Sunday, January 25, 2004
More From My Commonplace Book
It's a sad coincidence that I should have come to this entry in my commonplace book on the same day that I read Joan Aiken's obituary.
You can have a grievance or you can have fun, but you can't have both.
Joan Aiken, Foul Matter
Thursday, January 22, 2004
From My Commonplace Book
Every now and then I think to myself how much I would like to have an old-fashioned commonplace book in which I could copy down passages from books that make a particular impression on me. Occasionally I even start copying a few on scraps of paper, or into files on the computer.
Just now while tidying up some old papers I found one of these abortive attempts, which as far as I remember dates from around 1987. Here is the first entry:
He could finish this horse if he wanted to, and nobody but he would ever know that he had not kept his bargain to the full. Nobody but he would ever know that he had betrayed the dream, the vision that comes to all the makers of the world before they make a new thing, whether it be a song or a sword or a chalk-cut horse half a hill-side high.
Rosemary Sutcliff, Sun Horse, Moon Horse.
Thursday, January 15, 2004
Counting my blessings
I could never adequately express my gratitude for true friendship. I can hardly believe how lucky I am. What a gift it is to have somebody in my life who cares so much about me, who is interested in so many of the same things that I am and loves doing them with me or talking about them with me, who knows much more than I about some things and is ready to teach, who knows less than I about some things and is eager to learn.
In some ways that last is the greatest gift of all. By asking questions about things that I learned long ago and have taken for granted for many years, my friend makes me think about them again and discover things that I was unaware I knew. No exaggeration: this friendship has changed my life.
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