Thursday Thirteen 409: Quotes

Here are some of the most recent quotes I have Favorited at Goodreads:



01. “It may be unfair, but what happens in a few days, sometimes even a single day, can change the course of a whole lifetime...”
― Khaled Hosseini, The Kite Runner


02. “Cakes are healthy too, you just eat a small slice”
― Mary Berry


03. “Now Autumn's fire burns slowly along the woods and day by day the dead leaves fall and melt.”
― William Allingham, Day and night songs


04. “Up the airy mountain,
Down the rushy glen,
We daren't go a-hunting
For fear of little men.”
― William Allingham, The Fairies: A Poem


05. “By the craggy hill-side,
Through the mosses bare,
They have planted thorn-trees
For pleasure here and there.
If any man so daring
As dig them up in spite,
He shall find their sharpest thorns
In his bed at night.”
― William Allingham, The Fairies: A Poem


06. “Not like Homer would I write,
Not like Dante if I might,
Not like Shakespeare at his best,
Not like Goethe or the rest,
Like myself, however small,
Like myself, or not at all.”
― William Allingham, Blackberries


07. “Take pride in your pain; you are stronger than those who have none”
― Lois Lowry, Gathering Blue


08. “To read a poem in January is as lovely as to go for a walk in June.”
― Jean Paul Friedrich Richter


09. “How alone everyone is in the vast tomb of the universe!”
― Jean Paul Friedrich Richter


10. “Music is moonlight in the gloomy night of life.”
― Jean Paul Friedrich Richter


11. “The most authentic thing about us is our capacity to create, to overcome, to endure, to transform, to love and to be greater than our suffering.”
― Ben Okri


12. “Sometimes the right thing feels all wrong until it is over and done with.”
― Alice Hoffman, Practical Magic


13. “It is the very mark of the spirit of rebellion to crave for happiness in this life”
― Henrik Ibsen, Ghosts




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Thursday Thirteen 355: The Phantom Tollbooth

I have been reading The Phantom Tollbooth this week, an amazing middle grade book that adults will love as much as children. Here are thirteen of my favorite lines or passages from this wonderful book.





1. Have you ever heard the wonderful silence just before the dawn? Or the quiet and calm just as a storm ends? Or perhaps you know the silence when you haven't the answer to a question you've been asked, or the hush of a country road at night, or the expectant pause of a room full of people when someone is just about to speak, or, most beautiful of all, the moment after the door closes and you're alone in the whole house? Each one is different, you know, and all very beautiful if you listen carefully.


2. The only thing you can do easily is be wrong, and that's hardly worth the effort.


3. You must never feel badly about making mistakes . . . as long as you take the trouble to learn from them. For you often learn more by being wrong for the right reasons than you do by being right for the wrong reasons.


4. Whether or not you find your own way, you're bound to find some way. If you happen to find my way, please return it, as it was lost years ago. I imagine by now it's quite rusty.


5. You can swim all day in the Sea of Knowledge and still come out completely dry.


6. If something is there, you can only see it with your eyes open, but if it isn't there, you can see it just as well with your eyes closed. That's why imaginary things are often easier to see than real ones.


7. Just because you have a choice, it doesn't mean that any of them 'has' to be right.


8. In this box are all the words I know…Most of them you will never need, some you will use constantly, but with them you may ask all the questions which have never been answered and answer all the questions which have never been asked. All the great books of the past and all the ones yet to come are made with these words. With them there is no obstacle you cannot overcome. All you must learn to do is to use them well and in the right places.


9. Since you got here by not thinking, it seems reasonable to expect that, in order to get out, you must start thinking.


10. We never choose which words to use, for as long as they mean what they mean to mean, we don't care if they make sense or nonsense.


11. "I never knew words could be so confusing," Milo said to Tock as he bent down to scratch the dog's ear.
"Only when you use a lot to say a little," answered Tock.
Milo thought this was quite the wisest thing he'd heard all day.


12. You can get in a lot of trouble mixing up words or just not knowing how to spell them. If we ever get out of here, I'm going to make sure to learn all about them.


13. [P]eople use as many words as they can and think themselves very wise for doing so. For always remember that while it is wrong to use too few, it is often far worse to use too many.



LINKING TO: Thursday Thirteen

Thursday Thirteen 354: Literary Quotes

I have a habit of marking passages I like as I read — whether it be something profound, a bit of humerous dialogue, or a description that resonates. Here are thirteen noted in recent reads.


