#reflections

Oh fair enough are sky and plain, But I know fairer far: Those are as beautiful again That in the water are; The pools and rivers wash so clean The trees and clouds and air, The like on earth was never seen, And oh that I were there. These are the thoughts I often think As I stand gazing down In act upon the cressy brink To strip and dive and drown; But in the golden-sanded brooks And azure meres I spy A silly lad that longs and looks And wishes he were I. ↗

— A.E. Housman

#nature #pool #reflection #reflections #river

The wolf exerts a powerful influence on the human imagination. It takes your stare and turns it back on you ↗

— Barry Lopez

#of-wolves #reflections #wolf #imagination

Men seek for vocabularies that are reflections of reality. To this end, they must develop vocabularies that are selections of reality. And any selection of reality must, in certain circumstances, function as a deflection of reality. ↗

— Kenneth Burke

#certain #circumstances #develop #end #function

To whom, then, must I dedicate my wonderful, surprising and interesting adventures? to whom dare I reveal my private opinion of my nearest relations? the secret thoughts of my dearest friends? my own hopes, fears, reflections and dislikes? Nobody! ↗

— Frances Burney

#dare #dearest #dedicate #dislikes #fears

What is government itself but the greatest of all reflections on human nature? If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary. ↗

— James Madison

#controls #external #govern #government #greatest

For light I go directly to the Source of light, not to any of the reflections. ↗

— Peace Pilgrim

#directly #go #i #light #reflections

You know what that reflects? Unsatisfied lives. Unfulfilled lives. Lives that haven't found meaning . Because if you've found meaning in your life, you don't want to go back. You want to go forward. You want to see more, do more. You can't wait until sixty-five. ↗

— Mitch Albom

#aging #inspirational #life #reflections #age

I think we delight to praise what we enjoy because the praise not merely expresses but completes the enjoyment; it is its appointed consummation. It is not out of compliment that lovers keep on telling one another how beautiful they are; the delight is incomplete till it is expressed. It is frustrating to have discovered a new author and not to be able to tell anyone how good he is; to come suddenly, at the turn of the road, upon some mountain valley of unexpected grandeur and then to have to keep silent because the people with you care for it no more than for a tin can in the ditch; to hear a good joke and find no one to share it with. . . . The Scotch catechism says that man’s chief end is ‘to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.’ But we shall then know that these are the same thing. Fully to enjoy is to glorify. In commanding us to glorify Him, God is inviting us to enjoy Him. ↗

— C.S. Lewis

#praise #reflections-on-the-psalms #beauty

In the end, man is an event which cannot judge itself, but, for better or worse, is left to the judgment of others ↗

— Jung

#dreams

Customs and convictions change; respectable people are the last to know, or to admit, the change, and the ones most offended by fresh reflections of the facts in the mirror of art. ↗

— John Updike

#art #change #convictions #customs #facts