The Egg of the Phoenix

"Change is the constant, the signal for rebirth, the egg of the phoenix."

~ Christina Baldwin

Music That Misses the Point

"When music fails to agree to the ear, to soothe the ear and the heart and the senses, then it has missed the point."

~ Maria Callas (1923-1977), American opera singer.

The Lightness of Sadness

"Melancholy is sadness that has taken on lightness."

~ Italo Calvino

Webster's Draft War

"Where is it written in the Constitution that you may take children from their parents, and parents from their children, and compel them to fight the battles of any war in which the folly or wickedness of government may engage it?"

~ Daniel Webster

This Inward Dwindling

"Freedom, that he always thought was outward motion, turns out to be this inward dwindling."

~ John Updike, Rabbit Redux.

Wilson Arrives

"Happiness is not the station we arrive at but the manner by which we arrive."

~ Oliver G. Wilson

Vonnegut's New Knowledge

"New knowledge is the most valuable commodity on earth. The more truth we have to work with, the richer we become."

~ Kurt Vonnegut

Release the Familiar

"It takes a lot of courage to release the familiar and seemingly secure, to embrace the new. But there is no real security in what is no longer meaningful. There is more security in the adventurous and exciting, for in movement there is life, and in change there is power."

~ Alan Cohen

Change Is the Law of Life

"Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future."

~ John F. Kennedy

Pruning Natural Abilities

"Natural abilities are like natural plants; they need pruning by study."

~ Francis Bacon

Different Possibilities Lead to Remarkable Things

"Every land, then, presents different possibilities to every set of people that inhabit it. These possibilities are not infinite; there will not be a bronze industry where copper and tin are unprocurable. yet at each successive stage man's geographical environment gives him certain opportunities for alternative decisions. He may select from among these alternatives, conciously or unconciously, a course which leads to remarkable things."

~ Michael Grant, The Ancient Mediterranean