Quote of the Day

"He only wished he'd had the chance to explain more fully how prayer worked.  That it wasn't a matter of asking for things and being accepted or rejected, it was a matter of adding one's energy - insignificant in itself - to the vastly greater energy that was God's love.  In fact, it was an affirmation of being part of God, and aspect of His spirit temporarily housed inside a body.  A miracle similar, in principle, to the one that had given Jesus human form."

"Dear God, please don't let Lover Five die.
It was such an infantile prayer, the sort of prayer a five-year-old might pray.
But maybe those were the best kind."

from The Book of Strange New Things by Michel Faber

Quote of the Day

"What an easy gift to give: stepping toward her needs, instead of waiting to be pressed up against them.  I think this might be called love."


from an article in Whole Living by Catherine Newman

Quote of the Day

"We'll have to binge on the cartoons to get the happiness back in our heads."


-Niki, on the prospect of going to see The Last Airbender after reading Roger Ebert's review (scroll down a bit to find it).

Quote of the Day

"Happiness is excitement that has found a settling down place, but there is always a little corner that keeps flapping around."

"I think you should learn, of course, and some days you must learn a great deal. But you should also have days when you allow what is already in you to swell up inside of you until it touches everything. And you can feel it inside you. If you never take time out to let that happen, then you just accumulate facts, and they begin to rattle around inside of you. You can make noise with them, but never really feel anything with them. It's hollow."

- From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg

Quote of the Day

"What you do every day matters more than what you do once in a while."

-The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin

More Quotes

from All the Broken Pieces by Ann Burg:

Some kids complain about practicing the piano,
but not me.

Notes are like numbers,
never changing.
Staccato or sustained,
pounded or tapped,
notes always stay
the same.

Ten divided by two
will always be five.

Every good boy
will always do fine.

I like that. (p. 33)

I like that too.

Words are messy,
but sometimes,
words are all you've got
to show what matters most. (p. 211)

Quotes for the Day

from The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly:

"That summer all the men except for my grandfather Walter Tate cut their hair close and shaved off their thick beards and mustaches. They looked as naked as blind salamanders for the few days it took to get over the shock of their pale, weak chins." (p. 3-4)

I understand the shock of pale, weak chins all too well. I can remember being slightly traumatized as a child when I came home from a friend's house to find my usually hairy-faced dad looking as naked as a blind salamander. My husband now knows to warn me whenever he decides to make drastic changes to his facial hair.

And for the book-lover in me:

"One day I would have all the books in the world, shelves and shelves of them. I would live in a tower of books. I would read all day long and eat peaches." (p.16)

Quotes of the Day

From: Anything but Typical by Nora Raleigh Baskin

"Truthfully, language arts is my best class, but not because I have a good grade in it. I like it because there are no right answers, even if the teacher says there are. Even when they mark something wrong on your test or book report, it's really just their opinion, and in my opinion they could be wrong. It's like when you read the directions on the back of a package of brownie mix.

Two eggs or three?

Do you want chewy or cakelike?

There is no wrong answer.

Books are like brownies."


"Because I don't talk much, my mother thinks I am not feeling. For my mother, talking about feelings and feeling feelings are the same thing. But for me they're not."


"I am already having trouble enough in this little seat because the man next to me is so close. He smells like BO or cheese. I have to turn off my smell button just so I can breathe."

Quote of the Day

"Oh child," spoke Papa tenderly. "Don't ever discount the wonder of your tears. They can be healing waters and a stream of joy. Sometimes they are the best words the heart can speak."

from The Shack by Wm. Paul Young

Quote of the Day

From Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist:

"Because when the rain falls you just let it fall and you grin like a madman and you dance with it, because if you can make yourself happy in the rain then you're doing pretty alright in life."

Quote of the Day

"Ach, duties!" said the hermit, "Be careful you do not waste your life on duties."

from The Castle Corona by Sharon Creech

Quote of the Day

"An illustration is an enlargement, an interpretation of the text, so that the reader will comprehend the words better. As an artist, you are always serving the words.

You must never illustrate exactly what is written. You must find a space in the text so that the pictures can do the work. Then you must let the words take over where words do it best. It's a funny kind of juggling act."

- Maurice Sendak in Artist to Artist: 23 Major Illustrators Talk to Children about Their Art

Quote of the Day

Actually, this is from a few days ago...
a thought from our Sunday School lesson on financial freedom:

"Live with less, enjoy it more."

Quote for the day

"And because of our traditions, every one of us knows who he is
and what God expects him to do."

from Fiddler on the Roof

More on this later.

Quote for the day

"Enthusiastic burping," thought Frog, "not only feels good, but also makes room for dessert!"

from: Excuse Me! by Lisa Kopelke

Quote for the day

From Avi's Crispin at the Edge of the World:

"Trying to outwit me, he sidestepped, and then, with dagger raised and poised to strike, he threw himself at me. In hasty defense, I swung round, lifted my sword toward him - so that he ran himself upon it.

He hung there, openmouthed, in skewered surprise."

Quote for the day

"Someday, when I was a grown up lazy person,
I would wear my pajamas whenever I wanted."

The best thing about this line from the book Kira Kira, is that I heard it the other day at about 1:00 PM as I was making lunch in my kitchen and listening to the book on tape... while wearing my pjs.

Messy Glory

"Open your arms to life! Let it strut into your heart in all its messy glory!"
-Great-uncle Edisto, Each Little Bird That Sings by Deborah Wiles