“
The flower that blooms in adversity is the rarest and most beautiful of all.
”
”
Walt Disney Company (Mulan (Disney Princess))
“
Life is painful. It has thorns, like the stem of a rose. Culture and art are the roses that bloom on the stem. The flower is yourself, your humanity. Art is the liberation of the humanity inside yourself.
”
”
Daisaku Ikeda
“
Keep good company, read good books, love good things and cultivate soul and body as faithfully as you can.
”
”
Louisa May Alcott (Rose in Bloom (Eight Cousins, #2))
“
And like a colorful bloom of temporary lights in the sky, you will shine.
”
”
Chad Sugg
“
the moment you don't feel like praying, get on your knees. And the moment you don't feel like reading your bible, you'd better get that Book open.
”
”
Lori Wick (Where the Wild Rose Blooms (Rocky Mountain Memories, #1))
“
When one flower blooms spring awakens everywhere
”
”
John O'Donohue
“
You are beautiful like demolition. Just the thought of you draws my knuckles white. I don’t need a god. I have you and your beautiful mouth, your hands holding onto me, the nails leaving unfelt wounds, your hot breath on my neck. The taste of your saliva. The darkness is ours. The nights belong to us. Everything we do is secret. Nothing we do will ever be understood; we will be feared and kept well away from. It will be the stuff of legend, endless discussion and limitless inspiration for the brave of heart. It’s you and me in this room, on this floor. Beyond life, beyond morality. We are gleaming animals painted in moonlit sweat glow. Our eyes turn to jewels and everything we do is an example of spontaneous perfection. I have been waiting all my life to be with you. My heart slams against my ribs when I think of the slaughtered nights I spent all over the world waiting to feel your touch. The time I annihilated while I waited like a man doing a life sentence. Now you’re here and everything we touch explodes, bursts into bloom or burns to ash. History atomizes and negates itself with our every shared breath. I need you like life needs life. I want you bad like a natural disaster. You are all I see. You are the only one I want to know.
”
”
Henry Rollins
“
Withhold a smile only when the smile can hurt someone. Otherwise, let it bloom forth in a riot.
”
”
Vera Nazarian (The Perpetual Calendar of Inspiration)
“
I hope you will go out and let stories, that is life, happen to you,and that you will work with these stories from your life--not someone else's life--water them with your blood and tears and your laughter till they bloom, till you yourself burst into bloom. That is the work. The only work.
”
”
Clarissa Pinkola Estés (Women Who Run With the Wolves)
“
You need to be buried deep in the dirt before you can find your bloom.
”
”
Roz Inga
“
Writing is.... being able to take something whole and fiercely alive that exists inside you in some unknowable combination of thought, feeling, physicality, and spirit, and to then store it like a genie in tense, tiny black symbols on a calm white page. If the wrong reader comes across the words, they will remain just words. But for the right readers, your vision blooms off the page and is absorbed into their minds like smoke, where it will re-form, whole and alive, fully adapted to its new environment.
”
”
Mary Gaitskill
“
Roses do not bloom hurriedly; for beauty, like any masterpiece, takes time to blossom.
”
”
Matshona Dhliwayo
“
Everyone wants a prodigy to fail; it makes our mediocrity more bearable.
”
”
Harold Bloom
“
As the earth dies your spirit will bloom; as the world fades your soul will rise and glisten. Amongst the dehydrated crevices of a desert earth you will stumble upon your diamonds; in between the dry skulls and cracked bones you will find your sapphires.
”
”
C. JoyBell C.
“
Where flowers bloom so does hope.
”
”
Lady Bird Johnson
“
A flower does not use words to announce its arrival to the world; it just blooms.
”
”
Matshona Dhliwayo
“
The Lotus in Buddhism is a sacred symbol that represents purity and resurrection as attributes that develop through a spiritual awakening of the self. With humble beginnings in swamplands, the Lotus flower exquisitely blooms, pure and untainted, from this murky world it thrives in. The Lotus flower represents a higher state of mind, a strong spirit cultivated far from the suffering and temptations of this muddied world that personifies beauty through the present moment.
