Kurious K's Kwotes

Sunday's Kat Kwote

2012-03-04T06:15:00.002-05:00

The pup was let out, and he ran all about
So happy was he to be free.
Then Punky said: "Meow!" the dog said: "Bow-wow!"
And Punky said: "Look out for me!"

~ from Punky Dunk and the Spotted Pup by Anonymous ~

Existence

2012-03-03T06:57:00.002-05:00

The animals of the world exist for their own reasons. They were not made for humans any more than black people were made for whites or women for men.

~ Alice Walker ~

Poetry Friday

2012-03-02T00:01:00.001-05:00

You decide, says the poet.
You do some of this work,
but think carefully.

~ Lawrence Raab from "The Questions Poems Ask" ~

Creativity

2012-03-01T07:51:00.000-05:00

Creativity is not the finding of a thing, but the making something out of it after it is found.

~ James Russell Lowell ~

R.I.P. Jan Berenstain

2012-02-29T05:56:00.000-05:00

"...we have each other," said Mama, bringing the cubs close. "That's another blessing."

~ Stan and Jan Berenstain ~

Yes, Pretty!

2012-02-28T06:48:00.000-05:00

To my mind, a picture should be something pleasant, cheerful, and pretty, yes pretty! There are too many unpleasant things in life as it is without creating still more of them.

~ Pierre-Auguste Renoir ~

"Pinning the Hat," color lithograph, courtesy Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

Echoes

2012-02-27T06:14:00.000-05:00

I would hurl words into this darkness and wait for an echo, and if an echo sounded, no matter how faintly, I would send other words to tell, to march, to fight, to create a sense of hunger for life that gnaws in us all.

~ Richard Wright ~

Sunday's Kat Kwote

2012-02-26T05:47:00.001-05:00

The cat seldom interferes with other people's rights. His intelligence keeps him from doing many of the fool things that complicate life.

~ Carl Van Vechten ~

Photo by Carl Van Vechten courtesy Library of Congress.

Stupidity

2012-02-25T06:40:00.002-05:00

I learned something from this healthcare debate--stupidity is a pre-existing condition.

~ Bill Maher ~

Poetry Friday

2012-02-24T07:09:00.000-05:00

There is no single face in nature, because every eye that looks upon it, sees it from its own angle. So every man's spice-box seasons his own food.

~ Zora Neale Hurston ~

It's All Good!

2012-02-23T06:32:00.000-05:00

Sunshine is delicious, rain is refreshing, wind braces us up, snow is exhilarating; there is really no such thing as bad weather, only different kinds of good weather.

~ John Ruskin ~

Photo published in The Boy With the U.S. Weather Men (Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Co., 1917).

Is It Art?

2012-02-22T05:04:00.000-05:00

And the first rude sketch that the world had seen was joy to his mighty heart, till the Devil whispered behind the leaves "It's pretty, but is it Art?"

~ Rudyard Kipling ~

Photo courtesy Library of Congress.

The Story of Ona Judge in a Nutshell

2012-02-21T06:40:00.000-05:00

She took a passage in a vessel to Portsmouth, N.H. and there married a man by the name of Staines, and had three children, who, with her husband, are all dead. After she was married, and had one child, while her husband was gone to sea, Gen. Washington sent on a man by the name of Bassett [Burwell Bassett, Jr., Washington's nephew], to prevail on her to go back. He saw her, and used all the persuasion he could, but she utterly refused to go with him.

~ Rev. Benjamin Chase. Letter to the editor,
The Liberator, January 1, 1847. ~

Good Advice, George!

2012-02-20T07:05:00.000-05:00

Associate with men of good quality if you esteem your own reputation; for it is better to be alone than in bad company.

~ George Washington ~

Photo by Carol M. Highsmith, courtesy Library of Congress.

Sunday's Kat Kwote

2012-02-19T07:33:00.001-05:00

She shall sit by my side,
And I'll give her some food;
And she'll love me because
I am gentle and good.

