Category: quotes

From a Country Garden

Finding Internet access has not been easy.  But I have to post these pictures.  The log home has been vacant for almost 10 months.  So when I found what were in the garden, I was pleasantly surprised.  With the temperature reaching 30C here in southern Alberta, and the amount of rain we’ve been getting in the last month, the garden has started to grow, albeit with all the unwanted weeds as well.

I can tell from the design and the variety, this country garden wrapping around the log home was once cultivated with much TLC.  Even among the thorns and thistles now, and without human maintenance, I can see beautiful flora, ferns, and bushes blooming in resilience.  Here are a few samples from this once glorious garden.  I also must admit my ignorance in naming some of them…although the Alberta wild rose I can readily recognize…No, that wasn’t the Alberta wild rose as one commenter corrected me. These must be some kind of cultivated garden roses.

All you green thumbs, nature lovers, bird watchers, and naturalists, please help me out here.  I’d appreciate if you’d identify these other beautiful flowers and creatures:

another view here:

These look like lilacs, but I’ve always seen purple, not white:

And these lovely ones with blue petals:

Forgot its name:

And this creature…with it’s black stripes on a brown body, and the buzzing sound it gave out, I thought I was photographing a wasp of some kind.  So after a few quick shots, I stepped out of its way.  But when I saw it on my computer, I was amazed it had such beautiful wings…is it just a moth?

And this bird that gets so attached to the feeder on the fence…first the front view:

and the back:

Looking at the exuberance and beauty of life here in this derelict patch, I’m reminded of a precious quote:

Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them.  And how much more valuable you are than birds!

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Consider how the lilies grow.  They do not labor or spin.  Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these.  If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today, and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith!

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Chesterton Quotes

I just couldn’t resist.  Even though I posted a link to GKC Quotes in my last entry, I’m compelled to share some here for all to savor.  As a writer who encompassed social commentary, political satire, literary criticism, philosophical ponderings, Christian apologetics, poetics and plain humor in his writing, G. K. Chesterton’s (1874-1936) wit and wisdom surpassed the social and political environment of his time:

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“My country, right or wrong,” is a thing that no patriot would think of saying except in a desperate case.  It is like saying, “My mother, drunk or sober.”

 

“A good novel tells us the truth about its hero; but a bad novel tells us the truth about its author.

 

“By a curious confusion, many modern critics have passed from the proposition that a masterpiece may be unpopular to the other proposition that unless it is unpopular it cannot be a masterpiece.”

 

“Don’t ever take a fence down until you know the reason it was put up.”

 

“Fallacies do not cease to be fallacies because they become fashions.”

 

“Journalism largely consists of saying ‘Lord Jones is Dead’ to people who never knew that Lord Jones was alive.”

 

“Man seems to be capable of great virtues but not of small virtues; capable of defying his torturer but not of keeping his temper.”

 

“Music with dinner is an insult both to the cook and the violinist.”

 

“The most astonishing thing about miracles is that they happen.”

 

“To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it.”

 

“Art, like morality, consists of drawing the line somewhere.”

  

“If there were no God, there would be no Atheists.”

 

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Links to more GKC quotes:

The American Chesterton Society Quotations Collection

The Quotations Page

 

 

Memorable Movie Love Quotes

To celebrate Valentine’s Day, I’ve compiled a list of memorable quotes from movies, all on the theme of love. All come from movies I’ve seen, some I’ve reviewed on this Blog (click on title to my review). They represent dialogues that have stirred some ripples in one small heart. And love…being a many splendid thing, embraces all kinds of human relationships, and transcends cultures and boundaries.
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Here’s Arti’s Collection of Memorable Movie Love Quotes:

