Meandering about . . .

Today is the birthday of Willa Siebert Cather (December 7, 1873 – April 24, 1947), author. She is best known for her novels of frontier life on the Great Plains of North America.

"The history of every country begins in the heart of a man or a woman." - Willa Cather

"It does not matter much whom we live with in this world, but it matters a great deal whom we dream of." - Willa Cather

"Artistic growth is, more than it is anything else, a refining of the sense of truthfulness. The stupid believe that to be truthful is easy; only the artist, the great artist, knows how difficult it is." - Willa Cather

"There are only two or three human stories, and they go on repeating themselves as fiercely as if they had never happened before; like the larks in this country, that have been singing the same five notes over for thousands of years." - Willa Cather


"Nothing is far and nothing is near, if one desires. The world is little, people are little, human life is little. There is only one big thing — desire." - Willa Cather

"Where there is great love there are always miracles." - Willa Cather

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Meandering freely . . .

Today is the birthday of David Warren Brubeck (born December 6, 1920), better known as Dave Brubeck, jazz pianist and composer.

"I'm always hoping for the nights that are inspired where you almost have an out of body experience." - Dave Brubeck

"When things are going well, I hate to quit." - Dave Brubeck

"There's a way of playing safe, there's a way of using tricks and there's the way I like to play which is dangerously where you're going to take a chance on making mistakes in order to create something you haven't created before." - Dave Brubeck

"I'm beginning to understand myself. But it would have been great to be able to understand myself when I was 20 rather than when I was 82." - Dave Brubeck

"I never wanted this kind of life that I'm still living." - Dave Brubeck

"We don't know the power that's within our own bodies." - Dave Brubeck

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Meandering in dreams . . .

Today is the birthday of Walter Elias "Walt" Disney (December 5, 1901 – December 15, 1966), film producer, director, screenwriter, voice actor, animator, entrepreneur, entertainer, international icon and philanthropist.

"If you can dream it, you can do it. Always remember that this whole thing was started by a mouse." - Walt Disney

"Somehow, I can't believe that there are any heights to be scaled by a man who knows the secret of making dreams come true. The special secret it seems to me is summarized in four C's. They are Curiosity, Courage, Confidence and Constancy. And the greatest of all is Confidence. When you believe in a thing, believe in it all the way, implicitly and unquestionably." - Walt Disney

"I suppose my formula might be: dream, diversify and never miss an angle." - Walt Disney

"Once a man has tasted freedom he will never be content to be a slave. That is why I believe that this frightfulness we see everywhere today is only temporary. Tomorrow will be better for as long as America keeps alive the ideals of freedom and a better life." - Walt Disney

"All the adversity I've had in my life, all my troubles and obstacles, have strengthened me... You may not realize it when it happens, but a kick in the teeth may be the best thing in the world for you." - Walt Disney

"A person should set his goals as early as he can and devote all his energy and talent to getting there. With enough effort, he may achieve it. Or he may find something that is even more rewarding. But in the end, no matter what the outcome, he will know he has been alive." - Walt Disney

"It's kind of fun to do the impossible." - Walt Disney

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Meandering in the stacks . . .

Today is the birthday of Samuel Butler (December 4, 1835 – June 18, 1902), author. His most famous works are the Utopian satire Erewhon and the posthumous novel The Way of All Flesh.

"Life is not an exact science, it is an art." - Samuel Butler

"A friend who cannot at a pinch remember a thing or two that never happened is as bad as one who does not know how to forget." - Samuel Butler

"A little knowledge is a dangerous thing, but a little want of knowledge is also a dangerous thing." - Samuel Butler

"All animals, except man, know that the principal business of life is to enjoy it." - Samuel Butler

"Books are like imprisoned souls till someone takes them down from a shelf and frees them." - Samuel Butler

"Do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Let the day's own trouble be sufficient for the day." - Samuel Butler

"Every man's work, whether it be literature, or music or pictures or architecture or anything else, is always a portrait of himself." - Samuel Butler

"If we attend continually and promptly to the little that we can do, we shall ere long be surprised to find how little remains that we cannot do." - Samuel Butler

"All truth is not to be told at all times." - Samuel Butler

"It is tact that is golden, not silence." - Samuel Butler

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Meandering in theory . . .

Today is the birthday of Fred Alan Wolf (born December 3, 1934), theoretical physicist and writer. He is known to many as Dr. Quantum or Captain Quantum.

"The real trick to life is not to be in the know, but to be in the mystery." - Fred Alan Wolf

"The self is fundamentally an illusion arising as a reflection of the soul in matter, much as a clear lake at midnight reflects the moon." - Fred Alan Wolf

"What I thought was unreal now, for me, seems in some ways to be more real than what I think to be real, which seems now to be unreal." - Fred Alan Wolf

""The place where...knowledge occurs is the present. That which recognizes the present is mind." - Fred Alan Wolf

"Quantum physics says that you can't have a universe with a mind entering into it. The mind is actually shaping the very thing that is being perceived." - Fred Alan Wolf

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Meandering in sound . . .

Today is the birthday of Maria Callas (December 2, 1923 – September 16, 1977) soprano and one of the most renowned opera singers of the twentieth century.

"Real friends are very special, but you have to be careful because sometimes you have a friend and you think they are made of rock, then suddenly you realise they're only made of sand." - Maria Callas

"An opera begins long before the curtain goes up and ends long after it has come down. It starts in my imagination, it becomes my life, and it stays part of my life long after I've left the opera house." - Maria Callas

"When music fails to agree to the ear, to soothe the ear and the heart and the senses, then it has missed the point." - Maria Callas

"I don't know what happens to me on stage. Something else seems to take over." - Maria Callas

"When my enemies stop hissing, I shall know I'm slipping." - Maria Callas

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Meandering here and there . . .

Today is the birthday of Woody Allen (born Allen Stewart Konigsberg; December 1, 1935), screenwriter, film director, actor, comedian, writer, musician, and playwright.

"I am not afraid of death, I just don't want to be there when it happens." - Woody Allen

"The talent for being happy is appreciating and liking what you have, instead of what you don't have." - Woody Allen

"If you're not failing every now and again, it's a sign you're not doing anything very innovative." - Woody Allen

"Time is nature's way of keeping everything from happening at once." - Woody Allen

"What if nothing exists and we're all in somebody's dream? " - Woody Allen

"Eighty percent of success is showing up." - Woody Allen

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