Grouchyrabbit.com

Jury (noun)- 12 people who decide which client has the better lawyer.

Michel de Montaigne

"...but reason has taught me that, if you condemn in this

anything whatever as definitely false and quite impossible,

you are claiming to know the frontiers and boundaries of

the will of God and the power of Nature out Mother; it

taught me also that there is nothing in the world madder

than bringing matters down to the measures of our own

capacities and potentialities."

Seneca

" For no amount of wisdom enables one to do away with physical or mental weaknesses that arise from natural causes; anything inborn or ingrained in one can by dint of practice be allayed, but not overcome"

-Seneca

Alain de Botton

Brene Brown

Stephan Crane, 3 excerpts from "War is Kind "

XIII

The wayfarer,

Perceiving the pathway to truth,

Was struck with astonishment.

It was thickly grown with weeds.

"Ha," he said,

"I see that none has passed here

In a long time."

Later he saw that each weed

Was a singular knife.

"Well," he mumbled at last,

"Doubtless there are other roads."

XXI

A man said to the universe:

"Sir I exist!"

"However," replied the universe,

"The fact has not created in me

A sense of obligation."

XXII

When the prophet, a complacent fat man,

Arrived at the mountain-top,

He cried: "Woe to my knowledge!

I intended to see good white lands

And bad black lands,

But the scene is grey."

The Man with Night Sweats

THis poem was originally talking about night sweats that occur when someone is diagnosed with aids. But what i love about poetry is that it can mean something entirely different to the reader. His words and phrases are amazing and somewhat disturbing, especially i imagine, for someone who may not have felt intense anxiety or pain, whether it be physical or mental.

The Man With Night Sweats

By Thom Gunn

I wake up cold, I who Prospered through dreams of heat Wake to their residue, Sweat, and a clinging sheet. My flesh was its own shield: Where it was gashed, it healed. I grew as I explored The body I could trust Even while I adored The risk that made robust, A world of wonders in Each challenge to the skin. I cannot but be sorry The given shield was cracked, My mind reduced to hurry, My flesh reduced and wrecked. I have to change the bed, But catch myself instead Stopped upright where I am Hugging my body to me As if to shield it from The pains that will go through me, As if hands were enough To hold an avalanche off.