February 28, 2014

Good Morning! 

Today is the birthday of Marcel Pagnol (1895 – 1974) who said:

“The reason people find it so hard to be happy is that they always see the past better than it was, the present worse than it is, and the future less resolved than it will be.”

It is also the birthday of Linus Pauling (1901 – 1994) who said:

“Science cannot be stopped. Man will gather knowledge no matter what the consequences – and we cannot predict what they will be. Science will go on — whether we are pessimistic, or are optimistic, as I am. I know that great, interesting, and valuable discoveries can be made and will be made… But I know also that still more interesting discoveries will be made that I have not the imagination to describe — and I am awaiting them, full of curiosity and enthusiasm.”

and

“The only sane policy for the world is that of abolishing war.”

Happy Birthday to Frank Gehry (1929 - ) who said:

“Architecture should speak of its time and place, but yearn for timelessness.”

Birthday wishes to photographer Storm Thorgerson (1944 – 2013) who said:

"I like photography because it is a reality medium, unlike drawing which is unreal. I like to mess with reality ... to bend reality. Some of my works beg the question of is it real or not?"

It is the birthday of Paul Krugman (1953 - ) who said:

“Politics determine who has the power, not who has the truth.”

Finally, it is also the birthday of Daniel Handler aka Lemony Snicket (1970 - ) who said:

“Perhaps if we saw what was ahead of us, and glimpsed the crimes, follies, and misfortunes that would befall us later on, we would all stay in our mothers’ wombs, and then there would be nobody in the world but a great number of very fat, very irritated women.”

and

“Stop saying no offense,” I said, “when you say offensive things. It’s not a free pass.”

and

“A library is like an island in the middle of a vast sea of ignorance, particularly if the library is very tall and the surrounding area has been flooded.”

and

“I’d ruin any day, all my days, for those long nights with you, and I did.”

February 27, 2014

Good Morning!

Today is the birthday of John Steinbeck (1902 – 1968) who said:

“I believe a strong woman may be stronger than a man, particularly if she happens to have love in her heart. I guess a loving woman is indestructible.”

and

“I wonder how many people I've looked at all my life and never seen.”

and

“All great and precious things are lonely.”

and

“Try to understand men. If you understand each other you will be kind to each other. Knowing a man well never leads to hate and almost always leads to love.”

It is also the birthday of James T. Farrell (1904 – 1979) who said:

“If you let conditions stop you from working, they'll always stop you.”

Happy Birthday to Peter De Vries (1910 – 1993) who said:

“I write when I'm inspired, and I see to it that I'm inspired at nine o'clock every morning.”

Birthday greetings to Laurence Durrell (1912 – 1990) who said:

“I don’t believe one reads to escape reality. A person reads to confirm a reality he knows is there, but which he has not experienced.”

and

“Science is the poetry of the intellect and poetry the science of the heart's affections.”

Finally, it is the birthday of N. Scott Momaday (1934 - ) who said:

“A word has power in and of itself. It comes from nothing into sound and meaning; it gives origin to all things.”

February 26, 2014

Good Morning!

Today is the birthday (sort of) of Christopher Marlowe (1564 – 1593; baptised on this day) who said:

“Where both deliberate, the love is slight; Who ever loved, that loved not at first sight?”

and

“Come live with me and be my love,

And we will all the pleasures prove.”

It is also the birthday of Victor Hugo (1802 – 1885) who said:

“Music expresses that which cannot be put into words and that which cannot remain silent.”

and

“He never went out without a book under his arm, and he often came back with two.”

and

“Even the darkest night will end and the sun will rise.”

and

“The greatest happiness of life is the conviction that we are loved -- loved for ourselves, or rather, loved in spite of ourselves.”

and

“Laughter is sunshine, it chases winter from the human face.”

and

“To love or have loved, that is enough. Ask nothing further. There is no other pearl to be found in the dark folds of life.”

Happy Birthday to Theodore Sturgeon (1918 – 1985) who said:

“Science fiction, outside of poetry, is the only literary field which has no limits, no parameters whatsoever.”

and

“Basically, fiction is people. You can't write fiction about ideas.”

A very special birthday tip of the hat to Johnny Cash (1932 -2003) who said:

“I wore black because I liked it. I still do, and wearing it still means something to me. It's still my symbol of rebellion -- against a stagnant status quo, …, against people whose minds are closed to others' ideas.”

and

“You build on failure. You use it as a stepping stone. Close the door on the past. You don't try to forget the mistakes, but you don't dwell on it. You don't let it have any of your energy, or any of your time, or any of your space.”

and

“I wear the black for the poor and the beaten down,

Livin' in the hopeless, hungry side of town,

I wear it for the prisoner who has long paid for his crime,

But is there because he's a victim of the times.

I wear the black for those who never read”

Finally, it is the birthday of Michel Houellebecq (1956 - ) who said:

“Those who love life do not read. Nor do they go to the movies, actually. No matter what might be said, access to the artistic universe is more or less entirely the preserve of those who are a little fed up with the world.”