“Human nature is like water. It takes the shape of its container.”
Wallace Stevens
The vase was on display in the National Glass Centre in Sunderland.
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What Shape Contains You?
Tag: #Wednesday Quotes
Native Speaker
If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart.
Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela
Does a bilingual speaker have a mother and father tongue?
Are you an orphan if you prefer to talk tongue-in-cheek?
And I leave you with a plea for my profession:
Being a native speaker is not a profession.
Being a translator is.
anon.
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Red Hot
“I suppose a fire that burns that bright is not meant to last.”
Veronica Roth, Allegiant
However:
“Don’t own so much clutter that you will be relieved to see your house catch fire.”
Wendell Berry, Famring: A Hand Book
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Bold as a Lion
The doors will opened for those who are bold enough to knock.
Anon.
A bold attempt is half success.
Danish Proverb
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Don’t Lose It
“A smile puts you on the right track. A smile makes the world a beautiful place. When you lose your smile, you lose your way in the chaos of life.”
Roy T. Bennett, The Light of the Heart
― Roy T. Bennett, The Light in the Heart
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What Company Do You Keep?
“If you’re lonely when you’re alone, you’re in bad company.'”
Jean-Paul Sartre
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Dragons Sleep in Slow Motion
That one tear, that tiny, salty, droplet of moisture is a means of escape.
Chase Brooks, Hello My Love 2
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Warts an’ all – I Find Him Relaxing
“You can find magic wherever you look. Sit back and relax, all you need is a book.”
Dr. Seuss
I always enjoyed children’s books. Not just Dr. Seuss but Erich Kästner, Maurice Sendak, Hans Fischer, Eric Carlé, and of course, Julia Donaldson and Alex Scheffler who wrote and illustrated The Gruffalo.
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Wave Flags or not?
“Man is the only Patriot. He sets himself apart in his own country, under his own flag, and sneers at the other nations, and keeps multitudinous uniformed assassins on hand at heavy expense to grab slices of other people’s countries, and keep them from grabbing slices of his. And in the intervals between campaigns, he washes the blood off his hands and works for the universal brotherhood of man, with his mouth.”
Mark Twain, On the Damned Human Race
Mark Twain’s description was pretty much true for central Europe at the time he was writing (published in 1905). The Franco-Prussian war was just over 30 years ago, the first world war was about a decade away. The flag waving soldier overlooking the town square in Weinheim embodied that spirit.
The flag flying above the castle ruin (in the photo above) is the white and blue of the town. Ever since world war II Germans have had an ambivalent relationship with all things national, and that includes the flag. Not the enthusiastic display of the national colours one finds in the US, in France, in Italy … This has changed to some extent since unification. The football world championship in 2006 and the joyous atmosphere of that event changed a lot of these feelings. As a result, sometimes the white and blue on top of Castle Windeck is replaced by the black, red and gold. For the record: I prefer the white and blue.
And for good measure, my posting yesterday in response to the Ragtag Daily Prompt has a few more flags to show: Chauvinism.
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