Jane Taylor from "I Like Little Pussy"

The American Idea

2012-02-18T07:13:00.001-05:00

The real democratic American idea is, not that every man shall be on a level with every other man, but that every man shall have liberty to be what God made him, without hindrance.

~ Henry Ward Beecher ~

Poetry Friday

2012-02-17T00:01:00.000-05:00

In this universe we are given two gifts: the ability to love, and the ability to ask questions.

~ Mary Oliver ~

Flowers

2012-02-16T07:25:00.006-05:00

Deep in their roots, all flowers keep the light.

~ Theodore Roethke ~

Photo © Diane Mayr.

Reading--Always in Style!

2012-02-15T09:00:00.001-05:00

As far as I can tell, reading will never go out of style, and neither will good old-fashioned storytelling.

~ LeVar Burton ~

Happy Valentine's Day!

2012-02-14T06:57:00.000-05:00

The greatest happiness of life is the conviction that we are loved; loved for ourselves, or rather, loved in spite of ourselves.

~ Victor Hugo ~

Brain Power--Yes!

2012-02-13T07:19:00.000-05:00

Do not call for black power or green power. Call for brain power.

~ Barbara Jordan ~

Photo courtesy Library of Congress.

Sunday's Kat Kwote

2012-02-12T06:21:00.000-05:00

The body of the White Cat grew large, and was transformed into that of a girl; how, one could not say; one only knew it was so. Her figure was majestic, her manners charming, her whole appearance beautiful beyond words.

~ From My Book of Favorite Fairy Tales by Edric Vredenburg ~

And Dance

2012-02-11T06:32:00.000-05:00

I have stretched ropes from steeple to steeple; garlands from window to window; golden chains from star to star, and I dance.

~ Arthur Rimbaud ~

Poetry Friday

2012-02-10T00:01:00.000-05:00

We have to raise the consciousness; the only way poets can change the world is to raise the consciousness of the general populace.

~ Lawrence Ferlinghetti ~

Amateur's Heart

2012-02-09T07:01:00.001-05:00

Once the amateur's naive approach and humble willingness to learn fades away, the creative spirit of good photography dies with it. Every professional should remain always in his heart an amateur.

~ Alfred Eisenstaedt ~

Happy Birthday, My Dear Mr. Dickens

2012-02-08T07:11:00.001-05:00

Subdue your appetites, my dears, and you've conquered human nature.

~ Charles Dickens ~

Sorry, Charlie, it's a day late!

Isabella Stewart Gardner

2012-02-07T07:02:00.000-05:00

I felt last night as though I were in a Hans Anderson Fairy Tale, ready to go on a flying carpet at any moment.

~ Isabella Stewart Gardner ~

1904 photo of the "Venetian Palace" courtesy Library of Congress.

Black History Month

2012-02-06T06:18:00.001-05:00

Education is the key to unlock the golden door of freedom.

~ George Washington Carver ~

Photo courtesy Library of Congress.

Sunday's Kat Kwote

2012-02-05T06:32:00.001-05:00

Dogs are dogs, but cats are people.

~ Chinese proverb ~

Change

2012-02-04T07:18:00.000-05:00

Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future.

~ John Fitzgerald Kennedy ~

Poetry Friday

2012-02-03T00:01:00.000-05:00

There's always room,
They say,
At the top.

~ Langston Hughes from "To Be Somebody" ~

Actually, We Get Politics

2012-02-02T07:52:00.000-05:00

Every country gets the circus it deserves. Spain gets bullfights. Italy gets the Catholic Church. America gets Hollywood.

~ Erica Jong ~

What Books Have You Reread?

2012-02-01T06:27:00.000-05:00

Lists of books we reread and books we can't finish tell more about us than about the relative worth of the books themselves.

~ Russell Banks ~

Creative Reuse

2012-01-31T06:06:00.003-05:00

Ancient cultures from Egypt to India regularly "recycle" their buildings, sculptures, and objects out of convenience and necessity. Whenever resources become scarce, creative reuse becomes second nature.

