December 31, 2008

Out of the bosom of the Air,
Out of the cloud-folds of her garments shaken,
Over the woodlands brown and bare
Over the harvest-fields forsaken,
Silent and soft and slow
Descends the snow.

- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, "Snow-flakes"

December 30, 2008

Don't waste life in doubts and fears; spend yourself on the work before you, well assured that the right performance of this hour's duties will be the best preparation for the hours and ages that will follow it.

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

December 29, 2008

What is life? It is the flash of a firefly in the night. It is the breath of a buffalo in the wintertime. It is the little shadow which runs across the grass and loses itself in the sunset. -

- Crowfoot

The night is darkening round me,
The wild winds coldly blow ;
But a tyrant spell has bound me,
And I cannot, cannot go.

The giant trees are bending
Their bare boughs weighed with snow ;
The storm is fast descending,
And yet I cannot go.

Clouds beyond clouds above me,
Wastes beyond wastes below ;
But nothing drear can move me :
I will not, cannot go.

- Emily Bronte, "The Night is Darkening Around Me"

December 28, 2008

A wedding is a start of togetherness... of walks in the rain, basking in the sunshine, shared meals, caring for one another and sensing the love that a marriage carries.

- Unknown

December 27, 2008

The customers go for it - it's so old, it's new. We got the television too. We run movies. What can I offer you?

- Touch of Evil

December 26, 2008

Among the men who fought on Iwo Jima, uncommon valor was a common virtue.

- Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz (March 16, 1945)

December 25, 2008

Christmas waves a magic wand over this world, and behold, everything is softer and more beautiful.

- Norman Vincent Peale

Happy, happy Christmas, that can win us back to the delusions of our childish days; that can recall to the old man the pleasures of his youth; that can transport the sailor and the traveller, thousands of miles away, back to his own fire-side and his quiet home!

- Charles Dickens, The Pickwick Papers, 1836

December 24, 2008

'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there;

- The Night Before Christmas

December 23, 2008

He's Mister White Christmas, he's Mister Snow. He's Mr. Icicle, he's Mister 10 below.

- The Year Without Santa Claus

December 22, 2008

There is nothing half so sweet in life As love's young dream.

- Thomas Moore

December 21, 2008

Hold fast to dreams, For if dreams die, Life is a broken-winged bird that cannot fly, Hold fast to dreams, For if dreams go, Life is a barren field, Frozen with snow.

- Langston Hughes

December 20, 2008

I'm dreaming of a white Christmas
With every Christmas card I write
May your days be merry and bright
And may all your Christmases be white

- "White Christmas"

December 19, 2008

The older generation thought nothing of getting up at five every morning - and the younger generation doesn't think much of it either.

- John J. Welsh

December 18, 2008

Yeah, I never seen anyone lookin' so fine Man,
I gotta have her, she's a one-of-a-kind
I'm goin' once, goin' twice, I'm sold!
On the lady in the long black dress
Well she won my heart it was no contest
With her ruby red lips, blond hair, blue eyes
Well I'm about to bid my heart good-bye!

- John Michael Montgomery, "Sold (The Grundy County Auction Incident)"

December 17, 2008

Time takes it all whether you want it to or not, time takes it all. Time bares it away, and in the end there is only darkness. Sometimes we find others in that darkness, and sometimes we lose them there again.

- Stephen King

December 16, 2008

Heaven doth with us as we with torches do; not light them for themselves.

- William Shakespeare, "Measure for Measure"

December 15, 2008

Why does the eye see a thing more clearly in dreams than the imagination when awake?

- Leonardo da Vinci

December 14, 2008

I rearrange furniture at home all the time, at least three or four times a year. It gets boring if you don't.

- Lillie White

December 13, 2008

Oh, no. This story is going to be immortalized into family history, isn't it? Told and retold at Thanksgiving dinner, year after year.

- Must Love Dogs

December 12, 2008

The piano is a monster that screams when you touch its teeth.

- Andre Segovia

December 11, 2008

You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself in any direction you choose. You're on your own. And you know what you know. You are the guy who'll decide where to go.

- Dr. Seuss

December 10, 2008

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas;
Soon the bells will start,
And the thing that will make them ring is the carol that you sing
Right within your heart.

- It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

December 09, 2008

Seemingly without further thought without question or doubt they stood when he called left their homes, their lives their nets on the shore and moved with him into the countryside to begin their work with him; but all because he called them to follow him, to be fishers of men.