”
”
Forrest Curran (Purple Buddha Project: Purple Book of Self-Love)
“
A flower blooms best in a happy pot.
”
”
V.C. Andrews (Music in the Night (Logan, #4))
“
Love yourself, even a little bit each day, and your life will bloom into infinite joy.
”
”
Amy Leigh Mercree
“
From the tattered edges of an exhausted mind, inspiration blooms... mental filters disintegrate and walls crumble, as the ocean of creativity washes over everything.
”
”
Jaeda DeWalt
“
As the flower blooms in spring, compassion grows in mindfulness.
”
”
Amit Ray (Meditation: Insights and Inspirations)
“
Meditation is blossoming of the prefrontal cortex to overcome the momentum of the nature. It is coming out of the loops of memories, patterns,fears, dreams and anger.
”
”
Amit Ray (Meditation: Insights and Inspirations)
“
I think that the best kind of change, is the change that comes from the inside and begins it's way out until it emerges on the outside; a change that is born underneath then continues and spreads until it has reached the surface. That's a true change. A powerful change. And I have found that while we are emerging, changing into something glorious; it is actually us becoming who we really are. A water lily is born underneath the water, inside the soil at the bottom of the river or lake. And the water lily has always been a water lily for that whole time that it was sprouting out of the wet soil, reaching up through the dark water towards the sunlight, stretching and grasping for the surface; where it then buds and blooms on the outside in the sunshine. It doesn't bud and bloom on the surface and then try to reach down below into the soil.
”
”
C. JoyBell C.
“
Nourish your eye and spirit with inspiring things. They will bloom with your tending.
”
”
SARK (Succulent Wild Woman)
“
Transformation doesn’t ask that you stop being you. It demands that you find a way back to the authenticity and strength that’s already inside of you. You only have to bloom.
”
”
Cheryl Strayed (Brave Enough: A Collection of Inspirational Quotes)
“
The art and passion of reading well and deeply is waning, but [Jane] Austen still inspires people to become fanatical readers.
”
”
Harold Bloom
“
Maybe just...Don't try to be what you think you should be. Be what you love.
”
”
Kevin Panetta (Bloom)
“
But just remember: a woman's like a rose; if you treat her right, she'll bloom, if you don't, she'll wilt.
”
”
Eric Wilson (Fireproof)
“
Bloom as if you want to make the whole world beautiful.
”
”
Debasish Mridha
“
Every flower blooms in its own time.
”
”
Ken Petti
“
Today might be the day to grasp the chance to let your talent bloom. Maybe tomorrow, the day after, or next year...Maybe even when you're thirty...But if you think it'll never come, it probably never will.
”
”
Haruichi Furudate
“
The beauty of a morning glory, is that of its patient wait for the sun to bloom in the morning!
”
”
NOT A BOOK
“
If beautiful lilies bloom in ugly waters, you too can blossom in ugly situations.
”
”
Matshona Dhliwayo
“
In the garden of my heart
Flowers of loves were blooming
Not just to express the beauty
But to spread the fragrance
Of happiness.
”
”
Debasish Mridha
“
Happiness will bloom
With fragrance and beauty
If you plant the seeds of love
With a deep driving desire
in the garden of hope
And nurture with tenderness,
Compassion, and care;
If you are always eager to share.
”
”
Debasish Mridha
“
If you tend to a flower, it will bloom, no matter how many weeds surround it.
”
”
Matshona Dhliwayo
“
It was in my flaws, I found a much deeper truth and it is from them, I bloom ..a black rose.
”
”
Segovia Amil
“
What a strange thing it is to wake up to a milk-white overcast June morning! The sun is hidden by a thick cotton blanket of clouds, and the air is vapor-filled and hazy with a concentration of blooming scent.
The world is somnolent and cool, in a temporary reprieve from the normal heat and radiance.
But the sensation of illusion is strong. Because the sun can break through the clouds at any moment . . .
What a soft thoughtful time.
In this illusory gloom, like a night-blooming flower, let your imagination bloom in a riot of color.
