Sunday, May 10, 2009

collected quotes

my life has been full of terrible misfortunes, most of which never happened. --mark twain

no person is your friend who demands your silence, or denies your right to grow. --alice walker

mistakes are part of the dues one pays for a full life. --sofia loren

we dance to change ourselves.
only when we have done this
can we try to change the earth.
--crow dog

to go in the dark with a light is to know the light.
to know the dark, go dark. go without sight,
and find that the dark, too, blooms and sings,
and is traveled by dark feet and dark wings. --wendell berry

all you can do
is go through it,
and that's how small things
survive, like grass
pushes up through
cracks in the asphalt. --kirk robertson

and somewhere in the measured mass
of everything, imagine grass. --knute skinner

it is time to bust out of girlscout camp.
it is time to stop running
for most popular sweetheart of campbell soup.
--marge piercy

life always gets harder near the summit. --nietzsche

to have in this uncertain world some stay
which cannot be undermined
is of the utmost consequence. --adrienne rich

live as if you like yourself, and it may happen. --marge piercy

there are many kinds of courage & i don't have them all. --alta

you have a thousand prayers but god has one. --anne sexton

i found god in myself
& i loved her
i loved her fiercely. --ntozake shange

to live in this world
you must be able
to do three things:
to love what is mortal,
to hold it against your bones knowing
your own life depends on it;
and when the time comes, to let it go.
--mary oliver

blessed be my brain
that i may conceive of my own power...
blessed be my knees
that i may bend so as not to break.
blessed be my feet
that i may walk in the path of my highest will.
--robin morgan

and so long as you haven't experienced
this: to die and so to grow,
you are only a troubled guest
on the dark earth. --goethe

feathers, shells
and sea-shaped stones
are all as rare.
this could be our revolution:
to love what is plentiful
as much as
what is scarce. --alice walker

let the young rain of tears come.
let the calm hands of grief come.
it's not as evil as you think. --rolf jacobsen

if i have weaknesses, don't them blind me now. --paul simon

for every bad thing that happens to you,
find the good that keeps it in balance. --lucy robson

i am circling around god, around the ancient tower,
and i have been circling for a thousand years.
and i still don't know if i am a falcon,
or a storm, or a great song. --r. m. rilke

facing someone who will kill you, wound you, takes courage. but facing someone who will heal you perhaps takes more courage. --ruth hill

this shaking keeps me steady. i should know.
what falls away is always. and is near.
i wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.
i learn by going where i have to go. --theodore roethke



by my life be i spirit
by my heart be i woman
by my eyes be i open
by my hands be i whole.
--ferron

she is a person in the world-with wrongs to right, stupidities to outwit, with her man when possible, on her own when not. she will be there, like any other, only once. therefore, she must, in the midst of tragedy and hatred and neglect, mightily enjoy the readily available: sunshine and pets and children and conversation and games and travel (tiny and large) and books and walks and chocolate cake. --gwendolyn brooks

here's the thing...the thing i believe. god is inside you and inside everybody else. you come to the world with god. but only them that search for it inside find it...i believe god is everything. i think it pisses god off if you walk by the color purple in a field somewhere and don't notice it. --alice walker

when you starts measuring somebody, measure him right, child, measure him right. make sure you done taken into account what hills and valleys he come through before he got to whereever he is. --lorraine hansberry

the possibililties of life are so great and beautiful that to see less wears the spirit down. --nikki giovanni

be nobody's darling
be an outcast
take the contradictions
of your life
and wrap around
you like a shawl,
to parry stones
to keep you warm.
--alice walker

put the wild hunger where it belongs,
within the act of creation,
crude power that forges a balance
between hate and love.
--may sarton, "kali"

the heart of a woman falls back with the night,
and enters some alien cage in its plight,
and tries to forget it has dreamed of the stars,
while it breaks, breaks, breaks on the sheltering bars.
--georgia douglas johnson

heartily know
when half-gods go
the gods arrive.
--emerson

may all i say and all i think
be in harmony with thee,
god within me, god beyond me,
maker of the trees.
--chinook psalter

at night, make me one with the darkness.
in the morning, make me one with the light.
--wendell berry

the pitcher cries for water to carry
and a person for work that is real.
--marge piercy

clouds are flowing in the river, waves are flying in the sky,
life is laughing in a pebble. does a pebble ever die?
life is laughing in a pebble, flowers bathe in morning dew.
dust is dancing in my footsteps and i wonder who is who.
--evelyn beumkes

it will talk as long as it wants, this rain.
as long as it talks, i am going to listen.
--thomas merton

...do nothing because it is righteous or praiseworthy or noble to do so; do only that which you must do and which you cannot do in any other way. --ursula le guin

eagles never perch by balance.
eagles perch facing into the wind.
eagles perch by leaning against the wind
for balance.
eagles sleep this way...
show me the unexpected direction from which
the wind comes sudden
that i may face into it,
lean against its rising
and sleep this way.
--robin morgan

when spring comes with the third moon,
i know i am a burden
to my lord. but o my lord,
in the third moon of spring, the east
wind is a heavy burden to me.
--chu shu chen

blessed be all my fears and the losing of them...
blessed be change--and its sense of humor.
blessed be survival and its sense of honor.
--robin morgan

the wise man, no matter how he is treated,
knows that heaven does nothing without reason.
--su tung p'0

we are asleep with compasses in our hands. --w. s. merwin

i have woven a parachute out of everything broken. --wm stafford

we are what we pretend to be,
so we must be careful about
what we pretend to be.
--kurt vonnegut jr.

not to dream boldly may turn out to be simply irresponsible. --george leonard

it doesn't matter if the water is cold or warm if you're going to have to wade through it anyway. --teilhard de chardin

it's time again. tear up the violets and plant something more difficult to grow. --james schuyler

"what can i do to put my heart at rest?"
she said, "every morning and every night, and whenever anything happens to you, keep on saying 'thanks for everything. i have no complaints whatsoever.' " --old japanese story

it is harder to kill something that is spiritually alive than it is to bring the dead back to life. --herman hesse

the moon does not heed the barking of wolves. --kathryn lynn davis

there is nothing more frightful than ignorance in action. --goethe

if you realize that all things change, there is nothing you will try to hold onto. --tao te ching

the path into the light seems dark,
the path forward seems to go back,
the direct path seems too long. --tao te ching

care about people's approval and you will be their prisoner. --tao te ching

whatever i embrace becomes. --alice walker

but if you travel far enough, one day you will recognize
yourself coming down the road to meet yourself.
and you will say--yes. --marion woodman

a strong woman is a woman determined to do something others are determined not be done. --marge piercy

i am too alone in the world, and not alone enough
to make every moment holy...
i want my own will, and i want simply to be with my will
as it goes toward action,
and in the silent, hardly moving times
when something is coming near,
i want to be with those who know secret times
or else alone. --rilke

we make the path by walking. --robt bly

is it logical you would be walking around entirely orphaned now?
the truth is, you turned away yourself
and decided to go into the dark alone. --kabir

there are no signposts.
the road is uphill,
and the wind in my face.
still i go on. --yellow bird

long ago, i learned how to sleep
in an old apple orchard whre the wind swept by
counting its money and throwing it away. --carl sandburg

let no one be deluded that a knowledge of the path can substitute
for putting one foot in front of the other. --m. c. richards

and if we are strong enough
to be weak enough
we are given a wound
that never heals.
It is the gift
that keeps the heart open.

--oriah mountain dreamer

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