“Most autumns, the water is low from the long dry summer, and you have to get out from time to time and wade, leading or dragging your boat through trickling shallows from one pool to the long channel-twisted pool below, hanging up occasionally on shuddering bars of quicksand, making six or eight miles in a day's lazy work, but if you go to the river at all, you tend not to mind. You are not in a hurry there; you learned long since not to be.” IfsMindLongWaterSixSummerLowsRiversEightMilesBarsBoatDryLazyAutumnPoolTwistedWadeQuicksandShuddering Book:Goodbye to a river: a narrative Source: Goodbye to a river: a narrative
“At length corruption, like a general flood (So long by watchful ministers withstood), Shall deluge all; and avarice, creeping on, Spread like a low-born mist, and blot the sun.” LongBornSunLowsCorruptionSpreadMinistersLengthFloodMistAvariceDeluge Book:The Poetical Works of Alexander Pope Source: The Poetical Works of Alexander Pope
“We read our mail and counted up our missions In bombers named for girls, we burned The cities we had learned about in school Till our lives wore out; our bodies lay among The people we had killed and never seen. When we lasted long enough they gave us medals; When we died they said, "Our casualties were low." They said, "Here are the maps"; we burned the cities.” PeopleLongSaidEnoughBodySchoolGirlCitiesOur LivesLowsDiedLaysMissionsMapsMailBurnedThey SaidMedalCasualtiesBombers Author:Randall Jarrell
“Look, we live in a celebrity culture and sometimes you get caught in the wave and the buzz and a lot of it's flattering but, you know, one of the things that I try to remind people of is, is that I was in politics as a state senator operating in obscurity for many years. Before that I was a community organizer working in low income communities in Chicago and nobody knew my name then. And so, having involved myself in public service for a pretty long time without getting too much attention, hopefully I can keep some of the attention that I'm getting now in perspective.” PeopleKnowsTryingYearsLooksLongI CanSometimesStatesCultureNamesCommunityAttentionToo MuchPerspectiveInvolvedLong TimeLowsWaveCaughtIncomeHopefullyChicagoSenatorsObscurityPublic ServiceFlatteringBuzzOrganizerLow IncomeCelebrity Culture Author:Barack Obama
“At some point I started getting published, and experienced a meager knock-kneed standing in the literary world, and I started to get almost everything that many of you graduates are hoping for--except for the money. I got a lot of things that society had promised would make me whole and fulfilled--all the things that the culture tells you, from preschool on, will quiet the throbbing anxiety inside you. I got some stature, the respect of other writers, even a low-grade fame. The culture says these things will save you, as long as you also manage to keep your weight down. But the culture lies.” WorldLongWholeLyingCultureFameQuietAnxietyLowsStandingWeightManageGradesGraduatesFulfilledStaturePreschool Book:Plan B: Further Thoughts on Faith Source: Plan B: Further Thoughts on Faith