”
”
Vera Nazarian (The Perpetual Calendar of Inspiration)
“
Don’t deny the dreams. They’re a gift given to make your life full. Accept them. Reach for them. We are not here just to endure hard times until we die. We are here to live, to serve, to trust, and to create out of our longings.
”
”
Jane Kirkpatrick (Where Lilacs Still Bloom)
“
There are only two emotions. Love and fear.... Love and fear is all there is == Everything else is just an offshoot motivated by those two.
”
”
Alyson Noel
“
Most of the great evil in the world happens not at the hands of malice, but of fear. Because good people, the ones who would do the right thing, don’t do it, out of that fear.
”
”
Breeana Puttroff (Blooms of Consequence (Dusk Gate Chronicles, #4))
“
Be like a rose; no matter how many thorns you encounter in life, bloom.
”
”
Matshona Dhliwayo
“
Be the gardener of love and joy,
Happiness will bloom in your garden.
”
”
Debasish Mridha
“
Fear is like a weed in a garden. Once you allow it to take root, it spreads, replicating itself, until, eventually, it chokes out all the other life there. Trust, love, kindness – none of those things can ever really bloom in a garden of fear.
”
”
Breeana Puttroff (Blooms of Consequence (Dusk Gate Chronicles, #4))
“
Despite the heart numbing frost, my soul is blooming like spring.
”
”
Debasish Mridha
“
When I see a dancing butterfly,
When I see a half blooming flower,
Their eager wish to make this world happy,
My mind dances with joy,
My soul emerges in happiness.
”
”
Debasish Mridha
“
Read. Read until your eyes are sore. Then read some more.
”
”
Lisa Bloom (Think: Straight Talk for Women to Stay Smart in a Dumbed-Down World)
“
The more I love, the more flowers bloom in my heart.
”
”
Debasish Mridha
“
Let happiness bloom
In the freshness of your mind,
In the gentle wind of your thoughts.
On the ground of kindness and compassion.
”
”
Debasish Mridha
“
Bloom like a flower; unfold your own beauty.
”
”
Debasish Mridha
“
Nothing's ever all bad if you think hard enough about it.
”
”
Matthew Crow (In Bloom)
“
A flower must bloom inside first before revealing its beauty to the world.
”
”
Matshona Dhliwayo
“
In a fruitless year, take a fearless heart
Those who bloom late will light sparks through the dark
”
”
Criss Jami
“
Come out of the don'ts and impossibles. Manifest your dream. Bloom your worth.
”
”
Amit Ray (Yoga The Science of Well-Being)
“
Be an educator, bloom like a flower, be a philosopher.
”
”
Debasish Mridha
“
You don’t have to remind a flower when its time to bloom is near; it has been preparing for it all of its life.
”
”
Matshona Dhliwayo
“
Plant the trees just for beauty,
If flowers bloom or fruits ripen,
Enjoy it as a gift and appreciate nature as a universal giver.
”
”
Debasish Mridha
“
You’ve got to plant flowers in the center of your soul if you want to bloom.
”
”
Melody Lee (Vine: Book of Poetry)
“
Once the roots of love have grown deep and firm,
the flowers will keep on blooming!
”
”
Avijeet Das
“
Let us never get so jaded by the complexities of life that we forget the sweetness, pureness, innocence of love at first bloom.
”
”
J. Autherine (Wild Heart, Peaceful Soul: Poems and Inspiration to Live and Love Harmoniously)
“
Vision is defined as a program for restoring the human.
”
”
Harold Bloom (The Western Canon: The Books and School of the Ages)
“
What Emily Dickinson does not rename or redefine, she revises beyond easy recognition.
”
”
Harold Bloom (The Western Canon: The Books and School of the Ages)
“
Spring is the time to bloom like a flower with all our beauty. It is the time to spread the fragrance of our love and fill the air with joy.
”
”
Debasish Mridha
“
Dad they think she has Down Syndrome." He smiled genuinely as his eyes welled up with tears. "That's okay. We love her.
