Gentleness is not weakness. Just the opposite. Preserving a gentle spirit in a heartless world takes extraordinary courage, determination and resilience. Do not underestimate the power of gentleness because gentleness is strength wrapped in peace,
and therein lies the power to change the world.
~L. R. Knost
Ring the bells that still can ring. . . .
~Leonard Cohen
Earth Day 2020
A native bee visits a stem of prairie blazing star
in the native plant garden my husband and I created
as an oasis for monarch butterflies and other pollinators.
As we work to heal the earth, the earth heals us.
~Robin Wall Kimmerer
The best way out
is always through.
~Robert Frost, (1874 – 1963)
Miracles, in the sense of phenomena we cannot explain,
surround us on every hand:
life itself is the miracle of miracles.
~George Bernard Shaw, (1856 – 1950)
‘Tis the gift to be simple, ’tis the gift to be free,
‘Tis the gift to come down where we ought to be,
And when we find ourselves in the place just right,
‘Twill be in the valley of love and delight.
~Shaker dancing tune, 1848
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)