1. There is some music that is so terrible that it consumes all those who approach it.
~Gaston Leroux, The Phantom of the Opera


2. Unfortunately for the rest of society, some poor souls outgrew adolescence and went straight into personality disorder.
~ Deborah Webb, Urban Sensation


3. The scene of a crime isn’t merely a place; it's a continuum that extends across both time and space. It springs into existence when the idea is first formed to commit a crime and the scene conceivably has to terminus point.
~ John J. Lamb, The Mournful Teddy


4. (S)sometimes it is easier to fall in love within the safety of a book.
~ Jenn McKinlay, Due or Die


5. Just because you have the paper and do the time does not make you the best leader.
~ Jenn McKinlay, Due or Die


6. You can boast about anything if it's all you have. Maybe the less you have, the more you are required to boast.
~ John Steinbeck, East of Eden


7. Sometimes a man wants to be stupid if it lets him do a thing his cleverness forbids.
~ John Steinbeck, East of Eden


8. No story has power, nor will it last, unless we feel in ourselves that it is true and true of us.
~ John Steinbeck, East of Eden


9. One cannot find peace in work or in pleasure, in the world or in a convent, but only in one's soul.
~W. Somerset Maugham, The Painted Veil


10. I'm not saying that people can't be condescending. I'm just saying they should get to know us first.
~ Hy Conrad, Mr. Monk Gets on Board


11. People say "I don't know what you’re talking about" only when they know damn well what you’re talking about.
~ Hy Conrad, Mr. Monk Gets on Board


12. That was the worst truth of all: alone. The word was a kind of death.
~Anne Perry, No Graves as Yet


13. You can like people and still betray them, if it was for a cause you believed in passionately enough. You have to betray other people rather than betray yourself—if that's what it comes to.
~Anne Perry, No Graves as Yet



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Random Photo: Celebrate any progress

Thursday Thirteen 329: Words from The Bard

Yesterday, April 23, is the day celebrated as William Shakespeare’s birthday, though his actual birth date is unknown. In honor of The Bard's 450th birthday, here are the top thirteen Shakespearean quotes listed at Goodreads.

1. "The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool."
― As You Like It


2. "Love all, trust a few, do wrong to none."
― All's Well That Ends Well


3. "Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind,
And therefore is winged Cupid painted blind."
― A Midsummer Night's Dream


4. "Be not afraid of greatness. Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and others have greatness thrust upon them."
― Twelfth Night


5. "This above all: to thine own self be true,
And it must follow, as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any man."
― Hamlet


6. "Doubt thou the stars are fire;
Doubt that the sun doth move;
Doubt truth to be a liar;
But never doubt I love."
― Hamlet


7. "I would challenge you to a battle of wits, but I see you are unarmed!"


8. "The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves."
― Julius Caesar

9. "All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages."
― As You Like It



10. "If music be the food of love, play on,
Give me excess of it; that surfeiting,
The appetite may sicken, and so die."
― Twelfth Night


11. "There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so."
― Hamlet


12. "Hell is empty and all the devils are here."
― The Tempest


13. "We know what we are, but not what we may be."
Hamlet



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Thursday Thirteen 325: Reading Quotes

To close out National Reading Month, here are a few quotes on reading.


1. "A book is a device to ignite the imagination."
― Alan Bennett, The Uncommon Reader

2. "Books are the quietest and most constant of friends; they are the most accessible and wisest of counselors, and the most patient of teachers."
― Charles William Eliot

3. "Reading is to the mind, what exercise is to the body. As by the one, health is preserved, strengthened, and invigorated: by the other, virtue (which is the health of the mind) is kept alive, cherished, and confirmed."
- Joseph Addison

4. "No matter what his rank or position may be, the lover of books is the richest and the happiest of the children of men."
- J.A. Langford

5. "The habit of reading is the only enjoyment I know in which there is no alloy. It lasts when all other pleasures fade. It will be there to support you when all other resources are gone. It will be present to you when the energies of your body have fallen away from you. It will last you until your death. It will make your hours pleasant to you as long as you live."
- Anthony Trollope

6. "A first book has some of the sweetness of a first love."
- Robert Aris Willmott

7. "No entertainment is so cheap as reading, nor any pleasure so lasting."
- Lady M. W. Montagu

8. "Of all the things which man can do or make here below, by far the most momentous, wonderful, and worthy are the things we call books."
- Thomas Carlyle

10. "The love of books is a love which requires neither justification, apology, nor defense."
- J.A. Langford

11. "All good books are alike in that they are truer than if they had really happened and after you are finished reading one you will feel that all that happened to you and afterwards it all belongs to you; the good and the bad, the ecstasy, the remorse and sorrow, the people and the places and how the weather was."
- Ernest Hemingway

12. "Books are the plane, and the train, and the road. They are the destination, and the journey. They are home."
― Anna Quindlen, How Reading Changed My Life

13. "The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go."
― Dr. Seuss, I Can Read With My Eyes Shut!



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A Pine Tree in Winter

No one can look at a pine tree in winter without knowing that spring will come again in due time.
~ Frank Bolles

Never be afraid . . .