”
”
Kelle Hampton (Bloom: Finding Beauty in the Unexpected--A Memoir)
“
Like a flower, be soft, loving, kind, and beautiful, but never lose the courage to bloom.
”
”
Debasish Mridha
“
Flowers that bloom in the winter may not survive till spring.
”
”
K. Hari Kumar
“
Hope is a flower bud in the garden of the mind, waiting to bloom in the morning sun.
”
”
Debasish Mridha
“
The living are always trying to find the shortcuts to happiness in life. But look what happens when someone achieves premature success: they bloom too early and spend the rest of their lives dying....Success without struggle warps a person.
”
”
Susan Wells Bennett
“
...I love dandelions. They make me feel like sunshine itself, and you will always see some creature resting on an open bloom, if you have a little patience to wait. This vital source for all emerging pollinators is a blast of uplifting yellow to brighten even the greyest of days. It stands tall and proud, unlike all the others opening and swaying in the breeze. The odd one out.
”
”
Dara McAnulty (Diary of a Young Naturalist)
“
A star will shine in the midst of darkness.
A flower will bloom in the midst of dirt.
A camel will flourish in the midst of drought.
A diamond will form in the midst of pressure.
A champion will rise in the midst of hardship.
”
”
Matshona Dhliwayo
“
Dreams are the flowers of imagination which bloom on the fertile grounds of the mind.
”
”
Debasish Mridha
“
Every day the sun is rising for you.
Every morning birds are singing for you.
In the garden, flowers are blooming for you.
Every river is flowing with life just for you.
”
”
Debasish Mridha
“
Open your heart; open your mind. Let love bloom; let’s be kind.
”
”
Debasish Mridha
“
Thorns do not keep a rose from blooming, neither should obstacles keep you from success.
”
”
Matshona Dhliwayo
“
A daisy blooming in a desert is worth more than a rose blossoming in a rainforest.
”
”
Matshona Dhliwayo
“
Do not let the world tell you not to bloom
Just because they aren't ready for you
Just because few days after they bloomed
They died on a barren land, in the rain
You may face the same fate
But deep down you would know
It's better to die blooming
Than choosing to never grow...
”
”
Sanhita Baruah
“
Like flowers we grow, bloom, and whither - each day and each life. In our next life we'll grow, bloom, and whither even more beautifully. But although we blossom more grandiose in each new life, all our lives are perfect in their own way.
”
”
Stefan Emunds
“
Morning sunrise wakes me up
with rays of hope.
Clouds of fear can hide the sun
but not for long.
If rays of hope are strong
and patience is a song,
then hope will bloom and
rain will bring a rainbow.
”
”
Debasish Mridha
“
[Jürgen Habermas' obituary to friend and philosopher, Richard Rorty]
One small autobiographical piece by Rorty bears the title 'Wild Orchids and Trotsky.' In it, Rorty describes how as a youth he ambled around the blooming hillside in north-west New Jersey, and breathed in the stunning odour of the orchids. Around the same time he discovered a fascinating book at the home of his leftist parents, defending Leon Trotsky against Stalin. This was the origin of the vision that the young Rorty took with him to college: philosophy is there to reconcile the celestial beauty of orchids with Trotsky's dream of justice on earth. Nothing is sacred to Rorty the ironist. Asked at the end of his life about the 'holy', the strict atheist answered with words reminiscent of the young Hegel: 'My sense of the holy is bound up with the hope that some day my remote descendants will live in a global civilization in which love is pretty much the only law.
”
”
Jürgen Habermas
“
I love autumn despite the drench weather. I think it symbolises the end of misery and the beginning of glee. It gives hopes that sooner or later, flowers will bloom again, green buds will sprout from trees, and that which is dead will come back alive.
”
”
Aishah Madadiy (Bits of Heaven)
“
There's as much benefit to wishing the world away as there is in demanding a bud to bloom," responded Iphigenia as she patted Prue's hand gently. "It's better to live presently. By living thus, perhaps we can learn to understand the nature of this fragile coexistence we share with the world around us.
