Monday Miscellaneous: A Dozen Quotes and a Few Good Thoughts

Last week I finished Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness for the third time. (Maybe fourth.) I'd not read it for quite a few years though, so even though much was familiar terrain, there were a few surprises. One was that the "N" word is used a few times in the book, which I will presume means that it's unlikely many schools are having students read it these days. The second thing that had been forgotten SPOILER ALERT was that the story didn't end with Kurtz saying "The horror." There's an incident that occurs afterwards that is also an important piece of the story, that adds a little punch after the other dark details have been shared.

I mention all this because I personally enjoy reading books that I've read before. After a span of years, and a few decades of life experience, great books can ignite new insights, convey new understanding that we'd missed earlier because we lacked the life experience. This is especially so with books we read in high school or college.

All this to say, just because you read it once doesn't mean you should be done with it. This is the best part of building a personal library.

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"Play is the exaltation of the possible."
--Martin Buber

“Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time.”
--Thomas Merton 

“One ought, every day at least, to hear a little song, read a good poem, see a fine picture, and, if it were possible, to speak a few reasonable words.”
--Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

“Here we are, trapped in the amber of the moment. There is no why.”
--Kurt Vonnegut

"Time has no divisions to mark its passage, there is never a thunderstorm or blare of trumpets to announce the beginning of a new month or year. Even when a new century begins it is only we mortals who ring bells and fire off pistols."
--Thomas Mann

"Time is the measurer of all things, but is itself immeasurable, and the grand discloser of all things, but is itself undisclosed."
--Charles Caleb Colton, Lacon

"A hot dog at the ballgame beats roast beef at the Ritz."
--Humphrey Bogart

"A stumbling block to the pessimist is a stepping stone to the optimist."
--Eleanor Roosevelt

“Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened.”
 --Dr. Seuss

“Newspapers always excite curiosity. No one ever lays one down without a feeling of disappointment.”
--Charles Lamb

“Life is for the living.
Death is for the dead.
Let life be like music.
And death a note unsaid.”
--Langston Hughes

“The things you do for yourself are gone when you are gone, but the things you do for others remain as your legacy.”
--Kalu Ndukwe Kalu

“You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one. I hope someday you'll join us. And the world will live as one.”
--John Lennon

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Seen On Twitter This Morning

THINGS TO GIVE UP

1. Negative thinking 

2. Living in the past 

3. Negative self-talk 

4. People-pleasing 

5. Fearing change 

6. Overthinking

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Nurture you inner flame and don't dive up the fight.

Have a great week!