Bill Hemmerling

This bit of wisdom was on a painting I saw in a gallery on my recent New Orleans trip:

"Be encouraged / trouble don't last / wisdom / a diamond was at one time a piece of coal / and a frog was once a tadpole / a river a stream / a star just a beam"

-William Hemmerling, from the painting "Be Encouraged"

Michael Stipe

"Some I'm confused by what I think is really obvious.  But what I think is really obvious obviously isn't obvious..."

-Michael Stipe

Pablo Casals

There is a lot to explore - don't limit yourself.

"The love of one's country is a splendid thing.  But why should love stop at the border?"

-Pablo Casals

Lewis Carroll

I'm still trying to figure out my life, but I need to remember that it just figures itself out:

"If you don't know where you are going, any road will get you there."

-Lewis Carroll

The Big Chill

Over the weekend, I watched one of the defining movies of my parents' generation, The Big Chill.  Not bad.  I particularly liked this exchange:


Michael: I don't know anyone who could get through the day without two or three juicy rationalizations. They're more important than sex. 
Sam: Ah, come on. Nothing's more important than sex. 
Michael: Oh yeah? Ever gone a week without a rationalization? 


-The Big Chill

Claude Monet

This is probably how I feel about my blogging...

"People discuss my art and pretend to understand as if it were necessary to understand, when it's simply necessary to love"

-Claude Monet

Tobias Wolff

I think this can be applied to your approach to life, but it is most applicable to my recent past when thinking of relationships:

"The compromises don't diminish us, they humanize us."

-Tobias Wolff