Passing passages

 No matter what anybody tells you, words and ideas can change the world.  ~ Dead Poet's Society.

- Hey, are you a dreamer? - Yeah - I haven't seen too many around lately. Things have been tough lately for dreamers. They say dreaming is dead, no one does it anymore. It's not dead, it's just that it's been forgotten, removed from our language. Nobody teaches it so nobody knows it exists. The dreamer is banished to obscurity. Well, I'm trying to change all that, and I hope you are too. By dreaming, every day. Dreaming with our hands and dreaming with our minds. Our planet is facing the greatest problems it's ever faced, ever. So whatever you do, don't be bored, this is absolutely the most exciting time we could have possibly hoped to be alive. And things are just starting. ~ Waking life

"Teachers never die. They live in your memory forever. They were there when you arrived, they were there when you left. Like fixtures. Once in a while they taught you something. But not that often. And, you never really knew them, any more than they knew you. Still, for awhile, you believed in them. And, if you were lucky, maybe there was one who believed in you." ~The wonder Years

What can you say about a twenty-five-year-old girl who died? That she was beautiful. And brilliant. That she loved Mozart and Bach. And the Beatles. And me. Once, when she specifically lumped me with those musical types, I asked her what the order was, and she replied, smiling, 'Alphabetical.' At the time I smiled too. But now I sit and wonder whether she was listing me by my first name - in which case I would trail Mozart - or by my last name, in which case I would edge in there between Bach and the Beatles. Either way I don't come first, which for some stupid reason bothers hell out of me, having grown up with the notion that I always had to be number one. Family heritage, don't you know? ~Love Story, Erich Segal

My wish is that you may be loved to the point of madness. ~ André Breton

L'amour est toujours devant vous. Aimez. (Love is always before you. Love it.) ~ André Breton

For humans, honesty is a matter of degree. Engineers are always honest in matters of technology and human relationships. That's why it's a good idea to keep engineers away from customers, romantic interests, and other people who can't handle the truth. - Scott Adams, The Dilbert Principle

THERE ARE ANGELS on this earth and they come in subtle forms, and I decided LaTrice Haney was one of them. Outwardly, she looked like just another efficient, clipboard-and-syringe-wielding nurse in a starched outfit. She worked extremely long days and nights, and on her off hours she went home to her husband, Randy, a truck driver, and their two children, Taylor, aged seven, and Morgan, four. But if she was tired, she never seemed it. She struck me as a woman utterly lacking in ordinary resentments, sure of her responsibilities and blessings and unwavering in her administering of care, and if that wasn’t angelic behaviour, I didn’t know what was. Often I’d be alone in the late afternoons and evenings except for LaTrice, and if I had the strength, we’d talk seriously. With most people I was shy and terse, but I found myself talking to LaTrice, maybe because she was so gentle-spoken and expressive herself. LaTrice was only in her late 20s, a pretty young woman with a coffee-and-cream co

Men say they know many things; But lo! They have taken wings,— The arts and the sciences, And a thousand appliances; The wind that blows Is all that anybody knows. ~  Henry David Thoreau (1817--1862)

The girls are made up of two halves - one half is with the conservatory and only participates for money and feels like God's gift to the world, and the others are with the drama school. They don't get paid, but pay for it - and feel like a million dollars. The same thing is true for the male extras. And they carry on in a way that I've never seen before in my life and treat me with condescension, which they are going to regret. And the real actors look down on those from the drama school and are sure to let them know. They also look down on each other, but that they don't show too much. In any case, there's a hell a lot of looking down on each other, and everyone thinks they're the only one who's wonderful. And the janitors are the only ones who act like normal people and greet you when you say hello to them. ~  Irmgard Keun in The Artificial Silk Girl

There's a difference between a failure...and a fiasco. A failure is simply the non-presence of success. Any fool can accomplish failure. But a fiasco.... A fiasco is a disaster of mythic proportions. A fiasco is a folktale told to others.. that makes other people feel more alive... because it didn't happen to them. (from Elizabethtown )

American Journalist: Hello, they said you were on the beach. Thank you for granting this interview. Edith Piaf: My pleasure. American Journalist: It’s odd to see you so far from Paris. Edith Piaf: I’m never far from Paris. American Journalist: I’ve a list of questions. Answer whatever comes to mind. Well…what’s you favorite color? Edith Piaf: Blue American Journalist: What’s your favorite dish? Edith Piaf: Pot Roast. American Journalist: Would you agree to live a sensible life? Edith Piaf: It is already the case American Journalist: Who are your most faithful friends? Edith Piaf: My true friends are my most faithful. American Journalist: If you could no longer sing…? Edith Piaf: …I could no longer live. American Journalist: Are you afraid of death? Edith Piaf: Less than solitude. American Journalist: Do you pray? Edith Piaf: Yes, because I believe in love. American Journalist: What is your fondest career memory? Edith Piaf: Every time the curtain

