Quotes About Contemplation

And sometimes, sitting in my chair I can feel the absence stretching out in all directions– like the deaf, defoliated silence just after a train has thundered past the platform, just before the mindless birds begin to chirp again –and the wildflowers that grow beside the tracks wobble wildly on their little stems, then gradually grow still and stand motherless and vertical in the middle of everything.

ago, Augustine argued that if God knows something's

It's not possible to move from one activity to the next at blinding speed and be reflective at the same time. The more complex and demanding the work we do, the wider, deeper and longer the perspective we require to do it well. It's almost impossible to do that when we create no white space in our lives.

O máis sobranceiro da vida en soidade é que rematas coñecéndote a ti mesmo. Non hai necesidade de tratar de entender a ninguén. Podes dirixir todas as túas cavilacións cara a dentro. Neste momento, e estou ben certo diso, non hai nada no meu interior que me resulte descoñecido. (P. 81)

Haze all clouding up in my mind in the daze of the why it could've never been.

One must use the night.

There are empty spaces that must be respected – those often long periods when a person can't see the pictures or find the words and needs to be left alone.

No one can depict desolation who hasn't inhabited desolation and observed it very closely. Things condemned have a terrible beauty.

Ingen ting kan være så rolig og så uendelig som et langt vitermørke, det fortsetter og fortsetter, det er som å leve i en tunnel der mørket stundom fordyper seg til natt og stundom blir dagskumring, man er avskjermet fra alt, beskyttet og mer ensom enn ellers.

Hän seisoi hiljaa, aivan hiljaa, puristi posliinista kisssanpoikaa ja ajatteli: Voi, minun kaunis, ihana onnettomuuteni...

She could easily have remarked on the heavy skiing weather, or asked how he could even see the road, or complained about the town not getting its ploughs out-- anything at all to show interest or pretend to show interest, the way people talk to make things a little more pleasant-- but no, not Katri Kling. There she stood squinting through her cigarette smoke, her black hair like a mane shrouding her face as she leaned over the table.

Ja, det forstår jeg. En går helst bare ut når en må. Eller når en har lyst. Det er vel best å vente, og kjenne etter.

Mats har ingen hemmeligheter. Det er derfor han er så hemmelighetsfull. Ingen må forstyrre ham, han må få være uforstyrret i en forenklet og ren verden.

Tonight I'm alone with my tune, and tonight isn't tomorrow.

And I was sitting on my verandah believing they were so remarkable and free, just because they never spoke a word and were always on the move. They hadn't a single word to say and nowhere to go...

Thingumy and Bob sighed contentedly and settled down to contemplate the precious stone. They stared in silent rapture at it. The ruby changed colour all the time. At first it was quite pale, and then suddenly a pink glow would flow over it like sunrise on a snow capped mountain -- and then again crimson flames shot out of its heart and it seemed like a great black tulip with stamens on fire.

Er zijn leemtes die je moet respecteren; de vaak lange periodes waarin je het hele beeld niet ziet, de woorden niet kunt vinden en met rust gelaten moet kunnen worden.

The caretaker liked the evenings and the nights. He didn't need much sleep and often sat by himself in the peace and quiet of the lake shore for hours. He didn't remember, he didn't worry, he just was.

What I do is between me and the Lord, to examine and possibly alter the state of grace in which I live, and thereby the state of grace of anybody who listens.

This is why I love poems: they require me to sit still, listen deeply, and imagine putting myself in someone else's unfamiliar shoes. The world I return to when the poem is over seems fuller and more comprehensible as a result.

the blue hours between three and five

Does everybody have a point at which they have to look in the mirror and ask themselves some of the bigger questions? Is it possible to go through life without ever doing that?

There's a difference between remembering and thinking

It's a journal, Reynard. Every great thinker keeps a journal, you know.