Category: Quote

“We Are Not Alone (Lessons From 2014)” by Mary Gauthier

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  1. There is no such thing as an ordinary life.
  2. Songs are more than songs–they are the great human connectors of our time.
  3. Songs transcend all manner of boundaries. They speak a universal language.
  4. Songs heal. They are pieces of the soul reaching through eternity, to heal the heart.
  5. Resonance is my/our deepest desire.
  6. An emotionally-true song resonates to the core, to the central, innermost, or most essential part of us.
  7. Emotional truth is not about the facts. It is about being genuine, authentic, and vulnerable.
  8. At our center, we are the same. Songs are conduits for compassion and empathy, a road map into a stranger’s heart, which upon inspection – mirrors our own heart.
  9. A three-and-a-half minute song can temporarily bring us us to a place that does not yet exist here on earth, a place where we are safe, connected, and of one heart.
  10. At their best, songs breathe life into a precious idea: that we are not alone, that other people have felt and feel the way we do, and that all of humanity is made of the same mysterious, electrical, spirit infused stardust. And songs are the people’s instrument of choice- to express the wonder of it all.

~ Mary Gauthier, singer-songwriter, via her on-line journal at MaryGauthier.com

 

“The Thrill is Gone” by B. B. King

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“The Thrill is Gone” by B. B. King (September 16, 1925 – May 14, 2015)

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“I don’t have a favorite song that I’ve written. But I do have a favorite song: “Always on My Mind,” the Willie Nelson version. If I could sing it like he do, I would sing it every night. I like the story it tells. It go, I may not have written you–he’s talking about a lady–when maybe I should have. Or maybe I didn’t take you to dinner, didn’t call you when I should have, or didn’t love you as I should have. But you was always on my mind. I felt that way a lot in my life. I think every person feels it. That’s one of the things about being an entertainer. What we do–it’s just sharing the thoughts that many people have. You go to see a movie, and you sit up and cry–it’s because something is happening in there that just done happen to you or somebody you know. It’s the same thing with what I do. Don’t matter if you’re gay or straight, black or white, you still have the same problem. It’s love. It’s universal.”

~ From interview with Esquire magazine, “B.B. King: What I’ve Learned” January 2006.

“Not one day in anyone’s life is an uneventful day…(Koontz)

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“Not one day in anyone’s life is an uneventful day, no day without profound meaning, no matter how dull and boring it might seem, no matter whether you are a seamstress or a queen, a shoeshine boy, or a movie star, a renowned philosopher or a Down’s-syndrome child. Because in every day of your life, there are opportunities to perform little kindnesses for others, both by conscious acts of will and unconscious example. Each smallest act of kindness—even just words of hope when they are needed, the remembrance of a birthday, a compliment that engenders a smile—reverberates across great distances and spans of time, affecting lives unknown to the one whose generous spirit was the source of this good echo, because kindness is passed on and grows each time it’s passed, until a simple courtesy becomes an act of selfless courage years later and far away. Likewise, each small meanness, each thoughtless expression of hatred, each envious and bitter act, regardless of how petty, can inspire others, and is therefore the seed that ultimately produces evil fruit, poisoning people whom you have never met and never will. All human lives are so profoundly and intricately entwined—those dead, those living, those generations yet to come—that the fate of all is the fate of each, and the hope of humanity rests in every heart and in every pair of hands. Therefore, after every failure, we are obliged to strive again for success, and when faced with the end of one thing, we must build something new and better in the ashes, just as from pain and grief, we must weave hope, for each of us is a thread critical to the strength—to the very survival of the human tapestry. Every hour in every life contains such often-unrecognized potential to affect the world that the great days and thrilling possibilities are combined always in this momentous day.”

~ Dean Koontz, From The Corner of His Eye

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“Echoes” by Dar Williams

Every time you choose one more morning,
Goodness or meanness, life has one warning,
It echoes all over the world.

For Michelle, whose kindness echoes all over the world.

“To love. To be loved. To never forget… (Roy)

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“To love. To be loved. To never forget your own insignificance. To never get used to the unspeakable violence and the vulgar disparity of life around you. To seek joy in the saddest places. To pursue beauty to its lair. To never simplify what is complicated or complicate what is simple. To respect strength, never power. Above all, to watch. To try and understand. To never look away. And never, never, to forget.”

– Arundhati Roy, The Cost of Living

“You do not immortalize the lost by writing about them… (Green)

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“You do not immortalize the lost by writing about them. Language buries, but does not resurrect.”

– John Green, The Fault in Our Stars