Today's Words of Wisdom - December 11, 2015

Today is the birthday of the following people:

Jim Harrison (1937 - ):

“Barring love I'll take my life in large doses alone--rivers, forests, fish, grouse, mountains. Dogs.”

and

“Wherever we go we do harm, forgiving

ourselves as wheels do cement for wearing

each other out. We set this house

on fire, forgetting that we live within.”

and

“The only advice I can give to aspiring writers is don't do it unless you're willing to give your whole life to it. Red wine and garlic also helps.”

Hector Berlioz (1803 -1869):

“Time is a great teacher, but unfortunately it kills all its students."

Naguib Mahfouz (1911 – 2006):

“It's a most distressing affliction to have a sentimental heart and a skeptical mind.”

Grace Paley (1922 – 2007):

“The only thing you should have to do is find work you love to do. And I can't imagine living without having loved a person. A man, in my case. It could be a woman, but whatever. I think, what I always tell kids when they get out of class and ask, 'What should I do now?' I always say, 'Keep a low overhead. You're not going to make a lot of money.' And the next thing I say: 'Don't live with a person who doesn't respect your work.' That's the most important thing—that's more important than the money thing. I think those two things are very valuable pieces of information.”

and

“That heartbreaking moment when you finish an amazing book, and you are forced to return to reality.”

and

“Write what will stop your breath if you don’t write.”

Thomas McGuane (1939 - ):

“Literature is the ditch I'm going to die in. It's still the thing I care most about.”

and

“By your late thirties the ground has begun to grow hard. It grows harder and harder until the day that it admits you.”

Jon Brion (1963 - ):

“The feeling that someone really gets you

It's something that no one should object to

It could happen today so I suggest you

Skip your habit of laying low

It's the end of the things you know

Here we go

Because someone can say "Hello,

You old so and so, here we go"

Mos Def (1973 - ):

“Hip-hop is a beautiful culture. It's inspirational, because it's a culture of survivors. You can create beauty out of nothingness.”

and

“Speech is my hammer bang the world into shape now let it fall - HUNGH”