- Raymond Foss, "They Followed"

December 08, 2008

The purpose of learning is growth, and our minds, unlike our bodies, can continue growing as we continue to live.

- Mortimer Adler

December 07, 2008

Stockings hung by the fireplace with care in hopes that St Nick would soon be there...

"Careful, you might start an avalanche." "With what? There's no fucking snow!"

- Farce of the Penguins

December 06, 2008

You meet new people. We just spent two hours with people we didn't know before, just talking about the Badgers.

- Steve Bartlett

December 05, 2008

Hunger is the best sauce in the world.

- Cervantes

December 04, 2008

We now know a thousand ways not to build a light bulb.

- Thomas Alva Edison

December 03, 2008

We look at the world and see what we have learned to believe is there. We have been conditioned to expect.... but, as photographers, we must learn to relax our beliefs.

- Aaron Siskind

December 02, 2008

I will have poetry in my life. And adventure. And love. Love above all. No... not the artful postures of love, not playful and poetical games of love for the amusement of an evening, but love that... over-throws life. Unbiddable, ungovernable - like a riot in the heart, and nothing to be done, come ruin or rapture. Love - like there has never been in a play.

- Shakespeare in Love

December 01, 2008

Deck the halls with boughs of holly
Fa-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la
'Tis the season to be jolly
Fa-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la
Don we now our gay apparel.
Fa-la-la, la-la-la, la-la-la
Troll the ancient Yuletide carol.
Fa-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la.

- Deck the Halls

November 30, 2008

Whenever it's just snow, you're usually OK if you drive slow. But anytime you add sleet or freezing rain into the mix, traction on your car goes to bust. It takes a lot longer to stop, and that's when we run into problems.

- Victor Cruz

November 29, 2008

This house is so full of people it makes me sick. When I grow up and get married, I'm living alone.

- Home Alone

November 29, 2008

Well, I can hear the whistle from a mile away,
It sounds so good
But I must stay away
That train is a beauty, makin' everybody stare
But its only destination is the middle of nowhere;

- Josh Turner, "Long Black Train"

November 27, 2008

The funny thing about Thanksgiving, or any huge meal, is that you spend 12 hours shopping for it and then chopping and cooking and braising and blanching. Then it takes 20 minutes to eat it and everybody sort of sits around in a food coma, and then it takes four hours to clean it up.

- Ted Allen

November 26, 2008

If you want to understand today, you have to search yesterday.

- Pearl Buck

November 25, 2008

The whole difference between construction and creation is exactly this: that a thing constructed can only be loved after it is constructed; but a thing created is loved before it exists.

- Charles Dickens

An old broom knows the dirty corners best.

- Irish Proverb

November 24, 2008

No one appreciates the very special genius of your conversation as the dog does.

- Christopher Morley

November 23, 2008

How beautiful it is to do nothing, and then rest afterward.

- Spanish Proverb

November 22, 2008

I do believe that when we face challenges in life that are far beyond our own power, it's an opportunity to build on our faith, inner strength, and courage. I've learned that how we face challenges plays a big role in the outcome of them.

- Sasha Azevedo

Music conveys moods and images. Even in opera, where plots deal with the structure of destiny, it's music, not words, that provides power.

- Marcel Marceau

November 21, 2008

No one realizes how beautiful it is to travel until he comes home and rests his head on his old, familiar pillow.

- Lin Yutang

November 20, 2008

Why does Sea World have a seafood restaurant?? I'm halfway through my fish burger and I realize, Oh my God....I could be eating a slow learner.

- Lynda Montgomery

November 19, 2008

If the sight of the blue skies fills you with joy, if a blade of grass springing up in the fields has power to move you, if the simple things in nature have a message you understand, Rejoice, for your soul is alive.

- Eleanora Duse

November 18, 2008

What are men to rocks and mountains?

- Jane Austen, "Pride and Prejudice"

"Uh-oh."
"Don't tell me. We're about to go over a huge waterfall. "
"Yep. "
"Sharp rocks at the bottom? "
"Most likely."
"Bring it on."

- The Emperor's New Groove

my love is building a building
around you, a frail slippery
house, a strong fragile house
(beginning at the singular beginning
of your smile)a skilful uncouth
prison, a precise clumsy
prison(building thatandthis into Thus,
Around the reckless magic of your mouth)
my love is building a magic, a discrete
tower of magic and(as i guess)
when Farmer Death(whom fairies hate)shall
crumble the mouth-flower fleet
He'll not my tower, laborious, casual
where the surrounded smile hangs breathless

- E.E. Cummings, "My Love is Building a Building"