β
When someone is counting out
gold for you, don't look at your hands,
or the gold. Look at the giver.
β
β
Jalal ad-Din Muhammad ar-Rumi (The Masnavi, Book Two)
β
I do not think I ever opened a book in my life which had not something to say upon woman's inconstancy. Songs and proverbs, all talk of woman's fickleness. But perhaps you will say, these were all written by men."
"Perhaps I shall. Yes, yes, if you please, no reference to examples in books. Men have had every advantage of us in telling their own story. Education has been theirs in so much higher a degree; the pen has been in their hands. I will not allow books to prove anything.
β
β
Jane Austen (Persuasion)
β
If everyone helps to hold up the sky, then one person does not become tired.
β
β
Askhari Johnson Hodari (Lifelines: The Black Book of Proverbs)
β
Most people write me off when they see me.
They do not know my story.
They say I am just an African.
They judge me before they get to know me.
What they do not know is
The pride I have in the blood that runs through my veins;
The pride I have in my rich culture and the history of my people;
The pride I have in my strong family ties and the deep connection to my community;
The pride I have in the African music, African art, and African dance;
The pride I have in my name and the meaning behind it.
Just as my name has meaning, I too will live my life with meaning.
So you think I am nothing?
Donβt worry about what I am now,
For what I will be, I am gradually becoming.
I will raise my head high wherever I go
Because of my African pride,
And nobody will take that away from me.
β
β
Idowu Koyenikan (Wealth for all Africans: How Every African Can Live the Life of Their Dreams)
β
Politeness is the first thing people lose once they get the power.
β
β
Amit Kalantri (Wealth of Words)
β
Women are books, and men the readers be...
β
β
Benjamin Franklin ("The Sayings of Poor Richard": The Prefaces, Proverbs, And Poems Of Benjamin Franklin, Originally Printed In Poor Richard's Almanacs For 1773 1758)
β
All worries are less with wine.
β
β
Amit Kalantri (Wealth of Words)
β
The job of feets is walking, but their hobby is dancing.
β
β
Amit Kalantri (Wealth of Words)
β
Great losses are great lessons.
β
β
Amit Kalantri (Wealth of Words)
β
Take care of your costume and your confidence will take care of itself.
β
β
Amit Kalantri (Wealth of Words)
β
Anger gets you into trouble, ego keeps you in trouble.
β
β
Amit Kalantri (Wealth of Words)
β
Seeing the mud around a lotus is pessimism, seeing a lotus in the mud is optimism.
β
β
Amit Kalantri (Wealth of Words)
β
Be a worthy worker and work will come.
β
β
Amit Kalantri (Wealth of Words)
β
Fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge. Only Fools despise wisdom and discipline."
Proverbs 1:7 NLT
β
β
Eddie Johnson
β
Father has a strengthening character like the sun and mother has a soothing temper like the moon.
β
β
Amit Kalantri (Wealth of Words)
β
Hunger gives flavour to the food.
β
β
Amit Kalantri (Wealth of Words)
β
The books I liked became a Bible from which I drew advice and support; I copied out long passages from them; I memorized new canticles and new litanies, psalms, proverbs, and prophecies, and I sanctified every incident in my life by the recital of these sacred texts. My emotions, my tears, and my hopes were no less sincere on account of that; the words and the cadences, the lines and the verses were not aids to make believe: but they rescued from silent oblivion all those intimate adventures of the spirit that I couldnβt speak to anyone about; they created a kind of communion between myself and those twin souls which existed somewhere out of reach; instead of living out my small private existence, I was participating in a great spiritual epic.
β
β
Simone de Beauvoir (Memoirs of a Dutiful Daughter)
β
Music shouldn't be just a tune, it should be a touch.
β
β
Amit Kalantri (Wealth of Words)
β
Arrogant men with knowledge make more noise from their mouth than making a sense from their mind.
β
β
Amit Kalantri (Wealth of Words)
β
Respect cannot be inherited, respect is the result of right actions.
β
β
Amit Kalantri (Wealth of Words)
β
In your name, the family name is at last because it's the family name that lasts.