That day, for no particular reason, I decided to go for a little run. So I ran to the end of the road. And when I got there, I thought maybe I'd run to the end of town. And when I got there, I thought maybe I'd just run across Greenbow County. And I figured, since I run this far, maybe I'd just run across the great state of Alabama. And that's what I did. I ran clear across Alabama. For no particular reason I just kept on going. I ran clear to the ocean. And when I got there, I figured, since I'd gone this far, I might as well turn around, just keep on going. When I got to another ocean, I figured, since I'd gone this far, I might as well just turn back, keep right on going. ~ Forrest Gump (The Film, 1994)

Jenny: Were you scared in Vietnam? Forrest: Yes. Well, I-I don't know. Sometimes it would stop raining long enough for the stars to come out... and then it was nice. It was like just before the sun goes to bed down on the bayou. There was always a million sparkles on the water... like that mountain lake. It was so clear, Jenny, it looked like there were two skies one on top of the other. And then in the desert, when the sun comes up, I couldn't tell where heaven stopped and the earth began. It's so beautiful. Jenny: I wish I could've been there with you. Forrest: You were. ~ Forrest Gump (The Film, 1994)

MAUD MULLER, on a summer's day, Raked the meadow sweet with hay. Beneath her torn hat glowed the wealth Of simple beauty and rustic health. Singing, she wrought, and her merry glee The mock-bird echoed from his tree. But when she glanced to the far-off town, White from its hill-slope looking down, The sweet song died, and a vague unrest And a nameless longing filled her breast, A wish, that she hardly dared to own, For something better than she had known. The Judge rode slowly down the lane, Smoothing his horse's chestnut mane. He drew his bridle in the shade Of the apple-trees, to greet the maid, And ask a draught from the spring that flowed Through the meadow across the road. She stooped where the cool spring bubbled up, And filled for him her small tin cup, And blushed as she gave it, looking down On her feet so bare, and her tattered gown. "Thanks!" said the Judge; "a sweeter draught From a fairer hand was never quaffed." He spoke of the grass and flower

"I know there are many fetters in reality, and there is very little hope. But when I look into the distance, I am not willing to turn away. This is the dream of an ordinary person, even if I cannot reach it in my lifetime. At least, it makes my eyes look at the direction of sunrise." ~Nagoya Star

Blow the Stars home, Wind, blow the Stars home Ere Morning drowns them in golden foam. ~ Eleanor Farjeon

If I should have a daughter…“Instead of “Mom”, she’s gonna call me “Point B.” Because that way, she knows that no matter what happens, at least she can always find her way to me. And I’m going to paint the solar system on the back of her hands so that she has to learn the entire universe before she can say “Oh, I know that like the back of my hand.” She’s gonna learn that this life will hit you, hard, in the face, wait for you to get back up so it can kick you in the stomach. But getting the wind knocked out of you is the only way to remind your lungs how much they like the taste of air. There is hurt, here, that cannot be fixed by band-aids or poetry, so the first time she realizes that Wonder-woman isn’t coming, I’ll make sure she knows she doesn’t have to wear the cape all by herself. Because no matter how wide you stretch your fingers, your hands will always be too small to catch all the pain you want to heal. Believe me, I’ve tried. And “Baby,” I’ll tell her “don’t keep yo

"We're all pretty strange one way or another; some of us just hide it better. "Normal" is a dryer setting." ~Unknown

As a young cellist I had played to an audience that had included Pablo Casals and reacted with poor, nervous playing. Casals sought me out after the concert and praised me highly, somewhat easing the pain and thinking him a very kind man. Years later I again ran into Casals and thanked him for being kind to a very nervous kid. Angry, he rushed to the cello. "Listen!" He played a phrase from the Beethoven sonata. "Didn't you play this fingering? It was novel to me. It was good. And here, didn't you attack that passage with an upbow, like this?" He went through Schumann and Bach, emphasizing all he liked that I had done. "And for the rest," he said passionately, "leave it to the ignorant and stupid, who judge by counting only the faults. I can be grateful, and so must you be, for even one note, one wonderful phrase." I left with the feeling of having been with a great artist and friend. ~ Gregor Piatigorsky

The soldier stood and faced God, Which must always come to pass. He hoped his shoes were shining, Just as brightly as his brass. "Step forward now, you soldier, How shall I deal with you? Have you always turned the other cheek? To my Church have you been true?" The soldier squared his soldiers and said, "No, Lord, I guess I ain't. Because those of us who carry guns, Can't always be a saint. I've had to work most Sundays, And at times my talk was tough. And sometimes I've been violent, Because the world is awfully rough. But, I never took a penny, That wasn't mine to keep... Though I worked a lot of overtime, When the bills just got too steep. And I never passed a cry for help, Though at times I shook with fear. And sometimes, God, forgive me, I've wept unmanly tears. I know I don't deserve a place, Among the people here. They never wanted me around, Except to calm their fears. If you've a place for me here, Lord, It needn't be so grand

If you would not be forgotten as soon as you are dead, either write things worth reading or do things worth writing. --Benjamin Franklin

People always say to me "What do you think you'd like to be When you grow up?" And I say, "Why, I think I'd like to be the sky Or be a plane or train or mouse Or maybe a haunted house Or something furry, rough and wild... Or maybe I will stay a child." Karla Kuskin (b. 1932)