Quotations

What makes a happy marriage?

24th October, 2011

An Indian Ayurvedic master, Dr Balaji Tambe, was asked: “What makes a happy marriage?”

Dr Tambe was silent for a while, thinking. At last he looked up and said: “A loving husband makes a happy marriage.”

At the murmur of astonishment and dissent, he explained: his theory was that women are naturally loving, and, like sponges, absorb what is around them from the moment they are born.

So if a man brings coldness, or fear, or indifference to the relationship, that is what she will give back. “But if a husband brings love, then that is what creates the happy marriage.”

Bel Mooney

 

Hope

2nd September, 2011

Hope is the thing wih feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune without the words,
And never stops at all

Emily Dickinson

 

The supposedly debauched monk Rasputin wrote this:

27th August, 2011

The sea effortlessly comforts. When you awake in the morning and the waves “speak” – they dance and make glad. And the sunlight glistens on the sea, it seems to rise ever so quietly, and at that moment Man’s soul forgets all about mankind and fixes its gaze on the glow of the sun; and a happiness kindles in Man, and he feels in his heart the book of life and the higher wisdom of life – indescribable beauty! The sea wakens him from the dream of earthly vanities, and many thoughts rise all by themselves, quite effortlessly.

The sea is a vast space, but the mind is even more spacious. There is no end to Man’s higher wisdom, no philosophy can possibly contain it. Another moment of stupendous beauty comes when the sun sets over the sea and its rays fill the western sky.

Who can estimate the beauty of the sun’s twilight rays? They warm and caress the soul and offer healing comfort. The sun disappears behind the mountains minute by minute, and Man’s heart grieves a little at its amazing twilight rays. And then it grows dark. And oh, what silence falls …

quoted from “The Ringing Cedars of Russia” by Vladimir Megre

 

7th July, 2011

To make a prairie it takes a clover and one bee -
One clover, and a bee,
And reverie.
The reverie alone will do
If bees are few.

Emily Dickinson

 

Another update

4th July, 2011

Since writing my previous update a couple of days ago, my cancer symptoms have almost disappeared. It will be interesting to see if anything has happened to the tumour when I get my pre-radiotherapy scan next Monday. Unlike my doctors, I believe in miracles. It could be the organic silica gel I have been rubbing over the tumour site, or the homoeopathic remedy I have been taking – or it could just be that things are improving for me and somewhere in my body something has decided it is time for a change. Hallelujah!

 

Update

1st July, 2011

In case you are thinking I must be dead by now, I am very much alive and in the final nail-biting stages of selling my house. I have promised my buyers to move out on July 22nd, but as yet contracts have not been exchanged. My buyers are coming round for coffee tomorrow morning to chew the fat on our mutual friends the lawyers (or possibly to have second thoughts about buying the house) … On July 25th I start 5 days of radiotherapy as the cancer has not gone away in spite of everything I have done. Why would it? I still have so much to learn.

Following all this I am hoping for a lovely restful break in which I don’t have to do anything except relax and be pampered and cherished for a while. Maybe stay in a nice hotel somewhere and enjoy some room service … After that the plan is to get down to work and write the articles which have been rolling around in my head for so long, writing themselves. But just for now I am off to the charity shop again with yet another load of stuff

 

AMO ERGO SUM

9th April, 2011

Because I love
The sun pours out its rays of living gold
Pours out its gold and silver on the sea.

Because I love
The earth upon her astral spindle winds
Her ecstasy-producing dance.

Because I love
Clouds travel on the winds through wide skies,
Skies wide and beautiful, blue and deep.

Because I love
Wind blows white sails,
The wind blows over flowers, the sweet wind blows.

Because I love
The ferns grow green, and green the grass, and green
The transparent sunlit trees.

Because I love
Larks rise up from the grass
And all the leaves are full of singing birds.

Because I love
The summer air quivers with a thousand wings,
Myriads of jewelled eyes burn in the light.

Because I love
The iridescent shells upon the sand
Take forms as fine and intricate as thought.

Because I love
There is an invisible way across the sky,
Birds travel by that way, the sun and moon
And all the stars travel that path by night.

Because I love
There is a river flowing all night long.

Because I love
All night the river flows into my sleep,
Ten thousand living things are sleeping in my arms,
And sleeping wake, and flowing are at rest.

Kathleen Raine

 

TODAY

21st March, 2011

Look well to this one day
For it, and it alone, is life.
In the brief course of this one day
Lie all the verities and realities of your existence,
The joy of growth, the splendour of beauty, the glory of action.
Yesterday is but a dream, and tomorrow is only a vision,
But today well lived, makes every yesterday a dream of happiness,
And each tomorrow a vision of hope.
Look well, therefore, to this one day
For it, and it alone, is life.
Such is the salutation of the dawn.

From the Sanskrit

 

from Winnie the Pooh

14th March, 2011

Pooh always liked a little something at eleven o’clock in the morning, and he was very glad to see Rabbit getting out the plates and mugs; and when Rabbit said, “Honey or condensed milk with your bread?” he was so excited that he said “Both,” and then, so as not to seem greedy, he added, “But don’t bother about the bread, please.” And for a long time after that he said nothing … until at last, humming to himself in a rather sticky voice, he got up, shook Rabbit lovingly by the paw, and said that he must be going on.
“Must you?” said Rabbit politely.
“Well,” said Pooh, “I could stay a little longer if it – if you – ” and he tried very hard to look in the direction of the larder.
“As a matter of fact,” said Rabbit, “I was going out myself directly.”
“Oh well, then. I’ll be going on. Goodbye.”
“Well, goodbye, if you’re sure you won’t have any more.”
“Is there any more?” asked Pooh quickly.

A A Milne

 

from: The Great Lover

16th February, 2011

I have been so great a lover: filled my days
So proudly with the splendour of Love’s praise …
These I have loved:
White plates and cups, clean-gleaming,
Ringed with blue lines; and feathery, faery dust;
Wet roofs, beneath the lamplight; the strong crusts
Of friendly bread; and many-tasting food;
Rainbows; and the blue bitter smoke of wood;
And radiant raindrops couching in cool flowers;
And flowers themselves, that sway through sunny hours,
Dreaming of moths that drink them under the moon;
Then, the cool kindliness of sheets, that soon
Smooth away trouble; and the rough male kiss
Of blankets; grainy wood; live hair that is
Shining and free; blue-massing clouds; the keen
Unpassioned beauty of a great machine;
The benison of hot water; furs to touch;
The good smell of old clothes; and others such ….

Rupert Brooke

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
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