We must remain as close to the flowers, the grass, and the butterflies
as the child is who is not yet so much taller than they are.
We adults, on the other hand, have outgrown them
and have to lower ourselves to stoop down to them. . . .
Whoever would partake of all good things
must understand how to be small at times.
~Friedrich Nietzsche, (1844 – 1900)
The lesson I have thoroughly learnt, and wish to pass on to others,
is to know the enduring happiness that the love of a garden gives.
~Gertrude Jekyll, (1843 – 1932)
Happy is the house that shelters a friend.
~Ralph Waldo Emerson, (1803 – 1882)
The future is an infinite succession of presents,
and to live now as we think human beings should live,
in defiance of all that is bad around us,
is itself a marvelous victory.
~Howard Zinn, (1922 – 2010)
Each moment is a chance
for us to make peace
with the world,
to make peace
possible for the world,
to make happiness
possible for the world.
~Thich Nhat Hanh
No winter lasts forever;
no spring skips its turn.
~Hal Borland, (1900 – 1978)
Keeping Quiet
Now we will count to twelve
and we will all keep still.
This one time upon the earth,
let’s not speak any language,
let’s stop for one second,
and not move our arms so much.
It would be a delicious moment,
without hurry, without engines,
we would all be together
in a sudden strangeness.
The fishermen in the cold sea
would do no harm to the whales
and the peasant gathering salt
would not look at his torn hands.
Those who prepare green wars,
wars of gas, wars of fire,
victories without survivors,
would put on clean clothes
and would walk alongside their brothers
in the shade, doing nothing.
What I want shouldn’t be confused
with final inactivity:
life alone is what matters,
I want nothing to do with death.
If we weren’t unanimous
about keeping our lives so much in motion,
if we could do nothing for once,
perhaps a great silence would
interrupt this sadness,
this never understanding ourselves
and threatening ourselves with death,
perhaps the earth can teach us
as when everything seems dead
and later proves to be alive.
Now I will count to twelve
and you keep quiet and I’ll go.
~Pablo Neruda, (1904 – 1973)
Everything in the universe is
within you.
Ask all from yourself.
~Rumi, (1207 – 1273)
Being still does not mean don’t move.
It means move in peace.
~E’yen A. Gardner
I think I will do nothing for a long time but
listen,
And accrue what I hear into myself…. and let
sound contribute toward me.
~Walt Whitman, (1819 – 1892)
My Path with Stars Bestrewn 