Something Special

"I further know that if God has something special for you, you have a knowledge of it inside you, which causes you not to be satisfied with anything that is not that thing."

-- Leonard Cheshire

The Function of Poetry

"'What is the use or function of poetry nowadays?' is a question not the less poignant for being defiandy asked by so many stupid people or apologetically answered by so many silly people. The function of poetry is religious invocation of the Muse; its use is the experience of mixed exaltation and horror that her presence excites. But 'nowadays'? Function and use remain the same; only the application has changed. This was once a warning to man that he must keep in harmony with the family of living creatures among which he was born, by obedience to the wishes of the lady of the house; it is now a reminder that he has disregarded the warning, turned the house upside down by capricious experiments in philosophy, science and industry, and brought ruin on himself and his family."

Robert Graves

Overheard in Texas

"The more you look at someone, the more they become a human being, and the more trouble you have slitting their throat and dumping them into a hole in the ground."

Utter Naivete

The sign of utter naivete is to wander into tendentious, polemical discussions without realizing it -- like cave divers who swim beyond their air.

The Port to Which He is Bound

"But to him that knoweth not the port to which he is bound, no wind can be favourable; neither can he who has not yet determined at what mark he is to shoot, direct his arrow aright."
Robert Leighton (1611-1684), quot in S.T. Coleridge, Aids to Reflection (1825)

Divide in Order to Distinguish

"It is a dull and obtuse mind, that must divide in order to distinguish; but it is a still worse, that distinguishes in order to divide. In the former, we may contemplate the source of superstition and idolatry; in the latter, of schism, heresy, and a seditious and sectarian spirit."
Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Aids to Reflection aphorism XXVI

Industrious but not Busy

Our lives should be industrious, but not anxiously busy.
N.N. Scott

Outsiders in Their Own Lives

Learning the language of a country, one does not cease to be an outsider. One simply becomes a different sort of outsider. Some people are outsiders to their own lives.
N.N. Scott

The Hope of Reward

A fool tries to do everything right, in hope of reward.
N.N. Scott

The Value of Things

Most people are shallow; they have no idea how to value things. If they get something for a low price, they will not value it even if it is something worthy of care. Therefore do not undervalue yourself, in your own eyes or the eyes of others. The world will not reward you for it.
N.N. Scott

Teaching the Faith

Anyone who sincerely, passionately believes in something, whose face is lit up with it so that others notice and react whether they wish to or not, is teaching his faith -- whatever that faith is -- and will suffer the consequences.
N.N. Scott

The Two Responsibilities

To feel distress at one's own inadequacy, and endeavor to do something about it, is a form of knowing and worshiping the Creator, which are the only two responsibilities of a human being.
N.N. Scott

Bearing the Load

Those who care about their work, and make every effort to do it well, usually bear the load of at least one or two, and sometimes a great many others, who do not.
N.N. Scott

A Supplication for Foriveness

To feel distress over one's inadequacy, without taking some kind of action to make up the deficiency, accomplishes no more than a supplication for forgiveness addressed to a nonentity.
N.N. Scott

What Work We are Doing

Most of us would agree that it is better to do our work well, than poorly -- but most of us actually know little about what work we are actually doing.
N.N. Scott