β
β
Amit Kalantri (Wealth of Words)
β
Some people when they see cheese, chocolate or cake they don't think of calories.
β
β
Amit Kalantri (Wealth of Words)
β
The decision is your own voice, an opinion is the echo of someone else's voice.
β
β
Amit Kalantri (Wealth of Words)
β
There's a Good Book about goodness and how to be good and so forth, but there's no Evil Book about how to be evil and how to be bad. The Devil had no prophets to write his Ten Commandments, and no team of authors to write his biography. His case has gone completely by default. We know nothing about him but a lot of fairy stories from our parents and schoolmasters. He has no book from which we can learn the nature of evil in all its forms, with parables about evil people, proverbs about evil people, folklore about evil people. All we have is the living example of people who are least good, or our own intuition.
β
β
Ian Fleming (Casino Royale (James Bond, #1))
β
A farmer is a magician who produces money from the mud.
β
β
Amit Kalantri (Wealth of Words)
β
Common man's patience will bring him more happiness than common man's power.
β
β
Amit Kalantri (Wealth of Words)
β
Some of us can live without a society but not without a family.
β
β
Amit Kalantri (Wealth of Words)
β
Mixing old wine with new wine is stupidity, but mixing old wisdom with new wisdom is maturity.
β
β
Amit Kalantri (Wealth of Words)
β
Networking isn't how many people you know, it's how many people know you.
β
β
Amit Kalantri (Wealth of Words)
β
If you can't impress them with your argument, impress them with your actions.
β
β
Amit Kalantri (Wealth of Words)
β
During your struggle society is not a bunch of flowers, it is a bunch of cactus.
β
β
Amit Kalantri (Wealth of Words)
β
Health is hearty, health is harmony, health is happiness.
β
β
Amit Kalantri (Wealth of Words)
β
War is not just the shower of bullets and bombs from both sides, it is also the shower of blood and bones on both sides.
β
β
Amit Kalantri (Wealth of Words)
β
A slip of the foot may injure your body, but a slip of the tongue will injure your bond.
β
β
Amit Kalantri (Wealth of Words)
β
Fail soon so that you can succeed sooner.
β
β
Amit Kalantri (Wealth of Words)
β
Music is the fastest motivator in the world.
β
β
Amit Kalantri (Wealth of Words)
β
If you don't find a good teacher, find a good book.
β
β
Amit Kalantri (Wealth of Words)
β
A book is like a garden carried in the pocket.
β
β
Chinese Proverb
β
With right fashion, every female would be a flame.
β
β
Amit Kalantri (Wealth of Words)
β
Beware the man of one book.
β
β
Latin proverb
β
Today it is cheaper to start a business than tomorrow.
β
β
Amit Kalantri (Wealth of Words)
β
Every manβs personal proverb about himself is: βWhatever is, is right, in the best of all possible people.β The
β
β
Luke Rhinehart (The Dice Man: This book will change your life.)
β
Parents expect only two things from their children, obedience in their childhood and respect in their adulthood.
β
β
Amit Kalantri (Wealth of Words)
β
If she says goodbye, someone else will say hi.
β
β
Amit Kalantri (Wealth of Words)
β
The idea that women should be kept weak, uneducated, and dependent on a man in ancient civilization was somewhat misinterpreted and misused, if they were referring to biblical support. In fact, in Ancient Israel women could own property. The Book of Proverbs describes an ideal woman as a woman who has the means and capacity to make financial and business decisions. It says 'she considers a field and buys it'. (Proverbs 31:16) - Raising A Strong Daughter: What Fathers Should Know by Finlay Gow JD and Kailin Gow MA
β
β
Kailin Gow
β
In a good book the best is between the lines.
β
β
Swedish Proverb
β
Fashion doesn't make you perfect, but it makes you pretty.
β
β
Amit Kalantri (Wealth of Words)
β
It's time to shop high heels if your fiance kisses you on the forehead.
β
β
Amit Kalantri (Wealth of Words)
β
During a conversation, listening is as powerful as loving.
