No.4

Words of Wisdom?

By the time you swear you're his,

Shivering and sighing,

And he vows his passion is

Infinite, undying -

Lady, make a note of this;

One of you is lying.

- Dorothy Parker 1893-1967

The more I see of the moneyed classes,

The more I understand the guillotine. 

and another of his quotes -

Beauty is all very well at first sight, but who ever

looks at it when it has been in the house three days. -

George Bernard Shaw 1856-1950

An optimist is a person who sees 

a green light everywhere, while the

pessimist sees only the red stop-light. 

The truly wise person is colour-blind. -

Albert Schweitzer 1875-1965

There is, of course, no reason 

for the existence of the male sex

except that one sometimes needs

help with moving the piano. - 

Rebecca West 1892-1983

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One day a friend called on Michelangelo and found him busy at the final stages of a statue he had been working on.

A week or so later he returned and, finding the sculptor at the same task, said “It appears that you have been idle since I was last here.”

“Indeed, no,” was the answer, “I’ve retouched this part, I’ve polished that part, I’ve softened this feature, I’ve brought out that muscle and I’ve given more expression to the lower lip.”

“But surely all these things are just trifles?” said his friend.

“Perhaps so,” Michelangelo replied, “But trifles make perfection and perfection is no trifle.” 

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This photograph was taken at Lynncraigs Farm at Dalry, Scotland, showing the Husband and Wife Tree. This is an example of inosculation where trunks or branches of two trees grow together.

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I expect we would all agree with the following -

“If we gathered our impressions from the newspapers alone, it would be easy to believe that there were no happy marriages, no honest bank officers, no incorruptible politicians. The discordant makes itself heard above the harmonious. Ugliness pushes beauty aside and crowds its hateful visage into the foreground.”

That comment was made more than a 100 years ago in “The Girls’ Empire.”

Well, well. As the French say, "Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose" - the more things change, the more they stay the same.

"The Girls' Empire" was described as "an Annual for English-speaking girls all over the world." Examples of some of the subjects covered in the 1903 edition (and this is perfectly true) are how to avoid the evils of excessive tea-drinking, the pros and cons of cycling in a full-length skirt and how to get the best out of your carrier pigeon. I wonder if I can get one from Amazon . . . 

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This silk painting “Tinh Yeu”, by the contemporary Vietnamese artist Phan Quoc Hung, refers to the story of two young lovers who had to flee because their families wouldn’t allow them to see each other. Since their lives were being threatened, a kindly magician came to the rescue by turning them into two beautiful swans. So they were saved, living as swans during daytime and as humans during the night.

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"I like this job. They always stay together 

and I don't need to run around so much."

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Do you remember this cartoon character? This is Lord Marmaduke of Bunkerton, better known as Lord Snooty. He appeared in the first issue of The Beano on 30th July 1938, and was the longest running strip in the comic until Dennis the Menace and Gnasher overtook it. Of course, he was always recognised by his shiny top hat!

You may remember this photo. I've shown it before in different blogs. Yes, that's me with my uncle's topper. He was a Baptist minister.

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"No matter how many mistakes you make or how slow you progress, 

you are still way ahead of everyone who isn’t trying.”

Tony Robbins

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