Light-skinned-ed Girl

On Heroism

“Heroism consists of hanging on one minute longer” - Norwegian Proverb

On Failure . . .

"When you're in your twenties, when you're in your early thirties, you can tell yourself a nice story about your life: 'I'm young, I have promise, I have everything going for me.'  But when you can't tell yourself that story anymore, what are you?  You're storyless." 

from Starting Out in the Evening by Brian Morton

On Being True

"There are things that a woman sings, and only a woman knows the full meaning. You may sing for men as well as for women, but only a woman knows your full meaning. I am not a feminista. I only think a woman should be true to who she believes herself to be. Or who she wants herself to be. Or who she imagines herself to be. I don't know what I mean, or whether I'm true myself to any of that. I don't think there are many of us who are true to our possibilities." - Gayl Jones, The Healing

On Happiness

"To be happy is to be able to become aware of oneself without fright.” --Walter Benjamin

 

Photo Credit 2l3na88 via Flickr

On Friendship

“Sometimes being a friend means mastering the art of timing. There is a time for silence. A time to let go and allow people to hurl themselves into their own destiny. And a time to prepare to pick up the pieces when it's all over.” -- Gloria Naylor

An Artist's Wish . . .

“I want to do to you what spring does with the cherry trees.”  - Pablo Neruda

On Expectations

“The expectations of life depend upon diligence; the mechanic that would perfect his work must first sharpen his tools.” --Confucius

On Craftmanship

I've said before that every craftsman
searches for what's not there
to practice his craft.
A builder looks for the rotten hole
where the roof caved in. A water-carrier
picks the empty pot. A carpenter
stops at the house with no door.

Workers rush toward some hint
of emptiness, which they then
start to fill. Their hope, though,
is for emptiness, so don't think
you must avoid it. It contains
what you need!
Dear soul, if you were not friends
with the vast nothing inside,
why would you always be casting your net
into it, and waiting so patiently?
-Rumi

Photo by Nualabugeye via Flickr

On the Hidden and the Known

"The aspects of things that are most important for us are hidden because of their simplicity and familiarity.  (One is unable to notice something--because it is always before one's eyes."  -- Ludwig Wittgenstein

On Childhood

"So like a forgotten fire, a childhood can always flare up again within us." - Gaston Bachelard