Never, never be afraid to do what's right, especially if the well-being of a person or animal is at stake. Society's punishments are small compared to the wounds we inflict on our soul when we look the other way.
~Martin Luther King Jr.

Thursday Thirteen 263: Autumnal Literary Quotes

A few literary quotes for Autumn...


It was, as I have said, a fine autumnal day; the sky was clear and serene, and nature wore that rich and golden livery which we always associate with the idea of abundance. The forests had put on their sober brown and yellow, while some trees of the tenderer kind had been nipped by the frosts into brilliant dyes of orange, purple, and scarlet.
~ Washington Irving
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow


I'm so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers.
~ L.M. Montgomery
Anne of Green Gables


The place, with its gray sky and withered garlands, its bared spaces and scattered dead leaves, was like a theater after the performance—all strewn with crumpled playbills.
~ Henry James
The Turn of the Screw


He lowered the window, and looked out at the rising sun. There was a ridge of ploughed land, with a plough upon it where it had been left last night when the horses were unyoked; beyond, a quiet coppice-wood, in which many leaves of burning red and golden yellow still remained upon the trees. Though the earth was cold and wet, the sky was clear, and the sun rose bright, placid, and beautiful.
~ Charles Dickens
A Tale of Two Cities


Autumn seemed to arrive suddenly that year. The morning of the first September was crisp and golden as an apple . . .
~ J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows


On the motionless branches of some trees, autumn berries hung like clusters of coral beads, as in those fabled orchards where the fruits were jewels . . .
~ Charles Dickens
Martin Chuzzlewit


I would rather sit on a pumpkin, and have it all to myself, than be crowded on a velvet cushion.
~ Henry David Thoreau


Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns.
~ George Eliot


I cannot endure to waste anything so precious as autumnal sunshine by staying in the house.
~ Nathaniel Hawthorne


Two sounds of autumn are unmistakable...the hurrying rustle of crisp leaves blown along the street. . .by a gusty wind, and the gabble of a flock of migrating geese.
~ Hal Borland


There is something incredibly nostalgic and significant about the annual cascade of autumn leaves.
~ Joe L. Wheeler


At no other time (than autumn) does the earth let itself be inhaled in one smell, the ripe earth; in a smell that is in no way inferior to the smell of the sea, bitter where it borders on taste, and more honeysweet where you feel it touching the first sounds. Containing depth within itself, darkness, something of the grave almost.
~ Rainer Maria Rilke


Fall has always been my favorite season. The time when everything bursts with its last beauty, as if nature had been saving up all year for the grand finale.
~ Lauren DeStefano
Wither

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Random Photo: Human wandering

human wandering

through the zoo

what do your cousins

think of you.

~Don Marquis

Random Photo: Around the Bend

Sometimes the best map will not guide you

You can't see what's round the bend.

Sometimes the road leads through dark places

Sometimes the darkness is your friend.

~Pacing the Cage

Jimmy Buffet

Thursday Thirteen 247: Words of Confucius

Confucius was a Chinese philosopher, teacher and politician who lived from 551 – 479 BC.  While visiting Washington DC with friends some twenty years ago, a visit to the Freer and Sackler Galleries — the Smithsonian’s museums of Asian art — brought us to a room that had large silk hangings featuring some of the popular sayings of Confucius. One of them has stuck with me ever since, as one of my favorite quotes. Another appeared recently on my page-a-day calendar, which prompted this Thursday Thirteen featuring some of the sayings of Confucius.

To know that we know what we know, and that we do not know what we do not know, that is true knowledge.

(This is the one that is my overall favorite)

Music produces a kind of pleasure which human nature cannot do without.

(This one appeared on my calendar earlier this week.)

You cannot open a book without learning something.

No matter how busy you may think you are, you must find time for reading, or surrender yourself to self-chosen ignorance.

Fix your mind on truth, hold firm to virtue, rely on loving kindness, and find your recreation in the Arts.

He who will not economize will agonize.

(So much truth in this one!)

Settle one difficulty, and you keep a hundred away.

No lake so still but it has its wave. No circle so perfect but that it has its blur. I would change things for you if I could; As I can't you must take them as they are.

To see what is right and not do it is the worst cowardice.

Respect yourself and others will respect you.

The hardest thing of all is to find a black cat in a dark room, especially if there is no cat.

Wherever you go, go with all your heart.

He who knows all the answers has not been asked all the questions.

More Thursday Thirteen participants here.

An ambulation

Walking is also an ambulation of mind.
~Gretel Ehrlich

A Single Flower

If we could see the miracle of a single flower clearly, our whole life would change.
~Buddha

Thursday Thirteen 245: Quotes by Anne Bronte

Last month I read the classic Agnes Grey by Anne Brontë and loved it. Throughout the novel, I marked several passages that I liked and thought I would share them with all of you this week.

