Commonplace book
My commonplace book...
I got given a commonplace book for Christmas one year. I wrote nice
quotes into it for a little while, and then forgot it. It's hard,
because everything you read has a million things you could
apply... Here, I am trying to save the tried and tested ones; the ones
that have at some time echoed in my mind as I go about the day; that I
have eventually looked up to include in a journal entry or pass on to
someone else.
Our England is a garden, and such gardens are not made
By singing:--"Oh, how beautiful!" and sitting in the shade,
Kipling, 'The Glory of the Garden'
How often, during a private conversation with a young person, do I
hear these questions, 'How can I be myself? How can I fulfil myself?'
Some people are preoccupied by this to the point of anguish. Then I
think of what one of my brothers once said. 'Christ does not say to
me, "Be yourself." He says, "Be with me." Christ does not tell us,
"Find yourself." He says, "You, follow me!"'
Brother Roger of Taizé
Our hearts are ever restless till they find their rest in Thee.
St Augustine?
There are no "ifs" in God's world. Betsie Ten
Boom (Corrie Ten Boom - The Hiding Place)
... maybe she would never be ready. Maybe she just had to make herself do it.
[...]
Sometimes you just had to face it. You had to march right into the ugly middle.
The Second Summer of the Sisterhood
... Otherwise you ended up flat against the wall, creeping fearfully
around the edge your whole life.
The Second Summer of the Sisterhood
she also knew how tempting it was to cast off that sad, ruined part of yourself like a sweater you'd outgrown.
The Second Summer of the Sisterhood
Always buy memories when you can. They last longer than anything else.
(LJ user: Jonquil) on LJ of (LJ user: roz_mcclure)
"There are many kids of reality,", Juniper explained. "Only silly people think there is only one kind. I don't live in the fairy reality and neither do you. I live in - two or three kinds of reality, though. So, I expect, will you."
Wise Child (Monica Furlong)
"So yes, we could see you here while you were on the trip."
"So it wasn't real?" I said disappointed.
"Remember how you felt up there in the sky, or walking up the
stone avenue, or standing in front of the altar? Was that less real
than sitting here now and talking?"
"Maybe more real," I said. "Certainly more interesting."
"Well then," she said.
Wise Child (Monica Furlong)
"keeping yourself clean, preparing the food you are going to eat,
clearing it away afterwards - that's what life's about, Wise
Child."
Wise Child (Monica Furlong)
"No human could live like this. You could spend a day looking at a
flower to see how wonderful it is, and that wouldn't get the milking
done. No wonder we dream our way through our lives. To be awake, and
see it all as it really is ... no one could stand that for long."
The Wee Free Men (Terry Pratchett)
It's still magic, even when you know how it's done.
Terry Pratchett
Jo has given me a splendid rule. He says, when I'm perplexed, just to do what I would wish I had done when I shall be eighty.
Anne of the Island (L.M.Montgomery)