So don’tSo don’t
“If you let one demon in the front door, he will let all of his friends in the back door.” – Patrick Glenn Jeffries, “A Mother’s Earth”
Category: Verandah
Try it and see what happensTry it and see what happens
“To be truly hospitable you don’t ask someone if they’re thirsty or hungry—you offer them food, you offer them drink. They will not turn down what you put in front of them if they’re hungry and thirsty.” – Patrick Glenn Jeffries, “A Mother’s Earth”
No more and no lessNo more and no less
“Always look a man in his eyes. Even when you are afraid of him. After a while you will see he is only a man.” – Patrick Glenn Jeffries, “A Mother’s Earth”
And carry a big stickAnd carry a big stick
“Never talk tough before a fight. Losing a fight is one thing. Looking foolish and losing a fight is another.” – Patrick Glenn Jeffries, “A Mother’s Earth”
And afterwards, too, sometimesAnd afterwards, too, sometimes
“Before flaws look like style, they look like flaws.” – Maria Adelmann, “Basket Weaving 101”
And probably should flossAnd probably should floss
“A man who resembles a rodent should never wear tweed.” – Mark Helprin, “The Schreuderspitze”
Pro tipPro tip
“Most problems aren’t rocket science, but when they are rocket science, you should ask a rocket scientist about them.” Captain Scott Kelly, “What I Learned in Space” (emphasis in original)
Hard to sayHard to say
“I think that if people began thinking about death sooner they’d make fewer foolish mistakes.” – Dmitri Shostakovich (quoted by David Dubal in The Essential Canon of Classical Music)
A never-ending taleA never-ending tale
“Of all minor afflictions, house-cleaning is the worst.” – Rachel Henning, March 1, 1854, The Letters of Rachel Henning, ed. David Adams
I didn’t want it to turn out like thisI didn’t want it to turn out like this
“Nobody really says anything honest until they know they are dying.” – Alex McElroy, “Responsible Fear”
Coin of the realmCoin of the realm
“Look, the sun is a sort of bribe, you know, and so is a heavy thunderstorm or a snowfall. So is a dawn, though not I think a sunset. So is a warm bath or a shower, and a sound sleep. Bribes all, in the conspiracy of everything to continue to exist.” – Renata Adler, Pitch Dark
In the beginningIn the beginning
“The world is everything that is the case. And in the second place because.” – Renata Adler, Pitch Dark
And right nowAnd right now
“You must do the things you think you cannot do.” – Eleanor Roosevelt
That bush is not burningThat bush is not burning
“None see God and live.” – Emily Dickinson
Famous last wordsFamous last words
“An optimist is not the first to shout ‘hurray,’ but the last to shout ‘we’re finished.’ ” – Andrey Stavnitser (quoted by Tim Judah, In Wartime)
Out, damn spotOut, damn spot
“The past is not made out of time, out of memory, out of irony but is also a crime we cannot admit and will not atone.” – Eavan Boland, “Making Money”
Here, there, and everywhereHere, there, and everywhere
“You will not be able to find the boundaries of the soul even if you walk every path, so deep is its measure.” – Heraclitus (quoted by John Bussanich in “The Roots of Platonism and Vedanta”)
Doan dwitDoan dwit
“Girls, never trust a man under 40, because he’s still a boy.” – John Mellencamp (interviewed by Edna Gundersen in AARP The Magazine)
It’s cold and dark in thereIt’s cold and dark in there
“Marriage is the tomb of love.” – Giacomo Girolamo Casanova, Memoirs
It’s not hardIt’s not hard
“The best of us will try to live by a few simple rules: do justly, love mercy, walk humbly with thy God, and never draw to an inside straight.” – Stephen Jay Gould, “The Streak of Streaks”
GhostsGhosts
“If you look at the moon, you’ll dream of the animals, and they’ll tell you they’re sorry they died, and they miss you.” – Liam, Facebook, May 29, 2017
Take me to the limitTake me to the limit
The Limits to Human Survival: The Four Threes
1. Three minutes without oxygen.
2. Three days without water.
3. Three weeks without food.
4. Three months without companionship.
– from Christy Gutowski, “7 Days Lost”
What it isWhat it is
“Love’s service is without eyes, and love is without fear.” – Gottfried von Strassburg, Tristan und Isold
The crown jewelsThe crown jewels
Stars, darkness, a lamp, a phantom, a dew, a bubble;
A dream, a flash of lightning, and a cloud:
Thus should we look upon the world.
– from The Diamond Sutra
Keeping a healthy perspectiveKeeping a healthy perspective
Make merry, day and night;
Make of each day a festival of joy,
Dance and play, day and night!
Let your raiment be kept clean,
Your head washed, body bathed.
Pay heed to the little one, holding onto your hand,
Let your wife delight your heart,
For in this is the portion of man.
– from The Epic of Gilgamesh
Something durable and modestSomething durable and modest
“Truth is a powerful and a dangerous commodity and needs to be adequately guarded. It should be clothed for the occasion, and not indiscriminately exposed.” – M. Esther Harding, “The Way of All Women”
The tautological lawThe tautological law
“Shinto doctrine holds that women should make offerings to aborted foetuses to help them rest in peace. If one believes that abortion is killing and yet is still pro-choice, one could try to use contraception for every single sex act; if one had to undergo an abortion, one could then work to provide contraception, or jobs, or other choices to young girls; one could give money to programmes that provide prenatal care to poor women; if one is a mother or father, one can remember the aborted child every time one is tempted to be less than loving.” – Naomi Wolf, “Our Bodies, Our Souls”
The fontThe font
The Valley Spirit never dies.
It is named the Mysterious Female.
And the Doorway of the Mysterious Female
Is the base from which Heaven and Earth sprang.
It is there within us all the while;
Draw upon it as you will, it never runs dry.
– Tao Te Ching (trans. Arthur Waley)
He’s got his work cut out for himHe’s got his work cut out for him
“The task of the human-hearted man is to procure benefits for the world and to eliminate its calamities. Now among all the current calamities of the world, which are the greatest? I say that attacks on small states by large ones, oppression of the weak by the strong, misuses of the few by the many, deception of the simple by the cunning, and disdain toward the humble by the honored; these are the misfortunes of the world.” – Mo Tzu (trans. Fung Yu-lan), A Short History of Chinese Philosophy
Even in seven-league bootsEven in seven-league boots
“From the child of five to myself is but a step. But from the newborn baby to the child of five is an appalling distance.” – Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy