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January 31, 2007
a basic characteristic of existence
it might be a basic characteristic of existence that
those who would know it completely would perish,
in which case the strength of a spirit should be
measured according to how much of the "truth"
one could still barely endure.
--f. nietzsche, beyond good and evil
Posted by ali at 6:21 PM | TrackBack
January 21, 2007
art
art is man's nature. nature is God's art.
--james bailey
Posted by ali at 4:34 AM | TrackBack
January 9, 2007
mercy
the quality of mercy is not strained;
it droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
upon the place beneath: it is twice blest,--
it blesseth him that gives and him that takes:
'tis mightiest in the mightiest; it becomes
the throned monarch better than his crown:
his sceptre shows the force of temporal power,
the attribute to awe and majesty,
wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings;
but mercy is above this sceptre sway,--
it is enthroned in the hearts of kings,
it is an attribute to God himself;
and earthly power doth then show likest God's
when mercy seasons justice.
from the merchant of venice
--william shakespeare, 1564-1616
Posted by ali at 2:02 AM | TrackBack
January 8, 2007
success
If people advance confidently in the direction of their dreams, and endeavor to live the life which they have imagined, they will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.
--henry david thoreau
Posted by ali at 6:31 PM | TrackBack
January 6, 2007
the prayer of st francis of assisi
lord, make me an instrument of your peace,
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
where there is sadness, joy;
o divine master, grant that i may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;
to be understood as to understand;
to be loved as to love.
for it is in giving that we receive;
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
--st francis of assisi
Posted by ali at 7:32 PM | TrackBack
January 4, 2007
for whom the bell tolls
no man is an island, entire of itself; everyman is a piece of the continent, a part of the main; if a cold be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were as well as if a manor of thy friends or thine own were; any man's death diminishes me, because i am involved in mankind; and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.
from devotions upon emergent occasions
meditation XVII
--john donne, 1572 - 1631
Posted by ali at 3:32 PM | TrackBack
January 1, 2007
a psalm of life
A Psalm of Life
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
What The Heart Of The Young Man Said To The Psalmist.
Tell me not, in mournful numbers,
Life is but an empty dream!
For the soul is dead that slumbers,
And things are not what they seem.
Life is real! Life is earnest!
And the grave is not its goal;
Dust thou art, to dust returnest,
Was not spoken of the soul.
Not enjoyment, and not sorrow,
Is our destined end or way;
But to act, that each to-morrow
Find us farther than to-day.
Art is long, and Time is fleeting,
And our hearts, though stout and brave,
Still, like muffled drums, are beating
Funeral marches to the grave.
In the world’s broad field of battle,
In the bivouac of Life,
Be not like dumb, driven cattle!
Be a hero in the strife!
Trust no Future, howe’er pleasant!
Let the dead Past bury its dead!
Act,— act in the living Present!
Heart within, and God o’erhead!
Lives of great men all remind us
We can make our lives sublime,
And, departing, leave behind us
Footprints on the sands of time;
Footprints, that perhaps another,
Sailing o’er life’s solemn main,
A forlorn and shipwrecked brother,
Seeing, shall take heart again.
Let us, then, be up and doing,
With a heart for any fate;
Still achieving, still pursuing,
Learn to labor and to wait.