~ Garth Johnson from 1000 Ideas for Creative Reuse ~

Magic!

2012-01-30T06:18:00.003-05:00

I think cinema, movies, and magic have always been closely associated. The very earliest people who made film were magicians.

~ Francis Ford Coppola ~

Image courtesy Open Clipart Library.

Sunday's Kat Kwote

2012-01-29T06:34:00.000-05:00

                                  Joy and Love will both be yours,
                                      Minnow, don't be glum.
                                 Happy days are coming soon--
                                     Sleep, and let them come...

~ Elizabeth Bishop from "Lullaby for a Cat" ~

Simple, But True

2012-01-28T06:11:00.000-05:00

There is no secret to success except hard work and getting something indefinable which we call "the breaks." In order for a writer to succeed, I suggest three things--read and write--and wait.

~ Countee Cullen ~

Photo by Carl Van Vechten, courtesy Library of Congress.

Poetry Friday

2012-01-27T00:01:00.001-05:00

Laughter is the language of the soul.

~ Pablo Neruda ~

Perfect Tranquility

2012-01-26T06:32:00.001-05:00

That perfect tranquility of life, which is nowhere to be found but in retreat, a faithful friend and a good library.

~ Aphra Behn ~

Seven Stranded Castways

2012-01-25T06:03:00.000-05:00

The mate was a mighty sailing man,
The skipper brave and sure.
Five passengers set sail that day
For a three hour tour, a three hour tour.

~ from the theme song to Gilligan's Island ~

An Interesting Thought...

2012-01-24T06:17:00.000-05:00

A real book is not one that we read, but one that reads us.

~ W. H. Auden ~

R.I.P. Etta James

2012-01-23T06:39:00.001-05:00

Sunday's Kat Kwote

2012-01-22T07:22:00.002-05:00

To the cats I am mother and lover,
lap and toy, cook and cleaner

~ Marge Piercy from "Tracks" ~

Photo by Gerg1967.

Walk the Tightrope

2012-01-21T06:22:00.001-05:00

A sense of humor is the pole that adds balance to our steps as we walk the tightrope of life.

~ Arabic proverb ~

Image by Rakka.

Poetry Friday

2012-01-20T00:01:00.003-05:00

Freedom lies in being bold.

~ Robert Frost ~

One More Reason For Walking

2012-01-19T06:17:00.000-05:00

All truly great thoughts are conceived by walking.

~ Friedrich Nietzsche ~

Libraries

2012-01-18T06:28:00.000-05:00

Libraries keep the records on behalf of all humanity, the unique and the absurd, the wise and the fragments of stupidity.

~ Vartan Gregorian ~

Change Is Coming

2012-01-17T06:43:00.000-05:00

The only way to make sense out of change is to plunge into it, move with it, and join the dance.

~ Alan Watts ~

Martin Luther King Day!

2012-01-16T06:18:00.000-05:00

Rarely do we find men who willingly engage in hard, solid thinking. There is an almost universal quest for easy answers and half-baked solutions. Nothing pains some people more than having to think.

~ Martin Luther King, Jr. ~

Photo by Carol M. Highsmith courtesy Library of Congress.

Sunday's Kat Kwote

2012-01-15T06:49:00.000-05:00

Ignorant people think it's the noise which fighting cats make that is so aggravating, but it ain't so; it's the sickening grammar they use.

~ Mark Twain ~

Photo by Mink.

Shopping

2012-01-14T06:09:00.001-05:00

And yet, when we shop too much, we end up needing the services of a psychiatrist! --KK

Image courtesy melvdesigns

Poetry Friday

2012-01-13T00:01:00.000-05:00

The dazzling multiplicity of sounds and word choices in English makes it brilliantly suited to be a language of poetry.

~ Camille Paglia ~

Rub-a-Dub-Dubby!

2012-01-12T05:39:00.004-05:00

Rubber Duckie, you're so fine
And I'm lucky that you're mine
Rubber Duckie, I'm awfully fond of you.

