“I would rather be ashes than dust! I would rather my spark burn out in a brilliant blaze than be stifled by dry-rot. I would rather be a meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy, permanenet planet. The proper function of man is to live, not to exist. I shall not waste my days in trying to prolong them. I shall use my time.” ~Jack London
“Peace goes into the making of a poem, as flour goes into the making of bread.”
Pablo Neruda
“Playing safe is probably the most unsafe thing in the world. You cannot stand still. You must go forward.”
-Robert Collier-
Chamber
“When the door of comfort and pleasure closes upon you, another door soon opens. This new door, open now for perhaps the first time, leads into the private chamber of a quiet, watching God. There He patiently awaits you. You are not required to enter, however. You can remain alone, doubting, self-absorbed, anguished, restless. But He still hopes that, with an aching but willing heart, you will enter that open door. Should you do so, he will not only gladly sit with you during your dark and painful hour. He will stand in reverance as you enter; He will watch with unwavering attention and infinite affection. And when the ordeal is finally ended, you will find you now have a permanent place in that chamber. That chamber will become an everlasting fortress against further pain or tears, an ever expanding kingdom which you will share with your eternal friend.”
Advisers, Helpers, Friends
The best advisers, helpers and friends, always are not those who tell us how to act in special cases, but who give us, out of themselves, the ardent spirit and desire to act right, and leave us then, even through many blunders, to find out what our own form of right action is.
~Phillips Brooks
Doubt sees the obstacles
Faith sees the way
Doubt sees the darkest night
Faith sees the day
Doubt dreads to take a step
Faith soars on high.
Doubt questions ‘who believes?’
Faith answers, ‘I.’
Understanding means to throw away your knowledge…
~Thich Nhat Hanh
Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go…
~TS Eliot.
Those who find ugly meanings in beautiful things are corrupt without being charming. This is a fault. Those who find beautiful meanings in beautiful things are the cultivated. For these there is hope. They are the elect to whom beautiful things only mean beauty.
-Oscar Wilde (The Picture of Dorian Gray)
© 2008
Jeff Foster