Affections of the Soul

"The word is a sign or symbol of the impressions or affections of the soul." ~Aristotle


I did not actually think I would be able to write this today. For the last two days we have been preparing to lose power-- all electricity for an indefinite period of time. No, it is not that we decided we would rather choose to live without it for any moral reason, but rather that the weather has foisted it upon us unwillingly-- an ice storm  to be exact. We do still have electricity and power, but with the lingering knowledge that at anytime as I write this, it could go. But as I prepared, cooking and cleaning and filled jug upon jug of water, I saw the need to reevaluate things, reevaluate my relationship and dependency on technology. As I looked at everything that is a part of our life, I realized that I could not go on living in any semblance of normalness without electricity. We would not even have our first most basic need- water, and as we went down the list: heating, cooking, lighting, cleaning, everything that are and always will be human necessities, were being jeapordized by one storm, breaking one little electric line. There is a reason it is called power.
So, as I found these quotes, they particularly resonated with my thoughts and very real experiences of the last few days; and while you may not be about to lose your electricity, it is worth it for everyone to read them and truly think about their significance. 


“Technology makes it possible for people to gain control over everything, except over technology” ~ John Tudor


“Technology is a way of organizing the universe so that man doesn't have to experience it." ~Max Frisch


“It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity." ~Albert Einstein



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Affections of the Soul

"The word is a sign or symbol of the impressions or affections of the soul." ~Aristotle

I had lofty aspirations of having an interesting and thought provoking post ready for you today, but I fear (unless I stay up until all the wee hours of the night) that it will just have to wait, as I have only just begun reading about those ideas and thoughts (which is of course the first step in the long ordeal of posting... at least it is for me, since I am as much a neophyte at blogging as is possible to be.) So my Friday post today will be merely a quote that epitomizes my current writing conundrum.


"Ideas are the cheapest part of the writing. They are free. The hard part is what you do with ideas you've gathered." ~ Jane Yolen


Come to think of it... there are too many good quotes about writing to pass up, so while I'm on that topic, might as well indulge...


"I do not like to write - I like to have written. " ~Gloria Steinem



"All my best thoughts were stolen by the ancients. " ~Ralph Waldo Emerson



"A synonym is a word you use when you can't spell the other one."  ~Baltasar Gracián



"Every writer I know has trouble writing."  ~Joseph Heller


"If I'm trying to sleep, the ideas won't stop.  If I'm trying to write, there appears a barren nothingness. " ~Carrie Latet

"Writing is easy:  All you do is sit staring at a blank sheet of paper until drops of blood form on your forehead."  ~Gene Fowler



"What things there are to write, if one could only write them!  My mind is full of gleaming thought; gay moods and mysterious, moth-like meditations hover in my imagination, fanning their painted wings.  But always the rarest, those streaked with azure and the deepest crimson, flutter away beyond my reach."  ~Logan Pearsall Smith



i never think at all when i write
nobody can do two things at the same time
and do them both well
~Don Marquis, Archy's Life of Mehitabel, 1933


"One must be drenched in words, literally soaked in them, to have the right ones form themselves into the proper pattern at the right moment."  ~Hart Crane



"I want to write books that unlock the traffic jam in everybody's head. " ~John Updike



"Writing is a socially acceptable form of schizophrenia."  ~E.L. Doctorow



"A word is not the same with one writer as with another.  One tears it from his guts.  The other pulls it out of his overcoat pocket. " ~Charles Peguy


*Disclaimer* These quotes were posted by a tired, tired, and (did I mention tired) attempting-to-be-a-writer writer, they do not necessarily represent the true sentiments of the one who posted (ahem, laughed) at them. 


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Affections of the Soul...

"The word is a sign or symbol of the impressions or affections of the soul." ~Aristotle 

Well I am back after an "unannounced Christmas break," (a.k.a my excuse for not posting... :)
I am sure most all of you have heard this quote at one time or another, but because it is as timeless as the world it comes from, you can always gain something from it.


"Frodo, ' I wish none of this had happened.'  
Gandalf, ' So do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us. There are other forces at work in this world Frodo, besides the will of evil... And that is an encouraging thought. "

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