β
β
Amit Kalantri (Wealth of Words)
β
If thinking should precede acting, then acting must succeed thinking.
β
β
Amit Kalantri (Wealth of Words)
β
There is no robber worse than a bad book.
β
β
Italian proverb
β
The smell of the sweat is not sweet, but the fruit of the sweat is very sweet.
β
β
Amit Kalantri (Wealth of Words)
β
In modern times couples are more concerned about loyalty than love.
β
β
Amit Kalantri (Wealth of Words)
β
Vision without action is a daydream. Action without vision is a nightmare. JAPANESE PROVERB
β
β
Dave Ramsey (The Money Answer Book: Quick Answers for Your Everyday Financial Questions (Answer Book Series))
β
Never walk away from someone who deserves help; your hand is God's hand for that person.
β
β
Eugene H. Peterson (The Message: The Book of Proverbs)
β
Be humble because you are made of earth. Be noble, for you are made of stars. Serbian proverb
β
β
Matt Haig (The Comfort Book)
β
Blessed are we who can laugh at ourselves for we shall never cease to be amused. -Proverb
β
β
Louisa Thomsen Brits (The Book of Hygge: The Danish Art of Living Well)
β
This book is about the melancholic direction, which I call the βbittersweetβ: a tendency to states of longing, poignancy, and sorrow; an acute awareness of passing time; and a curiously piercing joy at the beauty of the world. The bittersweet is also about the recognition that light and dark, birth and deathβbitter and sweetβare forever paired. βDays of honey, days of onion,β as an Arabic proverb puts it.
β
β
Susan Cain (Bittersweet: How Sorrow and Longing Make Us Whole)
β
Before you worry about the beauty of your body, worry about the health of your body.
β
β
Amit Kalantri (Wealth of Words)
β
Faster is fatal, slower is safe.
β
β
Amit Kalantri (Wealth of Words)
β
He who sacrifices his respect for love basically burns his body to obtain the light.
β
β
Amit Kalantri (Wealth of Words)
β
Cowards say it can't be done, critics say it shouldn't have been done, creator say well done.
β
β
Amit Kalantri (Wealth of Words)
β
Good becomes better by playing against better, but better doesn't become the best by playing against good.
β
β
Amit Kalantri (Wealth of Words)
β
The mistakes of the world are warning message for you.
β
β
Amit Kalantri (Wealth of Words)
β
In the business people with expertise, experience and evidence will make more profitable decisions than people with instinct, intuition and imagination.
β
β
Amit Kalantri (Wealth of Words)
β
For peace read books, for success read books and take actions.
β
β
Amit Kalantri
β
We aren't going to choose paths of wisdom if we don't trust the One who has marked out those paths for us. Fear of the Lord is trust in the Lord
β
β
Lydia Brownback (A Woman's Wisdom: How the Book of Proverbs Speaks to Everything)
β
They talk of my drinking but never my thirst.
- Scottish proverb
β
β
Jason Wilson (Boozehound: On the Trail of the Rare, the Obscure, and the Overrated in Spirits [A Travel and Cocktail Recipe Book])
β
If the farmer is rich, then so is the nation.
β
β
Amit Kalantri (Wealth of Words)
β
Every one to his taste, one man loves the priest and another the priestβs wife, as the proverb says.
β
β
Nikolai Gogol (Dead Souls - Full Version (Annotated) (Literary Classics Collection Book 84))
β
You can not control the thought, but you can control the tongue.
β
β
Amit Kalantri (Wealth of Words)
β
In general, poor is polite and rich is rude.
β
β
Amit Kalantri (Wealth of Words)
β
Any girl with a grin never looks grim.
β
β
Amit Kalantri (Wealth of Words)
β
My spouse is my shield, my spouse is my strength.
β
β
Amit Kalantri (Wealth of Words)
β
What luck has gave you will probably leave you.
β
β
Amit Kalantri (Wealth of Words)
β
A professional who doesn't deliver as committed is not just lazy, he is a liar.