~ Jeff Moss ~

Photo courtesy Muppet Wiki.

That's About Right...

2012-01-11T06:24:00.000-05:00

Raising teenagers is like nailing Jell-O to a tree.

~ Author unknown ~

Photo by Sunfox.

We Now Know, And Yet...

2012-01-10T06:52:00.001-05:00

I certainly feel that the time is not far distant when a knowledge of the principles of diet will be an essential part of one's education. Then mankind will eat to live, be able to do better mental and physical work and disease will be less frequent.

~ Fannie Farmer ~

Image courtesy Michigan State U. Library.

Have They Done It?

2012-01-09T06:48:00.000-05:00

...the presidential candidates need to get out and really meet with real people. They just can’t run media campaigns. They have to get outside of rope lines and go in peoples’ living rooms and kitchens and be able to look people in the eye and answer the tough questions.

~ John Lynch ~

Graphic courtesy Open Clip Art Library.

Sunday's Kat Kwote

2012-01-08T06:37:00.001-05:00

A cat is a small, some might say fragile creature that was created by God to amuse human beings by being (statistically) ‘perfect’ fodder for YouTube videos and internet image macros, or pictures of cats being cats with superimposed text about being cats.

~ Brandon Scott Gorrell ~

Photo by ceruleansky.

Words Are Power

2012-01-07T06:20:00.002-05:00

If we want to take control of our own lives, we'll need to keep taking control of our language.

~ Richard Eskow ~

Photo by Feuillu.

Poetry Friday

2012-01-06T00:01:00.000-05:00

Writing has laws of perspective, of light and shade just as painting does, or music. If you are born knowing them, fine. If not, learn them. Then rearrange the rules to suit yourself.

~ Truman Capote ~

Finnish Education

2012-01-05T07:11:00.001-05:00

Since the 1980s, the main driver of Finnish education policy has been the idea that every child should have exactly the same opportunity to learn, regardless of family background, income, or geographic location. Education has been seen first and foremost not as a way to produce star performers, but as an instrument to even out social inequality.

~ Anu Partanen ~

Our New National Ambassador for Young People's Literature

2012-01-04T07:01:00.000-05:00

We’re still thinking in terms of enticing kids to read with a sports book or a book about war. We’re suggesting that they’re missing something if they don’t read but, actually, we’re condemning kids to a lesser life. If you had a sick patient, you would not try to entice them to take their medicine. You would tell them, ‘Take this or you’re going to die.’ We need to tell kids flat out: reading is not optional.

~ Walter Dean Myers ~

Photo courtesy WalterDeanMyers.net.

Words

2012-01-03T07:53:00.000-05:00

We are masters of the unsaid words, but slaves of those we let slip out.

~ Winston Churchill ~

A Happy New Year!

2012-01-02T07:03:00.000-05:00

Postcard courtesy Puzzler4879.

Sunday's Kat Kwote

2012-01-01T07:04:00.000-05:00

As a rule Miss Kitty Cat didn't look at all frightful. Almost always she appeared quite unruffled, going about her business in a quiet way and making no fuss over anything.

~ Arthur Scott Bailey from
The Tale of Miss Kitty Cat ~

I've Noticed It Too!

2011-12-31T07:02:00.000-05:00

I distrust those people who know so well what God wants them to do because I notice it always coincides with their own desires.

~ Susan B. Anthony ~

Poetry Friday

2011-12-30T00:01:00.001-05:00

When clever people ask me where
I get a poem, I despair,
I'm apt to tell them in New York
I think I get it via stork

~ Robert Frost from "A-Wishing Well" ~

Persevere!

2011-12-29T07:48:00.001-05:00

After climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are many more hills to climb.

~ Nelson Mandela ~

Yeah, Right...

2011-12-28T07:53:00.000-05:00

It's easy to play any musical instrument: all you have to do is touch the right key at the right time and the instrument will play itself.

