"We seek God now in flowers and good deeds, and the immensities of blue that surround the little scabs of land upon which we draw our lives to their unsatisfactory conclusions are suffused by science with vacuous horror."
John Updike, quoted in The New Yorker Magazine (Feb.) from an earlier essay titled "Lifeguard".
( I like the first part of that quote, but I have NO clue as to what he means in the last part.)
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Perfect valor is to behave, without witnesses, as one would act were all the world watching.
Francois, duc de La Rochefoucauld, moralist (1613-1680)
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Arguments over grammar and style are often as fierce as those over Windows versus Mac, and as fruitless as Coke versus Pepsi and boxers versus briefs.
Jack Lynch, English professor, author (b. 1967)
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If your morals make you dreary, depend on it they are wrong.
Robert Louis Stevenson, novelist, essayist, and poet (1850-1894)
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Do you wish to rise? Begin by descending. You plan a tower that will pierce the clouds? Lay first the foundation of humility.
St. Augustine (354-430)
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Work calls me for the next few days, so I'll see you when I can.
Work calls me for the next few days, so I'll see you when I can.
13 comments:
Yes, but vacuous is a good way to use that pesky V in scrabble. ;-) Great quotes, per usual. Don't work TOO hard. (I finally have my feet up at 6 oclock on my day of R&R- but the house is empty. :-)
I'm guessing - Updyke meant we desecrated God's beautiful Earth with man-made monstrosities??????
Scientific monstrosities????
More weddings? June is such a busy month for brides... have a great time and can't wait to see the pictures.
I look forward to your pictures.
I personally like St. Augustine's quote.
Interesting quotes, as usual. I forget about June being a busy bridal month, so I know you will keep hopping this season!
R L Stevenson kind of reached me.
Don't work too hard and keep those Bridzillas happy.
I try to live by No.2 above.
Enjoy working, but don't overdo it.
John Updike is a total mystery! I'll stop at the word "deeds".
I like No. 2 - I think that would be my motto!
Have a successful, exciting and pain free weekend.
I like the Lynch quote!
so the last quote should have under it: (kenju, florist extraordinaire 2009)
For what it is worth: Updike's quote "...their unsatisfactory conclusions are suffused by science with vacuous horror."
is very likely part of his attack on Darwin's Theory.
Apparently in his mind the Darwinian's had "science" in the Theory (a fact later disproved) and belief in that Theory could only lead to vacuous horror in a path down life's road.
Good to know he was wrong.
Love the St. Augustine quote..!
As for John Updike...what planet is he from?
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