β
β
Amit Kalantri (Wealth of Words)
β
Power does not pardon, power punishes.
β
β
Amit Kalantri (Wealth of Words)
β
Texting is not talking and a phone is not a friend.
β
β
Amit Kalantri (Wealth of Words)
β
Passion makes you good, but pride stops you to get better.
β
β
Amit Kalantri (Wealth of Words)
β
In a democracy, there will be more complaints but less crisis, in a dictatorship more silence but much more suffering.
β
β
Amit Kalantri (Wealth of Words)
β
It is in the shelter of each other that the people live. -Irish proverb
β
β
Louisa Thomsen Brits (The Book of Hygge: The Danish Art of Living Well)
β
We are all visitors to this time, this place. We are just passing through. Our purpose here is to observe, to learn, to grow, to loveβ¦ and then we return home.β βAustralian Aboriginal proverb
β
β
Ian Thomas Healy (Deep Six (Just Cause Universe Book 4))
β
There are those whose teeth are swords, whose fangs are knives, to devour the poor from off the earth, the needy from among mankind. The leech has two daughters: Give and Give. Three things are never satisfied; four never say, βEnough.ββ Proverbs 30:15.
β
β
Grady Hendrix (The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires)
β
Old Deuteronomy's lived a long time;
He's a Cat who has lived many lives in succession.
He was famous in proverb and famous in rhyme
A long while before Queen Victoria's accession.
Old Deuteronomy's buried nine wives
And more β I am tempted to say, ninety-nine;
And his numerous progeny prospers and thrives
And the village is proud of him in his decline.
At the sight of that placid and bland physiognomy,
When he sits in the sun on the vicarage wall,
The Oldest Inhabitant croaks: "Well, of all β¦
Things β¦ Can it be β¦ really! β¦ No! β¦ Yes! β¦
Ho! hi!
Oh, my eye!
My mind may be wandering, but I confess
I believe it is Old Deuteronomy!"
Old Deuteronomy sits in the street,
He sits in the High Street on market day;
The bullocks may bellow, the sheep they may bleat,
But the dogs and the herdsman will turn them away.
The cars and the lorries run over the kerb,
And the villagers put up a notice: ROAD CLOSED β
So that nothing untoward may chance to disturb
Deuteronomy's rest when he feels so disposed
Or when he's engaged in domestic economy:
And the Oldest Inhabitant croaks: "Well of all β¦
Things β¦ Can it be β¦ really! β¦ No! β¦ Yes! β¦
Ho! hi!
Oh, my eye!
My sight's unreliable, but I can guess
That the cause of the trouble is Old Deuteronomy!
β
β
T.S. Eliot (Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats)
β
When they kiss, Alex can hear a half-remembered old proverb from catechism, mixed up between translations of the book: βCome, hijo mΓo, de la miel, porque es buena, and the honeycomb, sweet to thy taste.β He wonders what Santa Chiara would think of them, a lost David and Jonathan, turning slowly on the spot. He brings Henryβs hand to his mouth and kisses the little knob of his knuckle, the skin over the blue vein there, bloodlines, pulses, the old blood kept in perpetuity within these walls, and he thinks, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, amen.
β
β
Casey McQuiston (Red, White & Royal Blue)
β
I remember as a very young child being warned that libraries and bookstores were quiet places where noise wasnβt allowed. Here was yet another thing the adults had gotten wrong, for these book houses pulsed with sounds; they just werenβt noisy. The books hummed. The collective noise they made was like riding on a large boat where the motorβs steady thrum and tickle vibrated below oneβs sneakers, ignorable until you listened, then omnipresent and relentless, the sound that carried you forward. Each book brimmed with noises it wanted to make inside your head the moment you opened it; only the shut covers prevented it from shouting ideas, impulses, proverbs, and plots into that sterile silence.
β
β
Wendy Welch (The Little Bookstore of Big Stone Gap: A Memoir of Friendship, Community, and the Uncommon Pleasure of a Good Book)
β
I think it's misguided, and probably profane, to look at a diverse collection of books written over thousands of yearsβhistory, poetry, law, Gospel accounts, proverbs, correspondence, and other writingsβas absolute literal instructions without context, as we understand them, in all cases.