”
”
Colin Meloy (Wildwood (Wildwood Chronicles, #1))
“
To go into the dark with a light is to know the light. To know the dark, go dark. Go without sight and find that the dark, too, blooms and sings, and is traveled by dark feet and dark wings. —WENDELL BERRY A
”
”
Toni Bernhard (How to Be Sick: A Buddhist-Inspired Guide for the Chronically Ill and Their Caregivers)
“
To him,
she was like a flower
that bloomed in the snow.
Thriving under conditions
in which nothing could grow.
To some,
she was a weed
born benighted.
But in his eyes,
she was a wildflower
with a soul ignited.
”
”
A.Y. Greyson
“
Flowers were blooming, withered soon.. Rains kept falling, wasn't forever.. Dogs were barking, just for sometime.. Sun, moon & stars were invisible at times, but they kept watching you.. Let them shine for you, before it’s too late..
”
”
Heshan Udunuwara
“
The moon shines in my body, but my blind eyes cannot see it:
The moon is within me, and so is the sun.
The unstruck drum of Eternity is sounded within me; but my deaf ears cannot hear it.
So long as man clamors for the I and the Mine, his works are as naught:
When all love of the I and the Mine is dead, then the work of the Lord is done.
For work has no other aim than the getting of knowledge:
When that comes, then work is put away.
The flower blooms for the fruit: when the fruit comes, the flower withers.
The musk is in the deer, but is seeks it not within itself: it wanders in quest of grass.
”
”
Kabir
“
Some people misunderstand evil and believe it will relent, and because their misplaced hope inspires dark hearts to dream darker dreams, they are the fathers and mothers of all wars. Evil does not relent; it must be defeated. And even when defeated, uprooted, and purified by fire, evil leaves behind a seed that will one day germinate and, in blooming, again be misunderstood.
”
”
Dean Koontz
“
Tomorrow’s flower is today’s seed. And it’s okay that the seed is not a flower yet. It’s okay that it has a bit of a process to undertake before it blooms. There’s nothing wrong with the seed right now. It’s exactly what it’s supposed to be in this moment. And so are you.
”
”
Emily Maroutian (The Book of Relief: Passages and Exercises to Relieve Negative Emotion and Create More Ease in The Body)
“
Because it has lived its life intensely
the parched grass still attracts the gaze of passers-by.
The flowers merely flower,
and they do this as well as they can.
The white lily, blooming unseen in the valley,
Does not need to explain itself to anyone;
It lives merely for beauty.
Man, however, cannot accept that 'merely'.
If tomatoes wanted to be melons,
they would look completely ridiculous.
I am always amazed
that so many people are concerned
with wanting to be what they are not;
what's the point of making yourself look ridicuolous?
You don't always have to pretend to be strong,
there's no need to prove all the time that everything is going well,
you shouldn't be concerned about what other people are thinking,
cry if you need to,
it's good to cry out all your tears
(because only then will you be able to smile again).
”
”
Mitsuo Aida
“
Yesterday it was sun outside. The sky was blue and people were lying under blooming cherry trees in the park. It was Friday, so records were released, that people have been working on for years. Friends around me find success and level up, do fancy photo shoots and get featured on big, white, movie screens. There were parties and lovers, hand in hand, laughing perfectly loud,
but I walked numbly through the park, round and round,
40 times for 4 hours
just wanting to make it through the day.
There's a weight that inhabits my chest some times. Like a lock in my throat, making it hard to breathe. A little less air got through
and the sky was so blue I couldn’t look at it because it made me sad, swelling tears in my eyes and they dripped quietly on the floor as I got on with my day. I tried to keep my focus, ticked off the to-do list, did my chores. Packed orders, wrote emails, paid bills and rewrote stories,
but the panic kept growing, exploding in my chest. Tears falling on the desk
tick tick tick
me not making a sound
and some days I just don't know what to do. Where to go or who to see and I try to be gentle, soft and kind,
but anxiety eats you up and I just want to be fine.
This is not beautiful. This is not useful. You can not do anything with it and it tries to control you, throw you off your balance and lovely ways
but you can not let it.