Nothing can be taught to any purpose without some little exertion on the part of the learner.

~*~*~*~

"'A soft answer turneth away wrath; but grievous words stir up anger.' It isn't only in them you speak to, but in yourself."

~*~*~*~

When we hear a little good and no harm of a person, it is easy and pleasant to imagine more.

(Of course, just the opposite is true as well.)

~*~*~*~

We have some thoughts that all the angels in heaven are welcome to behold, but not our brother-men—not even the best and kindest among them.

~*~*~*~

Reading is my favorite occupation, when I have leisure for it and books to read.

(And Heaven knows there is plenty to read in my TBR pile!)

~*~*~*~

Whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are honest and of good report, think on these things.

~*~*~*~

They that wish to prosper must devote themselves body and soul to their calling.

~*~*~*~

I object to anyone so devoting himself or herself to study as to lose sight of everything else.

(A bit at odds of the above, perhaps, but though devoting time to one's studies or career is important, it's also important to try to have fun on occasion.)

~*~*~*~

'No, thank you. I don't mind the rain,' I said. I always lacked common sense when taken by surprise.

(This one made me laugh aloud, especially as it came after a more serious scene in the previous chapter—and who can't relate to saying or doing stupid things when caught off guard?)

~*~*~*~

Habitual associates are known to exercise a great influence over each other's minds and manners. Those whose actions are for ever before our eyes, whose words are ever in our ears, will naturally lead us, albeit against our will, slowly, gradually, imperceptively, perhaps, to act and speak as they do.

(I think this one could be applied to the media as well as to friends and family in this digital age.)

~*~*~*~

Remember, the birds can feel as well as you.

~*~*~*~

I can conceive few situations more harassing than that wherein, however you may long for success, however you may labour to fulfil [sic] your duty, your efforts are baffled and set at naught by those beneath you, and unjustly censured and misjudged by those above.

~*~*~*~

People little know the injury they do to children by laughing at their faults, and making a pleasant jest of what their true friends have endeavoured to teach them to hold in grave abhorrence.

(Yes, it is sometimes difficult not to laugh at some of the things kids say and do, even when what they have said or done is wrong, but there is some truth to this one.)

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Random Photo: Robin Red Breast

Little Robin Red breast sat upon a tree,
Up went pussy cat and down went he;
Down came pussy, and away Robin ran;
Says little Robin Red breast, "Catch me if you can".
Little Robin Red breast jumped upon a wall,
Pussy cat jumped after him and almost got a fall;
Little Robin chirped and sang, and what did pussy say?
Pussy cat said, "Meeow!" and Robin jumped away.

~Nursery Rhyme

Thursday Thirteen 236: Random Quotes

A few random quotes collected over the last few months...


1. Winter is the time for comfort, for good food and warmth, for the touch of a friendly hand and for a talk beside the fire: it is the time for home.
~Edith Sitwell

2. Evil is always possible. And goodness is eternally difficult.
~Anne Rice, Interview With the Vampire

3. A musician must make music, an artist must paint, a poet must write, if he is to be ultimately at peace with himself.
~Abraham Maslow

4. I dreamt that my hair was kempt. Then I dreamt that my true love unkempt it.
~Ogden Nash

5. And the fox said to the little prince: men have forgotten this truth, but you must not forget it. You become responsible, forever, for what you have tamed.
~Antoine de Saint-Exupery, The Little Prince

6. Even a good place gets to be a rut, especially if you're standing in it alone... Alone and lonely share the same root.
~Nora Roberts, Chasing Fire

7. Most people think that shadows follow, precede, or surround beings or objects. The truth is that they also surround words, ideas, desires, deeds, impulses and memories.
~Elie Wiesel

8. Books say: She did this because. Life says: She did this. Books are where things are explained to you; life is where things aren't. I'm not surprised some people prefer books.
~Julian Barnes

9. If you don't go after what you want, you'll never have it. If you don't ask, the answer is always no. If you don't step forward, you're always in the same place.
~Nora Roberts

10. Fantasy is hardly an escape from reality. It's a way of understanding it.
~Lloyd Alexander

11. Tempting, really. But...I shot and killed my last boyfriend. I'm not ready for a relationship yet.
~Grace, upon being asked out
The Mentalist (12-8-11)

12. Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time.
~Thomas Merton

13. We are of opinion that instead of letting books grow moldy behind an iron grating, far from the vulgar gaze, it is better to let them wear out by being read.
~Jules Verne


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Random Photo: Paths

(UW Arboretum, Nov 2011)

Travelers, there is no path.
Paths are made by walking.
~ Antonio Machado

Random Photo: Little Reed

The little reed, bending to the force of the wind, soon stood upright
again when the storm had passed over.
-Aesop

Random Photo: Out on a limb

Why not go out on a limb? That's where the fruit is.
~Will Rogers