β
β
Sarah Bessey (Jesus Feminist: An Invitation to Revisit the Bible's View of Women)
β
The Church has celebrated the place of the spirit. It has emphasized the need for a healthy body, but it has totally ignored the place of the mind. For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he: Eat and drink, saith he to thee; but his heart is not with thee. Proverbs 23:7 The mind can be likened to the control room of life because it co-ordinates and controls the activities of a man. Call it the headquarters of a manβs existence, if you like. That is why scriptures say, as a man thinks in his heart (heart here meaning mind), so is he.
β
β
David Oyedepo (Think And Make Impact: Use Your Mind And Everyone Will Mind You (Making Maximum Impact Book 4))
β
It goes without saying that even those of us who are going to hell will get eternal lifeβif that territory really exists outside religious books and the minds of believers, that is. Having said that, given the choice, instead of being grilled until hell freezes over, the average sane human being would, needless to say, rather spend forever idling in an extremely fertile garden, next to a lamb or a chicken or a parrot, which they do not secretly want to eat, and a lion or a tiger or a crocodile, which does not secretly want to eat them.
β
β
Mokokoma Mokhonoana (The Use and Misuse of Children)
β
Practical advice.βPeople who read much must always keep it in mind that life is one thing, literature another. Not that authors invariably lie. I declare that there are writers who rarely and most reluctantly lie. But one must know how to read, and that isn't easy. Out of a hundred bookreaders ninety-nine have no idea what they are reading about. It is a common belief, for example, that any writer who sings of suffering must be ready at all times to open his arms to the weary and heavy-laden. This is what his readers feel when they read his books. Then when they approach him with their woes, and find that he runs away without looking back at them, they are filled with indignation and talk of the discrepancy between word and deed. Whereas the fact is, the singer has more than enough woes of his own, and he sings them because he can't get rid of them. Lβuccello canta nella gabbia, non di gioia ma di rabbia, says the Italian proverb: "The bird sings in the cage, not from joy but from rage." It is impossible to love sufferers, particularly hopeless sufferers, and whoever says otherwise is a deliberate liar. "Come unto Me all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." But you remember what the Jews said about Him: "He speaks as one having authority!" And if Jesus had been unable, or had not possessed the right, to answer this skeptical taunt, He would have had to renounce His words. We common mortals have neither divine powers nor divine rights, we can only love our neighbours whilst they still have hope, and any pretence of going beyond this is empty swagger. Ask him who sings of suffering for nothing but his songs. Rather think of alleviating his burden than of requiring alleviation from him. Surely notβfor ever should we ask any poet to sob and look upon tears. I will end with another Italian saying: Non Γ¨ un si triste cane che non meni la coda... "No dog so wretched that doesn't wag his tail sometimes.
β
β
Lev Shestov (All Things Are Possible and Penultimates Words and Other Essays (English and Greek Edition))
β
The Bible isnβt an answer book. It isnβt a self-help manual. It isnβt a flat, perspicuous list of rules and regulations that we can interpret objectively and apply unilaterally to our lives. The Bible is a sacred collection of letters and laws, poetry and proverbs, philosophy and prophecies, written and assembled over thousands of years in cultures and contexts very different from our own, that tells the complex, ever-unfolding story of Godβs interaction with humanity.
β
β
Rachel Held Evans (A Year of Biblical Womanhood)
β
A monkey is always a monkey," says the proverb, "even if he has birth-tokens of gold." Although you have a book in your hand and read all the time, you do not underΒstand a single thing that you read, but you are like the donkey that listens to the lyre and wags his ears.
If possessing books made their owner learned, they would indeed be a possession of great price, and only rich men like you would have them, since you could buy them at auction, as it were, outbidding us poor men. In that case, however, who could rival the dealers and booksellers for learning, who possess and sell so many books ? But if you care to look into the matter, you will see that they are not much superior to you in that point; they are barbarous of speech and obtuse in mind like youβjust what one would expect people to be who have no conception of what is good and bad. Yet you have only two or three books which they themselves have sold you, while they handle books night and day.