I cleaned up. Took myself for a walk. Tried to keep my eyes on the sky. Stayed away from the alcohol, stayed away from the destructive tools we learn to use.
the smoking and the starving, the running, the madness,
thinking it will help but it only feeds the fire
and I don't want to hurt myself anymore.
I made it through and today I woke up, lighter and proud because I'm still here. There are flowers growing outside my window. The coffee is warm, the air is pure. In a few hours I'll be on a train on my way to sing for people who invited me to come, to sing, for them. My own songs, that I created. Me—little me. From nowhere at all.
And I have people around that I like and can laugh with, and it's spring again.
It will always be spring again.
And there will always be a new day.
”
”
Charlotte Eriksson
“
Sunflowers, Not Facing the Sun (A Poem)
I stand tall
As gracious as one could be
Blooming to my best
As slender as it touches my being
Everyone else is facing the sun
Bending towards its unfathomable galore
They and I are both undoubtedly
Grown on the benevolence of life’s essence
The brighter side mercilessly feeding desires unbound
By daunting the “courage to know” with each spin
Though, I am not able to face the sun the way they do
Yet, I learn from the knowledge bred within me
Beyond achievement markers, but an adverse ability
An opportunity to exercise my special self
From the cherubic attire of my blessed soul
To the unfathomable mystery the drape of this world hides
That I, by not facing the sun
Hunt the gems in the milieu of the human existence
”
”
Annie Ali
“
When you find yourself falling into the pit of anxiety, remember the ladder of hope that reminds you there is no reason to be afraid. There is still a way out of this, and you are still capable—not perfect, but capable—and you have permission to try to climb again. Even if your hands shake, and your knees are weaker from the fall, you can still trade your fears of tomorrow with hope for today: the courageous decision to climb on anyway out of the pit of anxious thoughts.
There is no reason to live afraid.
”
”
Morgan Harper Nichols (All Along You Were Blooming: Thoughts for Boundless Living)
“
The symbol of the Lotus flower gives a precious teaching that can inspire us to deal with life in the best possible way. Its roots take nourishment from muddy waters and yet bloom in full delicacy and beauty on the surface. Similarly, to have a positive mindset is a beautiful quality; nonetheless to be transformational it needs to be rooted firmly in reality to then blossom with the value which can be created from the muddy problem(s)
”
”
Dorotea Brandin (Heart to heart(s) Communication @ work.Universal values of Buddhism to inspire open, compassionate and effective communication)
“
She bleeds poetry. She is an old soul. She has already existed since the day the Earth gave birth to nature. She felt the sweet caress of the wind touch her skin and the silent cries of night. She heard the screaming of thunder as the lightning bolt stabbed the heart of the weeping sky. She saw everything bloom and heard a soft sound of relief as they threw their burdens into the listening earth. She is strong enough to bear it all as time changes and has learned to live with the pain of losing and winning. She can't be defeated, nor be broken. She'll continue to live again and again. And if someone were to break her down or break her heart, she couldn't be shaken. She'll stand up and let poetry bleed into her. She's rare and SHE IS ME.
”
”
Verliza Gajeles
“
Durga wore a simple sea-green dress and a lei of lotus flowers. . . “Take this,” it has no special power except that the blooms will not fade, but it will serve a purpose on your voyage. I want you to learn the lesson of the lotus. This flower springs forth from muddy waters. It raises its delicate petals to the sun and perfumes the world while, at the same time, its roots cling to the elemental muck, the very essence of the mortal experience. Without that soil, the flower would wither and die.” She placed the lei over my neck. “Dig down and grow strong roots, my daughter, for you will stretch forth, break out of the waters and find peace on the calm surface at last. You will discover that if you hadn’t stretched, you would have drowned in the deep, never to blossom or share your gift with others.
