Sunday 31 January 2021

Quotes 6: David Whyte

 Enough. These few words are enough.

If not these words, this breath.
If not this breath, this sitting here.

This opening to life
we have refused
again and again
until now.

Until now.

–– David Whyte (b. 1955), British poet and author

Source: Where Many Rivers Meet 

Saturday 30 January 2021

Quotes 5: Elisabeth Tova Bailey

" Survival often depends on a specific focus: a relationship, a belief, or a hope balanced on the edge of a possibility. Or something more ephemeral: the way the sun passes through the hard, seemingly impenetrable glass of a window and warms the blanket, or how the wind, invisible but for its wake, is so loud one can hear it through the insulated walls of a house."

–– Elisabeth Tova Bailey, American author

Source: Elisabeth Tova Bailey. The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating. New York: Workman Publishing, 2010, p. 24.

Friday 29 January 2021

Quotes 4: Olivia Laing

 "We're so often told that art can't really change anything. But I think it can. It shapes our ethical landscapes; it opens us to the interior lives of others. It is a training ground for possibility. It makes plain inequalities, and it offers others ways of living. Don't you want it, to be impregnate with all that light? And what will happen if you are?" 

–– Olivia Laing (b. 1977), British author and critic

Source: Olivia Laing. Funny Weather: Art in an Emergency. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2020, p. 21(e-book).

Wednesday 27 January 2021

Quotes 3: Pico Iyer

"Objects are only as important as the emotions they awaken." 

–– Pico Iyer (b. 1957) British-born novelist and essayist

Source: Pico Iyer. Autumn Light: Season of Fire and Farewells. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2019; p. 211.

Sunday 24 January 2021

Quotes 2: John O'Donohue

 "Stillness is vital to the world of the soul. If as you age you become more still, you will discover that stillness can be a great companion. The fragments of your life will have time to unify, and the places where your soul-shelter is wounded or broken will have time to knit and heal. You will be able to return to yourself. In this stillness, you will engage your soul." 

–– John O'Donohue (1956-2008), Irish author, priest, philosopher, poet.

Saturday 23 January 2021

Quotes 1: Yung Pueblo

 "While in the midst of serious internal growth, respect your need to rest." 

–– Yung Pueblo, poet, meditator, speaker

via Judy's Journal Sunday September 13, 2020