β
β
Lucian of Samosata
β
The erosion of our confidence in the future is threating to destroy the Social and the Political fabric of America. The confidence that we have always had as a people, is not simply some romantic dream, or a proverb in a dusty book, that we read, just on the Fourth of July. It is the idea of which founded our nation and has guided us in our development as a people. Confidence in the future has supported everything else. We've always believed in a thing called, progress. We've always had a faith, that the days of our children, would be better than our own. Our people are losing that faith. For the first time in the history of our country, a majority of our people believe, that the next five years, will be worse than the past five years. We were taught that our armies were always invincible and our causes were always just, only to suffer the agony of Vietnam. We respected the presidency as a place of honor, until the shock of Watergate. We've got to stop crying and start sweating. Stop talking and start walking. Working together, with our common faith, we cannot fail.
β
β
Jimmy Carter
β
Christian wives tend to leave the 'fat books' and theology to their husbands. While this may look 'submissive' to some, it is actually disobedience. It is not enough that we know Proverbs 31, Ephesians 5, 1 Peter 3, and 1 Corinthians 1 and 14. We have to know more than how to be a good wife. After all, our calling is to be good Christians; and if we are good Christians, we will be good wives and mothers. We mustn't be afraid to deal with topics other than those which directly deal with being a wife and mother.
β
β
Nancy Wilson (The Fruit of Her Hands: Respect and the Christian Woman)
β
In his book Human Universals, Donald E. Brown lists traits that people in all places share. The list goes on and on. All children fear strangers and prefer sugar solutions to plain water from birth. All humans enjoy stories, myths, and proverbs. In all societies men engage in more group violence and travel farther from home than women. In all societies, husbands are on average older than their wives. People everywhere rank one another according to prestige. People everywhere divide the world between those inside their group and those outside their group. These tendencies are all stored deep below awareness.
β
β
David Brooks (The Social Animal: The Hidden Sources Of Love, Character, And Achievement)
β
I'm getting very sorry for the Devil and his disciples such as the good LeChiffre. The Devil has a rotten time and I always like to be on the side of the underdog. We don't give the poor chap a chance. There's a Good Book about goodness and how to be good and so forth, but there's no Evil Book about evil and how to be bad. The Devil has no prophets to write his Ten Commandments and no team of authors to write his biography. His case has gone completely by default. We know nothing about him but a lot of fairy stories from our parents and schoolmasters. He has no book from which we can learn the nature of evil in all its forms, with parables about evil people, proverbs about evil people, folk-lore about evil people. All we have is the living example of the people who are least good, or our own intuition.
β
β
Ian Fleming (Casino Royale (James Bond, #1))
β
PROLOGUE
Have you ever had the feeling that someone was playing with your destiny? If so, this book is for you!
Destiny is certainly something people like to talk about. Wherever we go, we hear it mentioned in conversations or proverbs that seek to lay bare its mysteries.
If we analyse peopleβs attitude towards destiny a little, we find straight away that at one extreme are those who believe that everything in life is planned by a higher power and that therefore things always happen for a reason, even though our limited human understanding cannot comprehend why.
In this perspective, everything is preordained, regardless of what we do or donβt do.
At the other extreme we find the I can do it! believers. These focus on themselves: anything is possible if done with conviction, as part of the plan that they have drawn up themselves as the architects of their own Destiny.
We can safely say that everything happens for a reason. Whether itβs because of decisions we take or simply because circumstances determine it, there is always more causation than coincidence in life. But sometimes such strange things happen! The most insignificant occurrence or decision can give way to the most unexpected futures.
Indeed, such twists of fate may well be the reason why you are reading my book now. Do you have any idea of the number of events, circumstances and decisions that had to conspire for me to write this and for you to be reading it now? There are so many coincidences that had to come together that it might almost seem a whim of destiny that today we are connected by these words. One infinitesimal change in that bunch of circumstances and everything would have been quite differentβ¦
All these fascinating issues are to be found in Equinox.