~ Johannes Sebastian Bach ~

Spelunker

2011-12-27T06:12:00.001-05:00

Within caving circles, I’m told, spelunker now means an untrained and unknowledgeable amateur explorer; the more experienced prefer to term themselves cavers, which is also the usual British term. Scientists and cavers who explore with serious purpose continue to call themselves speleologists.

~ Michael Quinion ~

Photo by scot2342.

Hear, Hear!

2011-12-26T07:12:00.001-05:00

I really don't mind paying more taxes. I'd rather pay for taxes than cut "Reading is Fundamental" or Head Start or some of these programs that are really helping kids. This is the greatest country in the world; is it really that much worse if you pay 6% more in taxes? Give me a break. Look at what you get for it: you get to be American.

~ Matt Damon ~

Sunday's Kat Kwote

2011-12-25T06:17:00.001-05:00

"They're a miserable lot," said the old maid, fondling her cats defiantly; "but let 'em. It's Christmas. Ah!" she added, as one of the eight stood up in her lap and rubbed its cheek against hers, "they're innocent. It isn't poor little animals that does the harm. It's men and women that does it to each other."

~ Jacob A. Riis from "Merry Christmas in the Tenements" ~

Photo courtesy Library of Congress.

Hide Quick!

2011-12-24T06:26:00.002-05:00

"Hide quick, er you're too late!-—
Them bells is stoppin' at the gate!-—
Git back o' them--'air chairs an' hide,
'Cause I hear Santy's voice outside!"
An' Bang! bang! bang! we heerd the door—-
Nen it flewed open, an' the floor
Blowed full o' snow—-

~ James Whitcomb Riley from A Defective Santa Claus ~

Poetry Friday

2011-12-23T00:01:00.002-05:00

There is little that is as deeply satisfying than the apt poem. It’s like chocolate for the soul. Except less fattening. It resolves the nervous system, captures the elusive experience of being alive so we may always have it and never lose it.

~ Helena Bonham Carter ~

Image courtesy Chocolate Reviews.

Oh, Yeah!

2011-12-22T07:06:00.002-05:00

Think what a better world it would be if we all, the whole world, had cookies and milk about three o'clock every afternoon and then lay down on our blankets for a nap.

~ Barbara Jordan ~

Photo by Curtis McCormick.

Making a Reader

2011-12-21T07:28:00.002-05:00

Children are made readers on the laps of their parents.

~ Emilie Buchwald ~

Image courtesy Open Clip Art Library.

Music

2011-12-20T06:57:00.000-05:00

Music is a moral law. It gives soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and charm and gaiety to life and to everything.

~ Plato ~

R.I.P. Russell Hoban (and Frances)

2011-12-19T06:22:00.000-05:00

I do not like the way you slide,
I do not like your soft inside,
I do not like you lots of ways,
And I could do for many days
Without eggs.

~ Russell Hoban from Bread and Jam for Frances ~

Photo by avlxyz.

Sunday's Kat Kwote

2011-12-18T06:57:00.000-05:00

Nothing's more playful than a young cat, nor more grave than an old one.

~ Thomas Fuller ~

Photo courtesy LollypopFarm.

Why We Need Librarians

2011-12-17T06:03:00.000-05:00

It's not enough for children to know how to read--they must be proficient critical thinkers. There is an assumption that today's students know how to effectively and ethically use the technology that is becoming pervasive in our society. But, the reality is that all too often today's students lack the ability to analyze information found online.

~ Carl Harvey ~

Poetry Friday

2011-12-16T00:01:00.002-05:00

I am sure that there is a giggly aquifer under poetry.

~ Kay Ryan from "Laugh While You Can: A Consideration of Poetry" ~

Waste

2011-12-15T06:46:00.000-05:00

Every social injustice is not only cruel, but it is economic waste.

~ William Feather ~

Is This Sad or What?

2011-12-14T06:34:00.000-05:00

Christmas to a child is the first terrible proof that to travel hopefully is better than to arrive.

