wonder

"The World does not lack for wonders, but only for wonder." –G.K. Chesterton (1874-1936)

adventures and inconveniences

"An inconvenience is only an adventure wrongly considered;
an adventure is an inconvenience rightly considered."
--G K Chesterton (1874-1936)

what a great attitude to take with you into the day

(And anyway, I'm not sure you'd want to argue with someone who is looking at you like this.)

what's wrong with the world?

there are loads of theories out there but none I think truer or better said than this.

When The Times invited several eminent authors to write essays on the theme "What's Wrong with the World?" Chesterton's contribution took the form of a letter:

Dear Sirs,
I am.
Sincerely yours,
G. K. Chesterton

dare to be dreadful

I don't know who said that. But it's really good and it's my latest motto, especially when it comes to writing. To help combat that enemy that is always creeping up on you trying to stop you live your life (or write your story)--the deadly perfectionism.

And here's what some clever people had to say about it:

"Get it down. Take chances. It may be bad, but it's the only way you can do anything really good." William Faulkner (1897-1962)

"Anything worth doing is worth doing badly." G K Chesterton (1874-1936) (seen above looking rather imposing and very much like someone not to be messed with -- so who am I to argue?)

Young children, of course, don't worry about any such nonsense. They just run outside and play.

I guess they know that's their parents' job--to take care of them. So they're free to run and play. Hmm. I guess maybe I don't need to worry, either... "Your Heavenly Father knows that you need all these things..."

OK. Forget perfect. Time to go and play...

angels

"Angels can fly because they take themselves lightly."
G K Chesterton

Here's to going lightly through the day and seeing where the wind will carry us...

(photo: an Angel on a grave at Castle Ashby)

diasies, God, children

[painting by ellie, age 8]

Here's one of my favorite passages of all time, by the great Gilbert Keith (so that's what those letters stood for) Chesterton:

"The thing I mean can be seen, for instance, in children, when they find some game or joke that they specially enjoy. A child kicks his legs rhythmically through excess, not absence of life. Because children have abounding vitality, because they are in spirit fierce and free, therefore they want things repeated and unchanged. They always say, "Do it again," and the grown-up person does it again until he is nearly dead. For grown-up people are not strong enough to exult in monotony. But perhaps God is strong enough to exult in monotony. It is possible that God says every morning, "Do it again" to the sun, and every evening, "Do it again" to the moon. It may not be automatic necessity that makes all daisies alike; it may be that God makes every daisy separately, but has never got tired of making them. It may be that He has the eternal appetite of infancy; for we have sinned and grown old, and our Father is younger than we. The repetition in Nature may not be a mere recurrence; it may be a theatrical encore."--G K Chesteron Orthodoxy.

favorite quotes: part 1

"... for we have sinned and grown old."
G K Chesterton

photo of Emily catching sight of the beach for the first time that morning, around the brow of a hill one summer holiday in Cornwall

photo taken with my favorite plastic toy Holga camera