Favorite sayings, quotes, poems, philosophy

[Qqmike]

Woodsmoke and I (and others here) have dropped an occasional quote from an author, poet or from the likes of Don Juan, Yaqui shaman. How about your favorite saying, poem, words of wisdom, quote? Something not too long or involved (unless simply linked to). Humor or wisdom. PG rated. Let's try not to lecture or preach (though academic or religious quotes are good).

Here's one I just read and sent to some friends in email tonight:

Modern poet Charles Bukowski:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Bukowski

The poem, titled "It's ours":

there is always that space there
just before they get to us
that space
that fine relaxer
the breather
while say
flopping on a bed
thinking of nothing
or say
pouring a glass of water from the
spigot
while entranced by
nothing

that
gentle pure
space

it's worth

centuries of
existence

say

just to scratch your neck
while looking out the window at
a bare branch

that space
there
before they get to us
ensures
that
when they do
they won't
get it all

ever.

[Snowhog]

"Nuts!" (Anthony McAuliffe)

[Qqmike]

Snowhog, I have to say that McAuliffe's statement ("Nuts") beats--or better yet, fits in with!--a lot of the stuff I'm reading in Hagakure--The Book of the Samurai.

[HalationEffect]

Time is the school in which we learn
Time is the fire in which we burn

Reality is that which, when we stop believing in it, doesn't go away

Do not go gentle into that good night
Rage, rage, against the dying of the light

A society that gets rid of all its troublemakers goes downhill

You can't depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus.

Deliberately left out a line from the portion of the Dylan Thomas poem I quoted, because I prefer it that way.

[Flip the Switch]

Fav Poems

My all-time favourite is The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by S T Coleridge.

Nomination for most haunting is this one by Robert Frost.

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening


Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village, though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there's some mistake.
The only other sound's the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

[vw72]

"If you want peace, work for justice." Pope Paul VI

[Detonate]

'Forward, the Light Brigade!'
Was there a man dismay'd?
Not tho' the soldiers knew
  Some one had blunder'd:
Theirs not to make reply,
Theirs not to reason why,
Theirs but to do and die:
Into the valley of Death
  Rode the six hundred.

Alfred, Lord Tennyson

[rms]

Apart from the one in my sig:

"Without salt no sugar."
"Once you can shoulder it, it becomes the lightest thing in the world."

I was told these three long ago by some unknown friends. Don't know and never cared to know who is their author(s) but their condensed wisdom constantly crosses my path.

[woodsmoke]

LOL
Hoist on my own petard!!! lol

Eight, sir; seven, sir;
Six, sir; five, sir;
Four, sir; three, sir;
two, sir; one!
'Tenser,' said the Tensor.
'Tenser,' said the Tensor.
'Tension, apprehension,
And dissension have begun.'

woodkeepmyneedleguninmybootsmoke

BTW....plus one for Detonate....I have included that in EVERY LECTURE for my 9th grade physical science class and my Physics classes in High School and my college Physical Science classes.........those lines gave us the thermometer.

And....when one actually THINKS...and CONSIDERS......what happened.....

one cries.

[SteveRiley]

Nomination for most haunting is this one by Robert Frost.

The Road Not Taken

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim
Because it was grassy and wanted wear,
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I marked the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

[Qqmike]

Two quotes from Hagakure--The Book of the Samurai.

The first one (a little metaphysics anyone?),

Our bodies are given life from the midst of nothingness. Existing where there is nothing is the meaning of the phrase, "Form is emptiness." That all things are provided for by nothingness is the meaning of the phrase, "Emptiness is form." One should not think that these two are separate things.

And this one (looking for a sense of meaning or purpose? a little Zen?):

There is surely nothing other than the single purpose of the present moment. A man's whole life is a succession of moment after moment. If one fully understands the present moment, there will be nothing else to do, and nothing else to pursue.

(... anybody who's survived a tough medical ordeal understands this second passage without having to think about it or having to put it into words)

[abear]

Water is fluid, soft, and yielding. But water will wear away rock, which is rigid and
cannot yield. As a rule, whatever is fluid, soft, and yielding will overcome whatever
is rigid and hard. This is another paradox: what is soft is strong.
- Lao-Tzu (600 B.C.)

http://flowpsychology.com/flow-like-wa-ter/

[budr]

"Beyond a critical point within a finite space, freedom diminishes as numbers increase. This is as true of humans in the finite space of a planetary ecosystem as it is for gas molecules in a sealed flask. The human question is not how many can possibly survive within the system, but what kind of existence is possible for those who do survive."

- Frank Herbert, Dune

[Qqmike]

The only thing you can do is be who you are and try to live a fearless life. --Kevin Costner

[Qqmike]

It is no measure of health to be
well adjusted to a profoundly sick society - Krishnamurti