Quotes

My favourite quotes of the moment.

Bayo Akomolafe, in 2021 : Times are urgent; let us slow down.

La reconnaissance que ces deux transformations, extérieure et intérieure, fonctionnent en parallèle et doivent se dérouler simultanément, était la pièce manquante des mouvements écologistes des années 1970.
-- John Michael Greer
(Cité dans le livre Une autre fin du monde est possible, de Pablo Servigne. Je cherche la citation orginelle en anglais... !)


Il y a les nouvelles dans les livres et les journaux, mais il y a aussi les catastrophes elles-mêmes qui touchent déjà des milliers de personnes dans leur chair ! Inondations, sécheresses, tsunamis, incendies géants, pénuries, zones mortes en mer, populations d'insectes, d'oiseaux, de poissons ou de grands herbivores décimées, etc. Elles ont déjà provoqué et elles provoqent toujours des dommages bien réels et considérables sur des personnes, populations ou classes sociales. Toutes entraînent des chocs physiques et psychologiques que nous allons devoir continuer à encaisser au cours du siècle.
Il faudra se forger un moral d'acier (ou plutôt de roseau, c'est selon) pour traverser les tempêtes à venir.
-- Pablo Servigne, Raphaël Stevens & Gauthier Chapelle, dans Une autre fin du monde est possible (P42 Editions du Seuil, oct 2018)

I was never baptised or went to church, but I attended a Church of England school in London where I learned this prayer, which still comes to me from time to time.

Video version here. Beautifully sung version by the Cambridge Singers here.
https://bbw.verstandig-vergelijken.nl
https://bbw.pagina.nu
https://bbw.begincool.nl
https://bbw.webesto.nl
https://bbw.boogolinks.nl
https://bbw.boogo.nl
https://bbw.q12.nl
https://bbw.startze.nl

The following quote is often attributed to Goethe but the source is also questioned by some. It has guided my way of approaching decisions in life since I was 20.

• Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative and creation, there is one elementary truth the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one's favor all manner of unforeseen incidents, meetings and material assistance which no man could have dreamed would have come his way. Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it. Begin it now.

And, finally, the words my grandfather repeated often to me, which left an indelible print in my soul:

William Shakespeare (1564-1616)

spoken by Polonius to his son, Laertes, in Hamlet

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