#na

If for instance the sentiment possessing for the moment the empire of our mind is sorrow, will not the genius sharpen the sorrow and the sorrow purify the genius? Together, will they not be like a cut diamond for which language is only the wax on which they stamp their imprint? I believe that genius, thus awakened, has no need to seek out details, that it scarcely pauses to reflect, that it never thinks of unity: I believe that the details come naturally without search by the poet, that inspiration takes the place of reflection and as for unity, I think there is no unity so perfect as that which results from a heart filled with a single idea...The nature of genius is related to that of instinct; it's operation is both simple and marvelous. ↗

— Charlotte Brontë

#sorrow #writing #inspirational

My parents were nonmaterialistic. They believed that money without knowledge was worthless, that education tempered with religion was the way to climb out of poverty in America, and over the years they were proven right. ↗

— James McBride

#inspirational #money #parenting #religion #education

I wondered if he ever thought of me, and hated the pang I felt when I told myself he didn't. ↗

— Sarah Dessen

#yearning #hate

Desires dictate our priorities, priorities shape our choices, and choices determine our actions. ↗

— Dallin H. Oaks

#choices #priorities #determination

How should we be able to forget those ancient myths that are at the beginning of all peoples, the myths about dragons that at the last moment turn into princesses; perhaps all the dragons of our lives are princesses who are only waiting to see us once beautiful and brave. Perhaps everything terrible is in its deepest being something helpless that wants help from us. So you must not be frightened if a sadness rises up before you larger than any you have ever seen; if a restiveness, like light and cloudshadows, passes over your hands and over all you do. You must think that something is happening with you, that life has not forgotten you, that it holds you in its hand; it will not let you fall. Why do you want to shut out of your life any uneasiness, any miseries, or any depressions? For after all, you do not know what work these conditions are doing inside you. ↗

— Rainer Maria Rilke

#change #courage #depression #dragons #fears

At the end of the day, no amount of investing, no amount of clean electrons, no amount of energy efficiency will save the natural world if we are not paying attention to it - if we are not paying attention to all the things that nature give us for free: clean air, clean water, breathtaking vistas, mountains for skiing, rivers for fishing, oceans for sailing, sunsets for poets, and landscapes for painters. What good is it to have wind-powered lights to brighten the night if you can't see anything green during the day? Just because we can't sell shares in nature doesn't mean it has no value. ↗

— Thomas L. Friedman

#nature

The government is merely a servant -- merely a temporary servant; it cannot be its prerogative to determine what is right and what is wrong, and decide who is a patriot and who isn't. Its function is to obey orders, not originate them. ↗

— Mark Twain

#determination

I don't entirely approve of some of the things I have done, or am, or have been. But I'm me. God knows, I'm me. ↗

— Elizabeth Taylor

#self-esteem #determination

Not everybody can be famous but everybody can be great, because greatness is determined by service. ↗

— Martin Luther King Jr.

#greatness #determination

Ring the bells that still can ring Forget your perfect offering There is a crack in everything That's how the light gets in. ↗

— Leonard Cohen

#light #living #perfection #determination