#joy

It became clear that Keisha Blake could not start something without finishing it. If she climbed onto the boundary wall of Caldwell, she was compelled to walk the entire wall, no matter the obstructions in her path (beer cans, branches). This compulsion, applied to other fields, manifested itself as "intelligence." Every unknown word sent her to a dictionary--in search of something like "completion"--and every book led to another book, a process that, of course, could never be completed. This route through early life gave her no small portion of joy, and, indeed, it seemed at first that her desires and her capacities were basically aligned. She wanted to read things--could not resist wanting to read things--and reading was easily done, and relatively inexpensive. On the other hand, that she should receive any praise for such reflexive habits baffled the girl, for she knew herself to be fantastically stupid about many things. Wasn't it possible that what others mistook for intelligence was in fact only a sort of mutation of the will? ↗

— Zadie Smith

#compulsion #desires #finishing #intelligence #joy

Love is the only answer to every question. It is the only thing that will serve you in every situation. It is the route and the destination. It is medication, liberation and should be at the heart of and expression of your vocation. ↗

— Rasheed Ogunlaru

#answers #destination #emancipation #life-lessons #love

You may wonder which came first: the skill or the hard work. But that's a moot point. The Zen master cleans his own studio. So should you. ↗

— Twyla Tharp

#life

A harmless hilarity and a buoyant cheerfulness are not infrequent concomitants of genius; and we are never more deceived than when we mistake gravity for greatness, solemnity for science, and pomposity for erudition. ↗

— Charles Caleb Colton

#life #life

If you want to get warm you must stand near the fire: if you want to be wet you must get into the water. If you want joy, power, peace, eternal life, you must get close to, or even into, the thing that has them. ↗

— C.S. Lewis

#eternal-life #fire #god #joy #peace

There is a vast difference between games and play. Play is played for fun, but games are deadly serious and you do not play them to enjoy yourself. ↗

— Maurice Baring

#deadly #difference #enjoy #fun #games

The joy of life is not a profane type of enjoyment: it reveals the bliss of existing, of sharing in the spontaneity of life and the majesty of the world. ↗

— Mircea Eliade

#life

A garden must combine the poetic and he mysterious with a feeling of serenity and joy. ↗

— Luis Barragan

#combine #feeling #garden #joy #must

A crust of bread and a corner to sleep in. A minute to smile and an hour to weep in. A pint of joy to a peck of trouble, And never a laugh but the moans come double. And that is life. A crust and a corner that makes love precious, With a smile to warm and tears to refresh us, And joy seems sweeter when cares come after, And a moan is the finest of foils for laughter. And that is life. ↗

— Paul Laurence Dunbar

#hour #joy #laugh #laughter #life

But the thing was the more time I spent with her the more I just needed her, I needed her in my life because I felt like I'd be missing out on something great if she wasn't with me. ↗

— kirsty mosely

#nate-peters #life