First, the winner of the Extreme Origami book from Nov. 25′s blog post: Congratulations to Kristin McNamara Freeman! Send me your mailing address and the book is on the way. * * *
Time to update your journal with some good quotes. Here’s one I stole from Liz Crain, a contributor to the new book and a skilled ceramicist. The quote isn’t Liz’s, but it’s written on a shelf in her closet:
“If you can’t get rid of the skeletons in your closet, you’d best teach them to dance.” –George Bernard Shaw
Notes for the first edition of the Oxford English Dictionary
And poet e e cummings understood how hard it is to live authentically: “It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are.”
Once you start to experience life in every aspect, take heart from this quoteby Dr. Martin Luther King:
“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”
And finally, Samuel Johnson (who compiled the first English dictionary; it pre-dated the Oxford English Dictionary by 150 years) is appropriate contributor to your journal. ” Pleasure is very seldom found where it is sought. Our brightest blazes are commonly kindled by unexpected sparks.
-–Quinn McDonald is working on her second book, about inner heroes and inner critics.
I think I already wrote the MLK quote in one of my old journals…I’ll write it again.
You can never have enough of that wise quote!
The history of dictionaries is fascinating. I think they were originally more like “phrasebooks” for help understanding other languages. Given the state of literacy, it’s amazing how far back they go — I remember reading about one circa 1200 CE. And of course there’s “The Professor and the Madman”, a captivating book about the weird but true story of the Oxford English Dictionary and its best contributor, who submitted entries from his room in a lunatic asylum.
Many of those lunatics were quite intelligent, just didn’t fit into society, so off they went.
That particular guy — William Minor — was according to the book a pretty legitimate nut. Murdered a guy because of a hallucination, and…well, read the book, it’s fascinating.
So was William Minor–fascinating.
I really really love the ee cummings quote—I will have to use it in my journal! Thanks-as always for your inspiration!
It caught my heart, too!
“Good artists borrow, great artists steal!” (Picasso?) Good one Quinn! I love how you take your inspirations as you find them and pass them along. There is NOTHING like a good quotation!
Particularly since I found that first one on your closet shelf. What a great idea!