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January 7 - February 25, 2018
A tree doesn’t make a thunderstorm, but any fool knows where lightning’s going to strike.”
Anyone can love a thing because. That’s as easy as putting a penny in your pocket. But to love something despite. To know the flaws and love them too. That is rare and pure and perfect.
“I think that means humor is rooted in social transgression. I can’t transgress because I can’t figure out what would be socially unacceptable. Everything seems the same to me.”
stint thy clep
But how quickly you can finger notes is the smallest part of music. The real key is timing. It’s like telling a joke. Anyone can remember the words. Anyone can repeat it. But making someone laugh requires more than that. Telling a joke faster doesn’t make it funnier. As with many things, hesitation is better than hurry.
As they say, a jeweler knows the uncut gem. And I am. And she was. And so.
Books are a poor substitute for female companionship, but they are easier to find.
Everyone knows a man’s reputation except the man himself.
‘The cost of a loaf is a simple thing, and so a loaf is often sought …’” “‘…but some things are past valuing: laughter, land, and love are never bought.’”
“Remember: There are three things all wise men fear: the sea in storm, a night with no moon, and the anger of a gentle man.”
“Inherent power you possess as a part of yourself. Granted power is lent or given by other people.”
“Any man that’s half awake can spot a trap that’s laid for him. But to stride in boldly with a plan to turn it on its ear, that is a marvelous thing.”
“To set a trap and know someone will come in wary, ready with a trick of their own, then beat them. That is twice marvelous.”
But there was always a part of me that hoped for more, and so there was a part of me that was always a fool.
“You need to decide what you want for yourself. You want to go home? There’s a price. You want control over your life? There’s a price. You want the freedom to say no? There’s a price. There’s always a price.”
That is how heavy a secret can become. It can make blood flow easier than ink.
nothing in the world is harder than convincing someone of an unfamiliar truth.
“It’s the questions we can’t answer that teach us the most. They teach us how to think. If you give a man an answer, all he gains is a little fact. But give him a question and he’ll look for his own answers.”
When you love something, you have to make sure it loves you back, or you’ll bring about no end of trouble chasing it.”
Looters become looted, while time and tide make us mercenaries all.
Only a fool worries over what he can’t control.
Half of seeming clever is keeping your mouth shut at the right times.
“no calling of names here. I will not speak of that one, though he is shut beyond the doors of stone.”
Each woman is like an instrument, waiting to be learned, loved, and finely played, to have at last her own true music made.
Every culture is different, but one thing is always true: the surest way to give offense is to refuse the hospitality of your host.
“A story is like a nut,” Vashet said. “A fool will swallow it whole and choke. A fool will throw it away, thinking it of little worth.” She smiled. “But a wise woman finds a way to crack the shell and eat the meat inside.”
At times it seemed the branches wrote against the sky, spelling the name of the wind.
This is why we have music, after all. Words cannot always do the work we need them to. Music is there for when words fail us.
When you’re alone, it’s easy to be afraid. It’s easy to focus on what might be lurking in the dark at the bottom of the cellar steps. It’s easy to obsess on unproductive things, like the madness of stepping into a storm of spinning knives. When you’re alone it’s easy to sweat, panic, fall apart … But I wasn’t alone.
“It must be hard to be a man,” she said softly. “A woman knows she is part of the world. We are full of life. A woman is the flower and the fruit. We move through time as part of our children. But a man …” She turned her head and looked up at me with gentle pity in her eyes. “You are an empty branch. You know when you die, you will leave nothing of any import behind.”
“There can be many opinions on a thing, but there is only one truth.”
No man is brave that has never walked a hundred miles. If you want to know the truth of who you are, walk until not a person knows your name. Travel is the great leveler, the great teacher, bitter as medicine, crueler than mirror-glass. A long stretch of road will teach you more about yourself than a hundred years of quiet introspection.”
“Leave mystery to poets, priests, and fools.”
