Bits and Hints

More words of wisdom I have gathered the past 20 years:

A room without books is like a body without a soul. Cicero
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Poets are the ultimate philosophers. They surprise us with new observations, touch us with their empathy, startle us with their metaphors and delight us with their vision. Jan Lieberman
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It's hard for the modern generation to understand Thoreau, who lived beside a pond, but didn't own water skis or a snorkel. Bill Vaughan
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There are three rules for writing a novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are. W. Somerset Maugham
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(In writing my books) I try to leave out the parts that people skip. Elmore Leonard
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Those of us who have gone down a rabbit hole, who have climbed the mast of a plunging schooner with a pirate hot on our tails, who have gone back in time on the back of a cat, those of us who have done these things know how narrow and bleak our lives would have been if untouched by these mind-stretching adventures. For beyond the mere skills of learning to read lies a land of vision and enchantment. The child who is never pointed in that direction will grow to adulthood literate in the "letters" sense of the word, but with a sadly undernourished spirit. Knornei Chukovsky Reading Guidance in a Media Age
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In reviewing a book he had just read, Ambrose Bierce said, "The covers are too far apart."
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There is an old Yiddish custom--when young children completed a page of study, their teacher dropped a dot of honey on the bottom of the page. The children were encouraged to dip their fingers in the honey and taste the sweetness. Learning should always be sweet. ( I gave my students little pieces of Bit O' Honey candy when I could find them)
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From Reader's Digest: A friend introduced me to his daughter, a smartly dressed woman with the manner of a professional person. I learned she was a Roman Catholic nun on vacation from her position as an educational administrator. We agreed that her life-style as a nun was vastly different from what it would have been in earlier days.
"Sister," I said, half in jest, "who knows what changes are yet to come. Why, some future pope may decide to allow nuns to marry!"
"Perhaps," came the reply. "Perhaps she will."
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There is power in a dream of excellence.
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Education is learning what you didn't even know you didn't know. Ralph Waldo Emerson
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Getting tired of these? I am only half-way through the first of six books.