  • Medicine, law, business, engineering, these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for. — Dead Poets Society
  • The greatest thing you’ll ever learn, is just to love and be loved in return. — Moulin Rouge
  • The things that people in love do to each other they remember, and if they stay together it’s not because they forget, it’s because they forgive. — Indecent Proposal
  • I like you very much. Just as you are. — Bridget Jones’s Diary
Bridget Jones' Diary
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  • When the planes hit the twin towers, as far as I know none of the phone calls from the people on board were messages of hate or revenge — they were all messages of love. — Love Actually
  • Maybe it is our imperfections which make us so perfect for one another. — Emma
  • And now, I’m back…and I’ve lost her all over again. I’m so sad that I don’t have Kelly. But I’m so grateful that she was with me on that island. And I know what I have to do now. I gotta keep breathing. Because tomorrow the sun will rise. Who knows what the tide could bring? —Castaway
  • I don’t believe in quantum physics when it comes to matter of the heart. — Bull Durham
Kevin Costner in Bull Durham
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  • Shoot me. There’s no greater glory than to die for love. — Love in the time of Cholera
  • I need to feel strongly, to love and to admire, just as desperately as I need to breathe. — The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
  • For you, a thousand times over. — The Kite Runner
  • Come back…Come back to me. — Atonement
  • Natalie:  Do you believe in love at first sight?
    John:  Yes I do. Saves a lot of time. — The Stickup
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While a few are lucky enough to save time and escape the torments of love by creating a lasting flame from the first spark, some have to go through tumultuous pining, even the arduous and humbling experience of transforming oneself to gain requited love. And who, other than the following, epitomizes such kind of yearning:

Love Quotes From Downton Abbey:

“I love you Mr. Bates. I know it’s not ladylike to say it, but I’m not a lady and I don’t pretend to be.”  — Anna, S1E5

“I’m not a romantic… But even I concede that the heart does not exist solely for the purpose of pumping blood.” Violet Crawley, S2E2

“I’d rather have the right man, than the right wedding.” — Anna, S2E5

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You all are welcome to contribute to this list. Just submit your favorite movie love quotes in the comment box below…and have a memorable Valentine’s Day!

 

The Message of Christmas

Hopefully by now, the dust has settled, and frantic frenzies can now be turned into some placid ponderings…

A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965 TV) remains my all time favorite Christmas special.  Charles Schulz has wittingly shrunk all humanity into his pint-sized Peanuts gang.  Aren’t we all but tiny specks in the vast universe, and yet our strives and questions are ever so close and immediate.

And for Charlie Brown, little did he know that by throwing up his arms and ranting his disappointment and frustration, had asked the existential question for us all:  “Isn’t there anyone who knows what Christmas is all about?”

And for Linus, little did he know that by answering this question, had delivered not only the Message of Christmas, but the crux of Christianity, pointed us all, the peanuts of the universe, to the way of reconciliation and redemption.

…Out of the mouth of babes (Psalm 8:2)…

A blessed Christmas to all!

Memorable Movie Quotes

CLICK HERE to an even more updated post: QUOTABLE QUOTES FROM DOWNTON ABBEY, dated March 23, 2012.

For an update of this post, a newer version on the theme of love, click here.  Again, you’re most welcome to contribute to the list there.

Many movie lovers are fond of collecting, mentally at least, memorable movie quotes.  They might watch a movie a few times, savor their favorite dialogues, might even memorize them and use them in their daily conversation.  For others, certain movie quotes ring so true in their depiction of life, love, loss or lust, that they’d treasure them as commentary of their own experiences, or maybe even adopt them as credo for their life.

What’s interesting is, as these words are quoted out of context, they can still conjure up images from the movies, or elicit the particular sentiments that we had when we were watching the film.  This is the power of story-telling when accompanied by visual images, edging in our minds meaningful thoughts and unforgettable sentiments.

I suppose every movie lover has his/her own favorite movie quotes.  Here are some just to tap into that subconscious, hidden repertoire of your movie quotient. First the easy ones, the more recognizable quotes.  Can you tell which movies they are from:

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* We’ll always have Paris.

* If you build it, he will come.

* After all, tomorrow is another day.

* Love means never having to say you’re sorry.

* Life’s a box of chocolates…You never know what you’re gonna get.

Easy?  Now try these more obscure ones, but just as memorable nonetheless:

* You look stupid and rich…I’m smart and poor.

* I like you very much…just as you are.

* We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race.

* I gotta keep breathing, because tomorrow the sun will rise.  Who knows what the tide could bring?

* Pain is God’s megaphone to rouse a deaf world.

* My life is made up of units of time. Buying CDs – two units. Eating lunch – three units. Exercising – two units.  All in all, I  had a very full life.  It’s just that it didn’t mean anything.

Hey, I just thought it would be a good idea to hear from movie lovers what their personal favorite quotes are.  Let’s hear from you all. Send in your memorable movie quotes in the “Comment” section.  Let’s have a Memorable Movie Quotes Fair!