Sunday, May 18, 2025

Thought for the Day

You use the past. You do not worship it – you consult
it. And one of the obligations to the poetry . . . you are obliged
 not just to keep it alive, but to change it and contribute to it
 and adapt it and keep it alive by making it new.
~ Robert Pinsky
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Robert Pinsky, Poet, Translator, Nonfiction Writer; U.S. Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to Library of Congress, 1997-2000; William Fairfield Warren Distinguished Professor and Director, Creative Writing Program, Boston University (Retired, 2025); Jazz Vocalist of Poetry

Favorite Poem Project, BU Center for the Humanities

Sunday, May 11, 2025

Thought for the Day

A freedom which is occupied in denying freedom is itself so
outrageous that the outrageousness of the violence which one
practices against it is almost cancelled out: hatred, indignation,
and anger [. . .] wipe out all scruples. But the oppressor would not
be so strong if he did not have accomplices among
the oppressed themselves; [. . .]
~ Simone de Beauvoir
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Quoted from Simone de Beauvoir, Section 3, "The Antinomies of Action" in Chapter III, "The Positive Aspect of Ambiguity" in The Ethics of Ambiguity, 1947 (Online Text at  Marxists Internet Archive)
 
Simone de Beauvoir (1908-1986), French Writer, Feminist Activist, Philosopher (Existentialist), Social Theorist
 

Sunday, May 4, 2025

Thought for the Day

Seek and learn to recognize who and what,
in the midst of the inferno, are not inferno,
then make them endure, give them space. 
~ Italo Calvino's Marco Polo
 _________________________________
 
Quoted from Italo Calvino, Invisible Cities, Illustrated 50th Anniversary Edition (Mariner Books Classics, 2025) 
 
Calvino's Invisible Cities (Le citta invisibili) was published in 1972 by Giulio Einaudi Editore. Harcourt published an English translation in 1974. Mariner Books Classics published a paperback version in 1978.
 
Italo Calvino (1923-1985), Cuban-born Italian Journalist, Novelist, Essayist, and Short Story Writer 

Marco Polo (c. 1254-1324), Venetian Merchant, Explorer, Writer
 
Anthony Doerr, "The Timeless Magic of Italo Calvino's Invisible Cities at 50" in LitHub, March 20, 2025
 
Carrie McBride, "Where to Start With Italo Calvino," New York Public Library, October 11, 2023

Sunday, April 27, 2025

Thought for the Day

[. . .] Everybody makes mistakes, but you can't
keep asking people to forgive you again and again.[. . .]
Instead of a quick  apology, take the time and make 
the commitment to practice seeing the roots of your behavior. 
    ~ ThichNhat Hanh 
_______________________________
 
Quoted from Thich Nhat Hanh, How to Love (Parallax Press, 2015), p. 107 

Thich Nhat Hanh a.k.a. Thay (1926-2022), Vietnamese Thien Buddhist Monk, Zen Master;  "Father of Mindfulness"; Peace Activist; Poet, Author, Teacher; Founder, Plum Village
 
Plum Village, First Monastic Community Founded by Thich Nhat Hanh; International Practice Center in Plum Village Tradition in Southwest France
 
A Cloud Never Dies, Biographical Documentary About Thich Nhat Hanh (Available on YouTube)

Sunday, April 20, 2025

Thought for the Day

Once upon a time giants sculpted the sand, but now
it is us who are the giants. The question we must ask
now is how we use our power.
~ Boardwalk Notice, 
Parnidis Dune, Curonian Spit
______________________________
 
Quoted from Nick Hunt, "In the Wake of the Sandbound" (Essay) in Emergence Magazine, April 13, 2025; Online (Audio and Text Available). Hunt notes in his essay that the quote appears on a sign near the boardwalk where the sand dunes have been roped off. The Curonian Spit, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is part of two national parks shared by Lithuania and Russia.
 
Nick Hunt, Fiction and Nonfiction Writer, Novelist, Travel Book Author; Journalist; Editor; Mentor; Storyteller; Recipient, Royal Geographical Society Journey of a Lifetime Award; Contributor and Co-Director, Dark Mountain Project
 

Sunday, April 13, 2025

Thought for the Day

[. . .] Religions, governments, corporations, and organizations are all
 highly capable of evil while not recognizing it as such, because it
 profits us for them to be immoral. Evil finds its almost perfect
camouflage in the silent agreements of the group
when it appears personally advantageous. [. . .]
~ Fr. Richard Rohr
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Quoted from Richard Rohr, "Contemplative Nonconformity | Islands of Sanity," Center for Action and Contemplation, Daily Meditations, March 30, 2025; Online
 
Fr. Richard Rohr, Franciscan Friar, Ecumenical Teacher, Internationally Recognized Spiritual Leader; Author; Founder, Center for Action and Contemplation 

Sunday, April 6, 2025

Thought for the Day

We cannot love the earth 
without getting blood on our hands.
~ Danusha Lameris
 
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Quoted from Danusha Lameris, "The Cows of Love Creek" in Blade by Blade (Copper Canyon Press, 2024), p. 22
 
Danusha Lameris, American Poet; Faculty Member, Pacific University Low-Residency M.F.A. Program

Sunday, March 30, 2025

Thought for the Day

At the edge of not knowing
is the beginning of the extraordinary. 
~ Victoria Labalme
________________________________
 
Quoted from Victoria Labalme, Risk Forward: Embrace the Unknown and Unlock Your Hidden Genius, 2nd Ed. (Hay House Business, 2023) 

Victoria Labalme, Author, Workshop Leader, Performance Strategist, C-Suite Consultant

Sunday, March 23, 2025

Thought for the Day

Then they came for me —
and there was no one left to speak for me.
~ Martin Niemoller 

__________________________________________
 
Quoted from Martin Niemoller's "First they came for . . ." (The famous quotation, of which only the last line is given here, is on display permanently at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C.)
 
Friedrich Gustav Emil Martin Niemoller (January 1892 - March 6, 1984), German Theologian and Lutheran Pastor
 
Niemoller, though strongly nationalist and an early Nazi supporter, subsequently found himself in conflict with Hitler and the National Socialist Party when he began openly opposing the party political ideology and laws and otherwise preaching against the Nazi government and its interference with church governance. Repeatedly arrested by the Gestapo, Niemoller ultimately spent more than seven years, much of it in solitary confinement or "protective detention," imprisoned in, first, Sachsenhausen and, later, Dachau concentration camps. In the mid-1950s he became a pacifist and worked for international peace. By the time of his death he was a global public figure.
 

Sunday, March 16, 2025

Thought for the Day

My belief is that tears, although they look like a mere emotive
reaction, are much more: a deeply free action that many do not
enjoy. They proceed from deep inside, where we are most truly
ourselves. Tears reveal the depths at which and from which we care.
~ Fr. Richard Rohr
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Quoted from Fr. Richard Rohr, "Daily Meditations, The Tears of Things: Universal Sadness," March 5, 2025; Adapted from Richard Rohr, The Tears of Things: Prophetic Wisdom for an Age of Outrage (Convergent, 2025), pp 96-98
 
Fr. Richard Rohr, Franciscan Friar and Ecumenical Teacher; Author; Founder, Center for Action and Contemplation