”
”
Colleen Houck (Tiger's Quest (The Tiger Saga, #2))
“
I think that the most beautiful of people are like exquisite serpents— glorious sheen, glorious patterns and elaborate grace— but you do wrong to cast envy upon them, lest you want to also taste of the venom they carry in their mouthes! Beauty is so often born from adversity of circumstance, like the lotus born of the mud, reaching up through the water and into the light! I often wake up from dreams of being underwater, I suppose I am a lotus flower that has made her way! But you do wrong to envy the lotus blossom, for you know not of her journey! Not all of us are serpents and lotus flowers, not all of us are beautiful like that; too many people just sit there, ignorantly casting envy on what they do not even comprehend!
”
”
C. JoyBell C.
“
Oh little Poupchette, some may tell you that you are nobody's child, a child of defilement, a child begotten in fear and horror. Some may tell you that you are a child of abomination conceived in abomination, a tainted child, a child polluted long before you were born. Do not pay attention to them, my little sweetheart, please do not listen to them; listen to me. I say you are my child and I love you. I sometimes say that out of horror, beauty and purity and grace are born. I say I am your father for ever. I say the loveliest rose can bloom in contaminated soil. I say you are the dawn, the light of all my tomorrows, and the only thing that matters is the promise you represent. I say you are my luck and my forgiveness. My darling Poupchette, I say you are my whole life.
”
”
Philippe Claudel (Brodeck)
“
Do More… Do more than exist—live. Do more than hear—listen. Do more than agree—cooperate. Do more than talk—communicate. Do more than grow—bloom. Do more than spend—invest. Do more than think—create. Do more than work—excel. Do more than share—give. Do more than decide—discern. Do more than consider—commit. Do more than forgive—forget. Do more than help—serve. Do more than coexist—reconcile. Do more than sing—worship. Do more than think—plan. Do more than dream—do. Do more than see—perceive. Do more than read—apply. Do more than receive—reciprocate. Do more than choose—focus. Do more than wish—believe. Do more than advise—help. Do more than speak—impart. Do more than encourage—inspire. Do more than add—multiply. Do more than change—improve. Do more than reach—stretch. Do more than ponder—pray. Do more than just live—live for Jesus.
”
”
John Mason (You Can Do It--Even if Others Say You Can't)
“
To write, to be able to write, what does it mean? It means spending long hours dreaming before a white page, scribbling unconsciously, letting your pen play round a blot of ink and nibble at a half-formed word, scratching it, making it bristle with darts and adorning it with antennae and paws until it loses all resemblance to a legible word and turns into a fantastic insect or a fluttering creature half butterfly, half fairy.
To write is to sit and stare, hypnotized, at the reflection of the window in the silver ink-stand, to feel the divine fever mounting to one's cheeks and forehead while the hand that writes grows blissfully numb upon the paper. It also means idle hours curled up in the hollow of the divan, and then the orgy of inspiration from which one emerges stupefied and aching all over, but already recompensed and ladened with treasures that one unloads slowly on to the virgin page in the little round pool of light under the lamp.
To write is to pour one's innermost self passionately upon the tempting paper, at such frantic speed that sometimes one's hand struggles and rebels, overdriven by the impatient god who guides it — and to find, next day, in place of the golden bough that bloomed miraculously in that dazzling hour, a withered bramble and a stunted flower.
To write is the joy and torment of the idle. Oh to write! From time to time I feel a need, sharp as thirst in summer, to note and to describe. And then I take up my pen again and attempt the perilous and elusive task of seizing and pinning down, under its flexible double-pointed jib, the many-hued, fugitive, thrilling adjective.… The attack does not last long; it is but the itching of an old scar.
