Quotation Saturday

ON WRITING

***

"Know something, sugar? Stories only happen to people who can tell them."
~Allan Gurganus
 
"A writer lives, at least, in a state of astonishment. Beneath any feeling he has of the good or evil of the world lies a deeper one of wonder at it all. To transmit that feeling, he writes."
~William Sansom
 
"However great a man's natural talent may be, the art of writing cannot be learned all at once."
~Jean Jacques Rousseau
 
Real writers are those who want to write, need to write, have to write."
~Robert Penn Warren

BREVITY

It is with words as with sunbeams. The more they are condensed, the deeper they burn.
~Robert Southey

A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts.
~William Strunk, Jr., The Elements of Style, 1918

"In good prose (says Schlegel) every word should be underlined!" that is, every word should be the right one; and then no one would be righter than another. There are no italics in Plato.
~Augustus William Hare and Julius Charles Hare, Guesses at Truth, by Two Brothers, 1827

If you can't write your idea on the back of my calling card, you don't have a clear idea.
~David Belasco

SELF-CONTROL         

Self-respect is the root of discipline: The sense of dignity grows with the ability to say no to oneself.
~Abraham Joshua Heschel, The Insecurity of Freedom: Essays on Human Existence, 1967

The cyclone derives its powers from a calm center. So does a person.
~Norman Vincent Peale

It is a man's own mind, not his enemy or foe, that lures him to evil ways.
~Buddha
 
And so, Reader, (for it is time to have done with guessing) would I bid you conquer in your warfare against your four great enemies, the world, the devil, the flesh, and above all, that obstinate and perverse self-will, unaided by which the other three would be comparatively powerless.
~Augustus William Hare

SIMPLICITY

Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius - and a lot of courage - to move in the opposite direction.
~E.F. Schumacher
 
Frugality is one of the most beautiful and joyful words in the English language, and yet one that we are culturally cut off from understanding and enjoying. The consumption society has made us feel that happiness lies in having things, and has failed to teach us the happiness of not having things.
~Elise Boulding

Everything we possess that is not necessary for life or happiness becomes a burden, and scarcely a day passes that we do not add to it.
~Robert Brault,
 
To find the universal elements enough; to find the air and the water exhilarating; to be refreshed by a morning walk or an evening saunter... to be thrilled by the stars at night; to be elated over a bird's nest or a wildflower in spring - these are some of the rewards of the simple life.
~John Burroughs
 
“It is with simplicity, brevity and self-control that I will go on writing. ” ~Joni Zipp

My NEW Christian Blog: Soul Songs~ My Minds Eye

Quotation Saturday ~ Merry Christmas

MERRY CHRISTMAS
***

“I am not alone at all, I thought. I was never alone at all. And that, of course, is the message of Christmas. We are never alone. Not when the night is darkest, the wind coldest, the world seemingly most indifferent. For this is still the time God chooses.”
--Taylor Caldwell

“Christmas gift suggestions:
To your enemy, forgiveness.
To an opponent, tolerance.
To a friend, your heart.
To a customer, service.
To all, charity.
To every child, a good example.
To yourself, respect.
--Oren Arnold

Let's be naughty and save Santa the trip.
--Gary Allan

There's more, much more, to Christmas than candlelight and cheer; It's the spirit of sweet friendship That brightens all year. It's thoughtfulness and kindness, It's hope reborn again, For peace, for understanding, And for goodwill to men!
--Author unnknown
 

“Let us keep Christmas beautiful Without a thought of greed, That it might live forevermore To fill our every need, That it shall not be just a day, But last a lifetime through, The miracle of Christmastime That brings God close to you”
--Ann Schultz

“May the joy, peace and love that you feel at Christmas envelop you so that you carry it throughout the New Year. Be blessed in all that you do and the blessings, my friend, will come back to you.”
-- Joni Zipp

Quotation Saturday

The best things in life are the ability to laugh, the true love of a friend, joy in every day and the gratitude of living!
--Joni Zipp

HUMOR

"Laugh at yourself and at life. Not in the spirit of derision or whining self-pity, but as a remedy, a miracle drug, that will ease your pain, cure your depression, and help you to put in perspective that seemingly terrible defeat and worry with laughter at your predicaments, thus freeing your mind to think clearly toward the solution that is certain to come." 
-- Og Mandino

"Gentlemen, why don't you laugh? With the fearful strain that is upon me night and day, if I did not laugh, I should die." -- Abraham Lincoln

"Wit penetrates; humor envelopes. Wit is a function of verbal intelligence; humor is imagination operating on good nature." -- Peggy Noonan

"The amount you laugh in your relationships with others is the true measure of the health of your personality." -- Brian Tracy


FRIENDSHIP ~

It should be a part of our private ritual to devote a quarter of an hour every day to the enumeration of the good qualities of our friends. When we are not active, we fall back idly upon defects, even of those whom we most love.
--Mark Rutherford

Friendship with the wise gets better with time, as a good book gets better with age.
--Thiruvalluvar

JOY ~

"Don't postpone joy until you have learned all of your lessons. Joy is your lesson."
-- Alan Cohen

"Joy is the feeling of grinning inside."
--Melba Colgrove

"Joy is a net of love by which you can catch souls."
--Mother Teresa


"Participate joyfully in the sorrows of the world. We cannot cure the world of sorrows, but we can choose to live in joy."
--Joseph Campbell

 
GRATITUDE ~

"Gratitude is riches. Complaint is poverty."
--Doris Day

"Wake at dawn with a winged heart and give thanks for another day of loving."
--Kahlil Gibran

"Gratitude is the memory of the heart.""
--French proverb

"I thank God for my handicaps for, through them, I have found myself, my work, and my God."
--Helen Keller