Incidentally #1
Over the years I have amassed a collection of favorite quotations from both the famous and obscure. They are scattered throughout my computer, and I am attempting to organize and cull them, and in time, have them published here in a series called “Incidentally.” I think that title will reflect well its motley nature. Each installment will feature twenty percipient, witty, or just plain zany quotations on a wide variety of subjects. Enjoy these first samplings.
The difference between utility and utility plus beauty is the difference between telephone wires and the spider web.
—Edwin Way Teale
Quietude, which some men cannot abide because it reveals their inward poverty, is a palace of cedar to the wise, for along its hallowed court, the King in His beauty deigns to walk.
—Charles Spurgeon
Perhaps, I thought, while her words still hung in the air between us like a wisp of tobacco smoke—a thought to fade and vanish like smoke without a trace—perhaps all our loves are merely hints and symbols; a hill of many invisible crests; doors that open as in a dream to reveal only a further stretch of carpet and another door; perhaps you and I are types and this sadness which sometimes falls between us springs from disappointment in our search, each straining through and beyond the other, snatching a glimpse now and then of the shadow which turns the corner always a pace or two ahead of us.
—Evelyn Waugh, Brideshead Revisited
Never fear shadows. They simply mean there’s a light shining somewhere nearby.
—Ruth E. Renkel
Duty makes us do things well, but love makes us do them beautifully.
—Brooks
Think big thoughts, but relish small pleasures.
—H. Jackson Brown, Jr.
A bit of fragrance always clings to the hand that gives roses.
—Chinese proverb
The happiness of life is made up of minute fractions—the little soon-forgotten charities of a kiss or smile, a kind look, a heartfelt compliment, and the thousand infinitesimals of pleasurable and genial feeling.
—Coleridge
I find that doing the will of God leaves no time for disputing about his plans.
—George MacDonald
One of the advantages of being disorganized is that one is always having surprising discoveries.
—A. A. Milne
In an age of hope men looked up at the night sky and saw ”the heavens.” In an age of hopelessness they call it simply “space.”
—Peter Kreeft
Don’t use words too big for the subject. Don’t say “infinitely” when you mean “very”; otherwise, you’ll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite.
—C. S. Lewis
It is perilously easy to believe that we love God because we like the idea of God, or because we feel drawn to him. The only valid test of love is obedience.
—Elizabeth Elliot
A great man stands on God. A small man stands on a great man.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson
He who waits to do a great deal of good at once will never do anything.
—Samuel Johnson
The man who is ostentatious in his modesty is twin to the statue that wears a fig leaf.
—Mark Twain
When a man is wrapped up in himself, he makes a pretty small package.
—John Ruskin
The idle, the careless, and the volatile may be engaging enough as companions, but they do not turn out honest work, and are not building up for themselves integrity of character. This rests upon foundations of diligence, attention, and perseverance. In the end, integrity makes for gaiety, because the person who is honest about his work has time to play, and is not secretly vexed by the remembrance of things left undone or ill done.
—Charlotte M. Mason. Ourselves.
When people lose sight of the way to live comes codes of love and honesty.
—Lao Tsu
Wonder is the beginning of wisdom.
—Greek proverb
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ELISSA said...
What a delightful post, dear! I enjoyed all the lovely quotes, and I loved a few so much I put them as “sticky notes” on my computer desktop. I look forward to the future installments of “Incidentally.” Blessings to you, dear friend! —Elissa
Tuesday, July 27, 2010 09:12 PM
HANDMAIDEN said...
I am glad to know you enjoyed it, Elissa. Look for a second installment in mid-August.
Saturday, July 31, 2010 10:37 AM
Tuesday, July 27, 2010