I enjoy fantasy literature very much because of all the reality it involves. As a reader youβre relaxed, your defences down, trying to enjoy an loosely-structured adventure. This is the ideal space for you to allow yourself to be carried away to an imaginary world that, paradoxically, will leave you reflecting on real life questions that have little to do with fiction, although we may not understand them completely.
β
β
Gonzalo Guma (Equinoccio. Susurros del destino)
β
Writing for money and reservation of copyright are, at bottom, the ruin of literature. No one writes anything that is worth writing, unless he writes entirely for the sake of his subject. What in inestimable boon it would be, if in every branch of literature there were only a few books, but those excellent! This can never happen as long as money is to be made by writing. It seems as though the money lay under a curse; for every author degenerates as soon as he begins to put a pen to paper in any way for the sake of gain. The best works of the greatest men all come from the time when they had to write for nothing or for very little. And here, too, that Spanish proverb holds good, which declares that honour and money are not to be found in the same purse--honra y provecho no caben en un saco. The reason why Literature is in such a bad plight nowadays is simply and solely that people write books to make money. A man who is in want sits down and writes a book, and the public is stupid enough to buy it. The secondary effect of this is the ruin of language.
β
β
Arthur Schopenhauer
β
We may observe that the teaching of Our Lord Himself, in which there is no imperfection, is not given us in that cut-and-dried, fool-proof, systematic fashion we might have expected or desired. He wrote no book. We have only reported sayings, most of them uttered in answer to questions, shaped in some degree by their context. And when we have collected them all we cannot reduce them to a system. He preaches but He does not lecture. He uses paradox, proverb, exaggeration, parable, irony; even (I mean no irreverence) the 'wisecrack'. He utters maxims which, like popular proverbs, if rigorously taken, may seem to contradict one another. His teaching therefore cannot be grasped by the intellect alone, cannot be 'got up' as if it were a 'subject'. If we try to do that with it, we shall find Him the most elusive of teachers. He hardly ever gave a straight answer to a straight question. He will not be, in the way we want, 'pinned down'. The attempt is (again, I mean no irreverence) like trying to bottle a sunbeam.
β
β
C.S. Lewis (Reflections on the Psalms)
β
PROLOGUE Equinox: Whispers of Destiny
Have you ever had the feeling that someone was playing with your destiny? If so, this book is for you.
Destiny is certainly a topic people like to talk about. Wherever we go, we hear it mentioned in conversations or proverbs that seek to lay bare its mysteries.
If we analyze peopleβs attitude towards destiny a little, we find straight away that at one extreme there are those who believe that everything in life is planned by a higher power and that therefore things always happen for a reason, even though our limited human understanding cannot comprehend why. In that perspective, everything is preordained, regardless of what we do or donβt do.
At the other extreme we find the I can do it! Believers. These focus on themselves: anything is possible if done with conviction, as part of the plan that they have drawn up themselves as the architects of their own destiny.
We can safely say that everything happens for a reason. Whether itβs because of decisions we take or simply because circumstances determine it, there is always more causation than coincidence in life. But sometimes such strange things happen. The most insignificant occurrence or decision can give way to the most unexpected futures.
Indeed, such twists of fate may well be the reason why you are reading my book now. Do you have any idea of the number of events, circumstances and decisions that had to conspire for me to write this and for you to be reading it now? There are so many coincidences that had to come together that it might almost seem a whim of destiny that today we are connected by these words. One infinitesimal change in that set of circumstances and everything would have been quite differentβ¦
All these fascinating ideas are to be found in Equinox.
I am drawn to fantasy literature because of all the coincidences to reality. As a reader youβre relaxed, your defenses down, trusting the writer to take you on an adventure. This is the ideal space for you to allow yourself to be carried away to an imaginary world that, paradoxically, will leave you reflecting on life questions that have little to do with fiction, but I ask you that perhaps maybe they do. Β
Gonzalo Guma
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Gonzalo Guma (Equinoccio. Susurros del destino)