Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Meandering . . .

Today is the birthday of James Branch Cabell (April 14, 1879 – May 5, 1958), author.

"Poetry is man's rebellion against being what he is." - James Branch Cabell

"The optimist proclaims that we live in the best of all possible worlds, and the pessimist fears this is true." - James Branch Cabell

"...when I have been telling you, from alpha to omega, what is the one great thing the sigil taught me—that everything in life is miraculous. For the sigil taught me that it rests within the power of each of us to awaken at will from a dragging nightmare of life made up of unimportant tasks and tedious useless little habits, to see life as it really is, and to rejoice in its exquisite wonderfulness. If the sigil were proved to be the top of a tomato-can, it would not alter that big fact, nor my fixed faith. No Harrowby, the common names we call things by do not matter—except to show how very dull we are ..." - James Branch Cabell

"While it is well enough to leave footprints on the sands of time, it is even more important to make sure they point in a commendable direction." - James Branch Cabell

"Now I am wiser: for I know there is not any memory with less satisfaction in it than the memory of some temptation we resisted." - James Branch Cabell

Cabell image source (1)

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