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Colette Gauthier-Villars (The Vagabond)
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In the life of Moses, in Hebrew folklore, there is a remarkable passage. Moses finds a shepherd in the desert. He spends the day with the shepherd and helps him milk his ewes, and at the end of the day he sees that the shepherd puts the best milk he has in a wooden bowl, which he places on a flat stone some distance away. So Moses asks him what it is for, and the shepherd replies 'This is God's milk.' Moses is puzzled and asks him what he means. The shepherd says 'I always take the best milk I possess, and I bring it as on offering to God.' Moses, who is far more sophisticated than the shepherd with his naive faith, asks, 'And does God drink it?' 'Yes,' replies the shepherd, 'He does.' Then Moses feels compelled to enlighten the poor shepherd and he explains that God, being pure spirit, does not drink milk. Yet the shepherd is sure that He does, and so they have a short argument, which ends with Moses telling the shepherd to hide behind the bushes to find out whether in fact God does come to drink the milk. Moses then goes out to pray in the desert. The shepherd hides, the night comes, and in the moonlight the shepherd sees a little fox that comes trotting from the desert, looks right, looks left and heads straight towards the milk, which he laps up, and disappears into the desert again. The next morning Moses finds the shepherd quite depressed and downcast. 'What's the matter?' he asks. The shepherd says 'You were right, God is pure spirit, and He doesn't want my milk.' Moses is surprised. He says 'You should be happy. You know more about God than you did before.' 'Yes, I do' says the shepherd, 'but the only thing I could do to express my love for Him has been taken away from me.' Moses sees the point. He retires into the desert and prays hard. In the night in a vision, God speaks to him and says 'Moses, you were wrong. It is true that I am pure spirit. Nevertheless I always accepted with gratitude the milk which the shepherd offered me, as the expression of his love, but since, being pure spirit, I do not need the milk, I shared it with this little fox, who is very fond of milk.
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Anthony Bloom (Beginning to Pray)
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THE ANTHEM OF HOPE
Tiny footprints in mud, metal scraps among thistles
Child who ambles barefooted through humanity’s war
An Elderflower in mud, landmines hidden in bristles
Blood clings to your feet, your wee hands stiff and sore
You who walk among trenches, midst our filth and our gore
Box of crayons in hand, your tears tumble like crystals
Gentle, scared little boy, at the heel of Hope Valley,
The grassy heel of Hope Valley.
And the bombs fall-fall-fall
Down the slopes of Hope Valley
Bayonets cut-cut-cut
Through the ranks of Hope Valley
Napalm clouds burn-burn-burn
All who fight in Hope Valley,
All who fall in Hope Valley.
Bullets fly past your shoulder, fireflies light the sky
Child who digs through the trenches for his long sleeping father
You plant a kiss on his forehead, and you whisper goodbye
Vain corpses, brave soldiers, offered as cannon fodder
Nothing is left but a wall; near its pallor you gather
Crayon ready, you draw: the memory of a lie
Kind, sad little boy, sketching your dream of Hope Valley
Your little dream of Hope Valley.
Missiles fly-fly-fly
Over the fields of Hope Valley
Carabines shoot-shoot-shoot
The brave souls of Hope Valley
And the tanks shell-shell-shell
Those who toiled for Hope Valley,
Those who died for Hope Valley.
In the light of gunfire, the little child draws the valley
Every trench is a creek; every bloodstain a flower
No battlefield, but a garden with large fields ripe with barley
Ideations of peace in his dark, final hour
And so the child drew his future, on the wall of that tower
Memories of times past; your tiny village lush alley
Great, brave little boy, the future hope of Hope Valley
The only hope of Hope Valley.
And the grass grows-grows-grows
On the knolls of Hope Valley
Daffodils bloom-bloom-bloom
Across the hills of Hope Valley
The midday sun shines-shines-shines
On the folk of Hope Valley
On the dead of Hope Valley
From his Aerodyne fleet
The soldier faces the carnage
Uttering words to the fallen
He commends their great courage
Across a wrecked, tower wall
A child’s hand limns the valley
And this drawing speaks volumes
Words of hope, not of bally
He wipes his tears and marvels
The miracle of Hope Valley
The only miracle of Hope Valley
And the grass grows-grows-grows
Midst all the dead of Hope Valley
Daffodils bloom-bloom-bloom
For all the dead of Hope Valley
The evening sun sets-sets-sets
On the miracle of Hope Valley
The only miracle of Hope Valley
(lyrics to "the Anthem of Hope", a fictional song featured in Louise Blackwick's Neon Science-Fiction novel "5 Stars".
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Louise Blackwick (5 Stars)