Lotus

It's no good trying to keep up old friendships. It's painful for both sides. The fact is: one grows out of people and the only thing is to face it.

W. Somerset Maugham - 'Cakes and Ale or The Skeleton in the Cupboard' (1930)

Não vale a pena lutar para manter velhas amizades. É doloroso para ambos os lados. O facto é que as pessoas vão-se afastando e a única solução é aceitar isso.

W. Somerset Maugham - 'Destino de um Homem' (1930)

Photo: My garden pond during summer, lotus flower surrounded by C. auratus, C. facetum, and M. opercularis

Mermaid

In all things of nature there is something of the marvelous.

Aristotle, B.C. 384–322

Em todas as coisas da natureza há algo de maravilhoso.

Aristóteles, 384-322 A.C.

Photo: Mermaid Garden - Coimbra, Portugal (Sep 2008)

U.C.

No man should go through life without once experiencing healthy, even bored solitude in the wilderness, finding himself depending solely on himself and thereby learning his true and hidden strength.

Jack Kerouac 1922-1969, american novelist in 'Lonesome Traveler' (1960)

Nenhum homem devia passar pela vida sem experimentar pelo menos uma vez a saudável e até aborrecida solidão.

Jack Kerouac 1922-1969, escritor americano

Photo: University of Coimbra, August 2008

Squirrel

Life wouldn't be worth living if I worried over the future as well as the present. When things are at their worst I find something always happens.

W. Somerset Maugham, "Of Human Bondage" 1915, ch. 66

A vida não valeria a pena ser vivida se eu me preocupasse com o futuro tanto como com o presente. Quando as coisas estão muito más, acontece sempre alguma coisa que vale a pena.

W. Somerset Maugham, "Servidão Humana" 1915, cap. 66

Photo: squirrel being feeded from hand - Central Park, New York City, NY - USA, 2008

Incident

Happiness in this world, when it comes, comes incidentally. Make it the object of pursuit, and it leads us a wild-goose chase, and is never attained. Follow some other object, and very possibly we may find that we have caught happiness without dreaming of it.

Nathaniel Hawthorne, 19th-century American novelist and short story writer

Photo: feeding time at 'Oceanário de Lisboa', Lisboa - Portugal

Ria

I see it all perfectly, there are two possible situations - one can either do this or that. My honest opinion and my friendly advice is this: do it or do not do it - you will regret both.

Søren Aabye Kierkegaard, 1813-1855, danish philosopher and theologian

Photo: Ria de Aveiro in August - Portugal

Paradise

Dogs are our link to paradise. They don't know evil or jealousy or discontent. To sit with a dog on a hillside on a glorious afternoon is to be back in Eden, where doing nothing was not boring — it was peace.

Milan Kundera, Franco-Czech novelist, 1929-2023

Os cães são a nossa ligação ao paraíso. Eles não conhecem a maldade, a inveja ou o descontentamento. Sentar-se com um cão ao pé de uma colina numa linda tarde, é voltar ao Éden onde ficar sem fazer nada não era tédio, era paz.

Milan Kundera, Franco-Czech novelist, 1929-2023

Photo: a one year old Siberian Husky

Inspiration

The glory of friendship is not the outstretched hand, nor the kindly smile, nor the joy of companionship; it is the spiritual inspiration that comes to one when you discover that someone else believes in you and is willing to trust you with their friendship.

Ralph Waldo Emerson, american philosopher, essayist, and poet

Cicero

Nature herself makes the wise man rich.

Marcus Tullius Cicero, 106BC-43BC

Picture: Leonardo da Vinci's "Study of flowers" (1480-1481) - Venice, Galleria dell’Accademia

Neighbour

Next to the Blessed Sacrament itself, your neighbor is the holiest object presented to your senses.

Clive Staples Lewis

Picture: Claude Monet’s Autumn Effect at Argenteuil, 1873

Jane Austen

I do not want people to be very agreeable, as it saves me the trouble of liking them a great deal.

Letter to her sister Cassandra, 1798

Happiness in marriage is entirely a matter of chance.

Pride and Prejudice, 1813

by Jane Austen, 16 December 1775 – 18 July 1817