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As long as there is one upright man, as long as there is one compassionate woman, the contagion may spread and the scene is not desolate. Hope is the thing that is left to us, in a bad time. I shall get up Sunday morning and wind the clock, as a contribution to order and steadfastness.
Sailors have an expression about the weather: they say, the weather is a great bluffer. I guess the same is true of our human society — things can look dark, then a break shows in the clouds, and all is changed, sometimes rather suddenly. It is quite obvious that the human race has made a queer mess of life on this planet. But as a people we probably harbor seeds of goodness that have lain for a long time waiting to sprout when the conditions are right. Man’s curiosity, his relentlessness, his inventiveness, his ingenuity have led him into deep trouble. We can only hope that these same traits will enable him to claw his way out. Hang on to your hat. Hang on to your hope. And wind the clock, for tomorrow is another day. Sincerely, E.B. White - E.B. White, American writer Let us put our minds together and see what kind of life we can make for our children.
- Sitting Bull, Hunkpapa Lakota leader You are born. You build yourself piece by piece. You construct a narrative. You become an individual, surrounding yourself with all that you love. You are wounded too, sometimes, and left scarred. Yet you become a heroic and unique embodiment of both the things you cherish and the things that cause you pain. as you grow into this living idea, you become instantly recognizable; among the billions of faces in the world, you become that which you think you are. You stand before the world and say, "I am here and this is who I am."
- Nick Cave, an Australian musician, from his "Stranger than Kindness" book. I saw you and became empty.
This emptiness, more beautiful than existence, it obliterates existence, and yet when it comes, existence thrives and creates more existence. To praise is to praise how one surrenders to the emptiness. To praise the sun is to praise your own eyes. Praise, the ocean. What we say, a little ship. So the sea-journey goes on, and who knows where? Just to be held by the ocean is the best luck we could have. It is a total waking up. Why should we grieve that we have been sleeping? It does not matter how long we've been unconscious. We are groggy, but let the guilt go. Feel the motions of tenderness around you, the buoyancy. - Rumi, Sufi poet On the path of love there is not so much wrong and right in the moral sense, so much as what is wrong or right for you. The mind cannot help so much here. Only the heart can speak such truths. The mind may reject it, recoil, analyze and find all the reasons why the simple truth - the right choice of the heart - cannot possibly work and only lead to pain. That is why the mind does rather well, actually. But it doesn't mean the right choice - the heart choice - becomes incorrect. It means rather, that the heart has outsmarted the mind, and the mind will need to bow to the heart, even without understanding its sometimes impenetrable mysteries. Or one can choose to stay in inner conflict, fighting against the right choice, but eventually love will prevail and the way forward must be taken.
- Alana Fairchild, Australian author |
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November 2025
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