Wielding Words

Dec 16 2012 ∞

“ Why not dream your own wonderful sequels? When you have finished a book, it can go on in your mind, the characters doing just what you want them to do.

— Marguerite Henry, from Dear Readers and Riders

2 notes

Nov 07 2012 ∞

“ Let me give you a word on the philosophy of reform. The whole history of the progress of human liberty shows that all concessions yet made to her august claims have been born of earnest struggle…. If there is no struggle, there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom and yet deprecate agitation are men who want crops without plowing up the ground; they want rain without thunder and lightning. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its many waters.

This struggle may be a moral one, or it may be a physical one, and it may be both moral and physical, but it must be a struggle. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will. Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have found out the exact measure of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them, and these will continue till they are resisted with either words or blows, or with both.

—

Frederick Douglass, abolitionist & revolutionary, 1857

===

Wise words to remember as we embark upon the next four years.

(via socialismartnature)

(via reservoircat)

40 notes

Nov 05 2012 ∞

psych-facts:

“Expectation is the root of all heartache” - William Shakespeare

3,223 notes

Nov 02 2012 ∞

A Dream Deferred - Langston Hughes

What happens to a dream deferred?

Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore—
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over—
like a syrupy sweet?

Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.

Or does it explode?

1 note

Mar 21 2012 ∞

“ Even in literature and art, no man who bothers about originality will ever be original: whereas if you simply try to tell the truth (without caring twopence how often it has been told before) you will, nine times out of ten, become original without ever having noticed it.

— C. S. Lewis

4 notes

Mar 15 2012 ∞

“ I like October with
the falling leaves.
Still I feel a sorrow
for the dying summer
blossom time is over.
My time is also over.
October is very near.

— An epitaph. Had to note this somewhere were I might remember.

Jan 29 2012 ∞

Galileo Galilei

I’ve loved the stars too fondly to be fearful of the night.

12 notes

Oct 27 2011 ∞

“ I’ve learned that no matter what happens, or how bad it seems today, life does go on, and it will be better tomorrow. I’ve learned that you can tell a lot about a person by the way he/she handles these three things: a rainy day, lost luggage, and tangled Christmas tree lights. I’ve learned that regardless of your relationship with your parents, you’ll miss them when they’re gone from your life. I’ve learned that making a “living” is not the same thing as making a “life.” I’ve learned that life sometimes gives you a second chance. I’ve learned that you shouldn’t go through life with a catcher’s mitt on both hands; you need to be able to throw something back. I’ve learned that whenever I decide something with an open heart, I usually make the right decision. I’ve learned that even when I have pains, I don’t have to be one. I’ve learned that every day you should reach out and touch someone. People love a warm hug, or just a friendly pat on the back. I’ve learned that I still have a lot to learn. I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.

— Maya Angelou (via skeletales)

(via a-little-bit-of-whimsy)

747 notes

Apr 03 2011 ∞

“If” by Rudyard Kipling

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or, being hated, don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise;

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with triumph and disaster
And treat those two imposters just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to broken,
And stoop and build ‘em up with wornout tools;

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: “Hold on”;

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings - nor lose the common touch;
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run -
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And - which is more - you’ll be a Man my son!

10 notes

Mar 10 2011 ∞

“ A baby has brains, but it doesn’t know much. Experience is the only thing that brings knowledge, and the longer you are on earth the more experience you are sure to get.

— The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum (via litglutton)

3 notes

Mar 05 2011 ∞

via maluna

129 notes

Feb 23 2011 ∞

“ The heart has its reasons, whereof reason knows naught.

— Blaise Pascal (via quote-book)
(Le coeur a ses raisons que la raison ne connait pas.)

651 notes

+ ∞

“ The ultimate measure of man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.

— Martin Luther King Jr. (via quote-book)

1,289 notes

Feb 21 2011 ∞

“ I feel that there is nothing more truly artistic than to love people.

— Vincent Van Gogh

Feb 07 2011 ∞