Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
(1749 - 1832)

Favorite quotes/poetry

A few of my short "Webpoems":

Spring | Wintering | Mist | Battle Casualty | Nonprayer

 

Favorite expressions of others:

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Basically, in my
very flawed and human way,
I want to be a
force for love in the world.
I want to let go of and grow beyond everything
that constrains me
from that intention

Nina Rothschild Utne,
Chair and CEO, Utne Reader.

---

Now that we have won the means to express ourselves, our responsibility to ourselves and to the country is paramount... The task for each of us is to think carefully about what he wants to say and gradually to shape the spirit of his paper; it is to write carefully without ever losing sight of the urgent need to restore to the country its authoritative voice. If we see to it that that voice remains one of vigor, rather than hatred. of proud objectivity and not rhetoric, of humanity rather than mediocrity, then much will be save from ruin.

Albert Camus Combat: Writing 1944-1947 Jacqueline Lévi-Valensi (Editor), Arthur Goldhammer (Translator)

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Religious values motivate love, compassion, humility,
justice and liberty for all people;
religious beliefs and practices motivate hatred, cruelty,
division, arrogance, injustice and oppression of others.

Reverend Kenneth Carder, United Methodist Bishop,
State of Mississippi, Director of Duke University Divinity School’s
Center of Excellence in Ministry

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Queers, to whom normal marriage and parenthood are forbidden,
are fools if they do not deliberately look for tasks
which require collaboration,
and the right person with whom to collaborate.

W. H. Auden, American poet 1907-73, Journal, as seen in the New Yorker, I, ME, MINE a new biography of Christopher Isherwood
by Hilton Alsa, Issue of 2005-01-17

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Beijing, China, November 16 - 30, 1999

to be nice, kind, and helpful
and not to do harm to others.

Chinese Friends, on their spiritual philosophy (after Confucius)

---

The road is long
The difficulty is there
and it is not insurmountable

Mao Tse-Tung

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Mooring at Night by Maple Bridge (after calligraphy purchased 11/25/99)

The setting moon, a cawing crow, the frost filled sky;
River maples, fishermen's flares, and troubled sleep
From the Cold Mountain Temple, outside Suzhou,
The tolling of the midnight bell reaches the wanderer's boat.

by Zhang Ji/Chang Chi 740~780

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Return

Early morning
Red line glow horizon below me
soft deep color pottery
my China return

Joe Landsberger

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Feelings

One tear in gratitude
expressed
one thousand feelings
of appreciation

Joe Landsberger

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On China

Public life is a mesh of person, bike, car, bus, subway; only because getting from one place to another involves time and remote, yet intimate, contact with this great population of individuals, with an impact on so great a number on your immediate environment.

This constant flux and flow provides the setting. For the poor, it takes its toll on the human psyche since so much effort is needed to navigate this sea of humanity. For those better off and/or educated, the navigational challenge is made easier by better, less taxing, modes of transportation or convenience.

Once installed in the work, home, or social environment, affordability directly affects separation from this mass of individuals, and the degree of refuge from this mass of individuals to family-friendly life.