentimes, although not always, our children are like mirrors of ourselves. While we all recognize that to some extent, it is when we see a perceived flaw that we try to get the child to change it. A good example of this can be found at my house.My Mom is constantly haranguing Maddie about the neatness of her room. She wonders why she just won't keep her room clean. Remember, a reflection is not an exact duplicate of the original. Mirrors have a tendency to distort some details... writing, for example, will look backwards in a mirror. And so it is with our children! Maddie's room is indeed a mess at most times. Although my room is usually neat, my desk is a disaster area. There's the distortion! Take it out one generation further, and my Mom's room is a mess! So my Mom subconsciously wants to fix a flaw in Maddie that she inadvertently sees in herself. She will often try to enlist me into the fray by having me tell Maddie to clean her room. Is the dirty room the only similarity I can see? No. There are many examples. To stay on neatness for a moment, we all have areas outside of our own personal space where we generate our own messy kind of comfort. For me, it is the garage, where I am constantly battling to clear up the clutter. For Maddie, the library has become her own personal girl cave. My reading chair seems to have molded itself to her shape and the side table always seems covered in her soda bottles and notes for school projects. Meanwhile, the basement has been taken over by my Mom's stuff and the kitchen island seems to have become the final resting place for much of her mail and notes. Even Ashleigh has her own special messy place in the living room! Lately, the dining room table also seems to be collecting a lot of Ashleigh's school supplies and coloring books. From the use of colorful language, to the quest for coffee and a mild form of procrastination, everything I see in my daughters I can also see in myself. To different degrees certainly, but they are still there. We all have different things that annoy us. While I do get on my daughters to curb their more egregious behavior, I also try to see where it is coming from and correct that as well. Oftentimes, the example they are emulating is me (but not always). Finally, with my daughters I try to lead by example. There are three old sayings that I try to remember always. These are: "People in glass houses should not throw stones."; "Those who say it can't be done, should get out of the way of those who are doing it." and "Do as I do, is a much better teacher than do as I say." |
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