Feb 22 2009
Dear Friends and Readers,
I have decided to suspend updating this Blog — TrueQuotes.
I will be putting my efforts into my other Blog: God Family Crafts
It is my hope that you will visit God Family Crafts often, and also, that you will make plentiful use of the archives here at TrueQuotes.
Please check back from time-to-time and see if I have posted any special notices, and…
in the mean time - see you at God Family Crafts.
Peace be with you,
Ann
Dec 15 2008
You will never be alone with a poet in your pocket.
John Adams
What a poetic way of John Adams to give his thoughts on the value of poetry! This comment is from a letter Adams wrote to his son.
The enjoyment of poetry by the masses has diminished. There was a time not so long ago when major magazines had poetry columns or whole pages devoted to the form. Just a generation ago, certain poems were usual fare for elementary, junior high and high school students. Memorizing a poem at a young age, brings the joy of reciting it for a fresh audience years later.
There are times when a book or newspaper, or even an iPod just won’t do the trick. Perhaps those are the times Adams refers to. We need only to reach in our pocket and find some familiar verse to keep us company.
Dec 08 2008
Learn as much by writing as by reading.
–Lord Acton
When one writes, it is practice in communication. Facts are ordered as to their importance, their interest, and how well they work together. A body of knowledge, either large or small, is drawn from and the idea is to compose either to please the author, or to communicate information to the reader.
All this involved in writing adds to our learning experience. We review and order the information thereby solidifying it in our minds. We are forced to understand it more completely in order to make it understandable to others.
Then agan, you could write like you are just having fun — and you’d be surprised at how smooth it turns out! But at any rate — don’t write off writing as a way of learning.
Nov 15 2008
“And he is very unwise who attends to other things than what may serve to his salvation.”
–Thomas a Kempis (My Imitation of Christ)
Thomas a Kempis writes page after page of Christian advice, observaton, and teaching. Oddly, many of the verses and teachings can be isolated to teach, in and of themselves, without losing the essence of whole work. The quote above is one such example. It can stand on its own, but in doing so gives credence, directionm and support to its source.
a Kempis personalizes his insights and teachings by the use of personal pronouns. He does not say “it is very unwise…”, instead he the author says, “he is very unwise” Upon reading this, there is little doubt in the reader’s mind that it could apply to himself.
Wow, what a Kempis is saying really packs a punch! And since none of us wishes to be (or be considered) unwise, perhaps we should each take a look at what we are attending to at this very moment, and judge whether it may serve to our salvation.
Peace
ann
Nov 14 2008
“The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who can’t read.” - Mark Twain
Who doesn’t have some classics on the bookshelf that they intend to read … someday. I think we all do. Is reading one of those things we, as a society, have pushed to the back of our priorities. Perhaps that is too much of a stretch, and we really haven’t pushed reading to the back. But sometimes buckling down and reading a good book - a classic – takes a decision and commitment. Will it be CS Lewis, or Steinbeck? Will it be Faulkner or Melville? Perhaps tomorrow it will be Thoreau.What ever it is, enjoy, and remember that great literature can change the face of society.
Nov 07 2008
“The world is a moral arena that requires your strength.” - Annie Dillard
Moral strength, qualities such as purity, honesty and all that “moral strength” refers to, would be no test if we just kept to ourselves. But just as the victories of the past and those of today exist within competition, so, too, does our test of moral strength require a meeting with our challenger.And what challenges us? It is the people and situations around us. And where do we meet our challenger? In the arena of the World.
When we climb out of bed in the morning, when we walk out our door each day, we face people, but we also face situations. Not all situations involve people - sometimes it is nature that challenges us — the weather, an accident, our even own shortcomings. But as each day progresses we have decisions to make, many are made based on our moral background. These are the ones that require our moral strength.This challenge of our moral strength reminds me of the study of a novel, and in truth, each day, each part of our day, is a mini-story. In analysis of fiction it is said the character faces Conflict. The classic conflicts are:
Man versus man
Man vs. nature
Man vs. God
Man vs self
Man vs.society
Man vs. machine / technology
So as we go through our day in the Arena of the World, our moral strength is required to meet the conflicts of the day. Be strong, morally, my friend and answer the conflicts the world sends to you.
Nov 06 2008
“A ROOM WITHOUT BOOKS IS AS A BODY WITHOUT A SOUL.” -Cicero
This quote reached out to me when I was about 13 years old. It was on a bookmark, from Dartmouth Book Store, Hanover NH, and I still have it some 37 years later. On the back of the bookmark, I wrote a short essay about that quote.
Without a doubt that place was the largest bookstore I had ever been in at the time. I was mesmerized, I was thrilled, I was in heaven! I think I was so overwhelmed, as I am sometimes in bookstores today,that I only bought a little pocket guide to wildflowers, which I still have.
The soul is the most important part of the human person. To say that books in a room create the soul of that room is profound. But then again, Cicero was known to be profound! I look around my house and truly, that thought about books has taken hold of me. In our home there is no such thing as a room without books.
