“Winter is the time of promise
because there is so little to do –
or because you can now and then
permit yourself the luxury of thinking so.”
Stanley Crawford
Monthly Archives: January 2009
Persistence
“We are made to persist.
That’s how we find out who we are.”
Tobias Wolff, b. 1945
Author and professor at Stanford
Graceful Living
“Grace isn’t a little prayer you chant
before receiving a meal.
It’s a way to live.”
Poetic Earth
“The poetry of the earth is never dead.”
John Keats, 1795-1821, Sonnet XIV
one of the principal poets of the English Romantic movement
Bearing Burdens
Rock Creek Park, Erwin
“Tell him about the heartache,
And tell him the longings, too.
Tell him the baffled purpose
When we scarce know what to do.
Then leaving all our weakness
With the One divinely strong,
Forget that we bore a burden
And carry away a song.”
Phillips Brooks, 1835-1893
Episcopal bishop of Massachusetts
Staying Angry
“Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal
with the intent of throwing it at someone else;
you are the one who gets burned.”
Buddha
More and Less
“Fear less, hope more;
eat less, chew more;
whine less, breathe more;
talk less, say more;
hate less, love more;
and all good things are yours.”
Swedish Proverb
Essentials
“The three great essentials
to achieve anything worthwhile are,
first, hard work;
second, stick-to-itiveness;
third, common sense.”
Thomas Edison, 1847-1931
American inventor and businessman
Occasional Splurge
Rhododendron
“Excess on occasion is exhilirating.
It prevents moderation from acquiring
the deadening effect of a habit.”
W. Somerset Maugham, 1874-1965
English playwright and novelist
The Summing Up, 1938
Belief
“I believe in God, in the same way
in which I believe in my friends,
because I feel the breath of his love and his invisible,
intangible hand, bringing me here,
carrying me there, pressing upon me.”
Miguel de Unamuno, 1864-1936
Author and philosopher from Spain
Purpose
“As the rain and the snow come down from heaven,
and do not return to it without watering the earth
and making it bud and flourish,
so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,
so is my word that goes out from my mouth:
It will not return to me empty,
but will accomplish what I desire
and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.”
Isaiah, 8 BC
Judean prophet
Twelve Things to Remember
Lower Higgins Creek, Unicoi County
1. The value of time
2. The success of perseverance
3. The pleasure of working
4. The dignity of simplicity
5. The worth of character
6. The power of kindness
7. The influence of example
8. The obligation of duty
9. The wisdom of economy
10. The virtue of patience
11. The improvement of talent
12. The joy of originating
Unknown
Seek to Understand
Wake Robin Trillium
“I have made a ceaseless effort not to ridicule,
not to bewail, not to scorn human actions,
but to understand them.”
Baruch Spinoza, 1632-77
Dutch philosopher
Squatter’s Rights
“If you forgive people enough you belong to them,
and they to you, whether either person likes it or not
– squatter’s rights of the heart.”
James Hilton, 1900-54
Oscar-winning English novelist
Keep Dreaming
View from Roan Mountain, site of Cloudland Hotel
“If you lose hope, somehow you lose the vitality
that keeps life moving, you lose that courage to be,
that quality that helps you to go on in spite of all.
And so today I still have a dream.”
Martin Luther King, Jr., 1929-68
The Trumpet of Conscience, 1968
Get Up
“If you can’t sleep, then get up and do something
instead of lying there worrying.
It’s the worry that gets you, not the lack of sleep.”
Dale Carnegie, 1888-1955
Writer and public speaker
A Great Wind
“A great wind is blowing,
and that gives you either
imagination or a headache.”
Catherine the Great, 1729-1796
Empress of Russia
Twisted Truth
“You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may trod me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I’ll rise.”
Maya Angelou, b. 1928
Poet, educator, actress, Civil Rights activist
Blindness
Hydrangea blossom in winter
“One may have good eyes and yet see nothing.”
Italian Proverb
Progress
Anyone know what this is? Email me
“Whenever you take a step forward,
you are bound to disturb something.”
Indira Gandhi, 1917-1984
Prime Minister of India until her assassination
Facing the Consequences
“You can do anything in the world
if you are prepared to take the consequences.”
W. Somerset Maugham, 1874-1965
English playwright, novelist
Lived on a Beaufort County, SC, plantation
for about 5 years during WWII
Tact
“Tact is the knack of making a point
without making an enemy.”
Sir Isaac Newton, 1643-1727
English scientist and mathematician
Laughing With Friends
Squirrel Corn
“That is the best — to laugh with someone
because you think the same things are funny.”
Gloria Vanderbilt, b. 1924
Artist, actress, socialite
Tomorrow’s Joke
“The crisis of today is the joke of tomorrow.”
H. G. Wells, 1866-1946
Author, best known for science fiction
Sense of Wonder
Spring growth
“The possession of knowledge does not
kill the sense of wonder and mystery.
There is always more mystery.”
Anais Nin, 1903-1977
Cuban-French author