~ Stephen Fry ~

World Peace

2011-12-14T06:19:00.000-05:00

The structure of world peace cannot be the work of one man, or one party, or one nation...it must be a peace which rests on the cooperative effort of the whole world.

~ Eleanor Roosevelt ~

Photo courtesy Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library.

Funny How That Works...

2011-12-13T06:48:00.000-05:00

The horse that you love draws more than four oxen.

~ Danish proverb ~

Reindeer

2011-12-12T06:39:00.000-05:00

Never judge a reindeer close up if you got it from a rich man, you may find that some of the antlers are missing.

~ Finnish proverb ~

Sunday's Kat Kwote

2011-12-11T09:38:00.004-05:00

And let me touch those curving claws of yellow ivory, and grasp
The tail that like a monstrous Asp coils round your heavy velvet paws!

~ Oscar Wilde ~

Photo by laihui.

In Order to Live

2011-12-10T06:21:00.001-05:00

~ Yves Saint Laurent, read the rest courtesy Matt Olson at ROLU. ~

Poetry Friday

2011-12-09T00:01:00.000-05:00

To me, the greatest pleasure of writing is not what it's about, but the inner music that words make.

~ Truman Capote ~

Ah....

2011-12-08T05:58:00.000-05:00

There is no friend as loyal as a book.

~ Ernest Hemingway ~

Remembering Pearl Harbor

2011-12-07T06:02:00.000-05:00

No matter how long it may take us to overcome this premeditated invasion, the American people in their righteous might will win through to absolute victory.

~ Franklin D. Roosevelt ~

Photo courtesy FDR Library.

Talk to the Animals

2011-12-06T06:10:00.000-05:00

Lots of people talk to animals...Not very many listen, though...That's the problem.

~ Benjamin Hoff ~

So Very Sad

2011-12-05T06:28:00.002-05:00

Man is born passionate of body, but with an innate though secret tendency to the love of Good in his main-spring of Mind. But God help us all! It is at present a sad jar of atoms.

~ Lord Byron ~

Sunday's Kat Kwote

2011-12-04T07:52:00.000-05:00

With tail erect and pompous march,
The proudest puss that ever trod,
Through many a grove, 'neath many an arch,
Impenetrable as a god.

~ Lytton Strachey ~

Photo by Iscan.

Secret Sorrows

2011-12-03T05:12:00.000-05:00

Every man has his secret sorrows which the world knows not; and often times we call a man cold when he is only sad.

~ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow ~

Poetry Friday

2011-12-02T00:01:00.002-05:00

If you're not alive and kicking,
shame on you!

~ Langston Hughes, "Shame on You" ~

Little Snail

2011-12-01T06:30:00.003-05:00

little snail
inch by inch, climb
Mount Fuji!

~ Issa, translated by David G. Lanoue ~

Image courtesy Library of Congress.

Pop-Up Books

2011-11-30T06:33:00.000-05:00

As the Depression years deepened, American book publishers sought ways to rekindle book buying. In the 1930s, Blue Ribbon Publishing of New York hit upon a combination that proved successful. They animated Walt Disney characters and traditional fairy tales with pop-ups. Blue Ribbon was the first publisher to use the term "pop-up" to describe their movable illustrations.

~ Ann Montanaro from A Concise History of Pop-up and Movable Books ~

This Is So True!

2011-11-29T06:10:00.000-05:00

All those people whose faces decorate the shopping bags of Barnes and Noble, with a few exceptions, would never get published today.

~ Mark Crispin Miller ~

The Allowing Is the Hard Part

2011-11-28T07:41:00.000-05:00

Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep.

~ Scott Adams ~
Dilbert by Scott Adams courtesy Dilbert.com.

Sunday's Kat Kwote

2011-11-27T07:01:00.001-05:00

remember that
there is a
cat
somewhere
adjusting to the
space of itself
with a delightful
grace

~ Charles Bukowski from "In Other Words" ~