"We have not passed that subtle line between childhood and adulthood until we move from the passive voice to the active voice - that is, until we have stopped saying 'It got lost,' and say, 'I lost it.' " - Sydney J. Harris

"We have not passed that subtle line between childhood and adulthood until we move from the passive voice to the active voice - that is, until we have stopped saying 'It got lost,' and say, 'I lost it.' " - Sydney J. Harris

The Writer's Almanac - Thanksgiving, 2004: "'Welcome Morning' by Anne Sexton from The Complete Poems © Houghton Mifflin, 1981. Reprinted with permission.

Welcome Morning

There is joy
in all:
in the hair I brush each morning,
in the Cannon towel, newly washed,
that I rub my body with each morning,
in the chapel of eggs I cook
each morning,
in the outcry from the kettle
that heats my coffee
each morning,
in the spoon and the chair
that cry 'hello there, Anne'
each morning,
in the godhead of the table
that I set my silver, plate, cup upon
each morning.

All this is God,
right here in my pea-green house
each morning
and I mean,
though often forget,
to give thanks,
to faint down by the kitchen table
in a prayer of rejoicing
as the holy birds at the kitchen window
peck into their marriage of seeds.

So while I think of it,
let me paint a thank-you on my palm
for this God, this laughter of the morning,
lest it go unspoken.

The Joy that isn't shared, I've heard,
dies young."

Happiness
Carl Sandburg





I asked the professors who teach the meaning of life
     to tell me what is happiness.
And I went to famous executives who boss the work
     of thousands of men.
They all shook their heads and gave me a smile
     as though I was trying to fool with them
And then one Sunday afternoon I wandered out
     along the Desplaines River
And I saw a crowd of Hungarians under the trees
     with their women and children and a keg of beer
     and an accordion.


What is happiness, anyway?


Carl Sandburg, "Chicago Poems," 1912

The Writer's Almanac: "Poem: 'Gathering Leaves' by Robert Frost, from The Poetry of Robert Frost © Holt Rinehart Winston. Reprinted with permission.

Gathering Leaves

Spades take up leaves
No better than spoons,
And bags full of leaves
Are light as balloons.

I make a great noise
Of rustling all day
Like a rabbit and deer
Running away.

But the mountains I raise
Elude my embrace,
Flowing over my arms
And into my face.

I may load and unload
Again and again
Till I fill the whole shed,
And what have I then?

Next to nothing for weight;
And since they grew duller
From contact with earth,
Next to nothing for color.

Next to nothing for use.
But a crop is a crop,
And who's to say where
The harvest shall stop?
"

"We don't see things as they are; we see them as we are." Anais Nin (quoted in The Purpose Driven Life)

And, from the same page: "'Who loves not wine, women and song, Remains a fool his whole life long'"

martin luther quotes - ThinkExist quotations: "'The fewer the words, the better the prayer.'" Martin Luther

"You are not obligated to have an opinion about what you do not understand." Soren Kierkegaard in Purity of Heart.

"For many fools do not make a wise man, and the crowd is doubtful recommendation for a cause. Yes, the larger the crowd, the more probable that which it praises is folly, and the more improbable that it is truth, and the most improbable of all it is any eternal truth." Soren Kierkegaard in Purity of Heart.

"There was a very cautious man
Who never laughed or played.
He never risked, he never tried,
He never sang or payed.
And when he one day passed away,
His insurance was denied.
For since he never really lived,
They claimed he never really died."