When you start reading in a certain way, that's already the beginning of your writing. You're learning what you admire and you're learning to love other writers. The love of other writers is an important first step. To be a voracious, loving reader. (Tess Gallagher, quoted by Nicholas ...
In an essay on urban legends, Jan Harold Brunvand notes that "some individuals make a point of learning every recent rumor or tale . . . and in a short time a lively exchange of details occurs" (78). Please note that ...
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 Learning a language is a way to make connections with others. Even a few words can open doors,...
Someday there is going to be a book about a middle-aged man with a good job, a beautiful wife and two lovely children who still manages to be happy. Vaughan, Bill What a strange illusion it is to suppose that beauty is goodness. Tolstoy, Leo It is something to be able to paint ...
"There is a privacy about it which no other season gives you... In spring, summer and fall people sort of have an open season on each other; only in the winter, in the country, can you have longer, quiet stretches when you can savor belonging to yourself." -...
After reading several doctrinally rigid tracts, John Adams recalled the zealous ranting of his former teacher, Joseph Cleverly, and minister, Lemuel Bryant. He expressed his ambivalence toward religion in an 1817 letter to Thomas Jefferson: Twenty times, in the course of my late reading, have I...
"Caring about others, running the risk of feeling, and leaving an impact on people brings happiness."--Rabbi Harold Kushner "Each morning when I open my eyes I say to myself: I, not events, have the power to make me happy or unhappy today. I can choose which it shall be. Yesterday...
It were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he cast into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones.—NEW TESTAMENT: Luke, xvii, 2Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength....
"Over 1500 of the Best Toasts, Sentiments, Blessings, and Graces" Witty toasts to raise your glass to, such as: "I drink to your health when I'm with you. I drink to your health when I'm alone. I drink to your health so often. I'm beginning to worry about my own." Use it ...
-- Randolf Richardson (November 8, 2018; in a discussion about temperature) "As it is with life, in general, there are many pros and cons. Freedom is an essential right, and I'd much rather take the chance of listening to or reading something that offends me than to be robbed by...