“Imagination transforms one substance into another. It changes what is into what might be, what was into what might have been. Straw becomes gold, gold straw, and neither is more real nor, I submit, more precious than the other. Pebbles turn into luminous pearls and pearls into little gray rocks, both solid and beautiful, both essential. Human beings take shape from clay, angels' wings are spun out of water, fire gives rise to the long tongues of demons, love emerges out of thin air, and the basic elements reconstitute themselves again and again.” GivingHumansLittlesLongHas BeensRealMightBeautifulTurnsWaterImaginationHuman BeingsFireAirRocksShapesEssentialsElementsAngelGoldWingsTongueSubstanceDemonGraySubmitAgain And AgainPearlsMight Have BeenClayLuminousStrawsPebblesSpunThin AirAngel Wings Book:The Man on the Ceiling Source: The Man on the Ceiling
“Though I be shut in darkness, and become insentient dust blown idly here and there, I count oblivion a scant price to pay for having once had held against my lip life's brimming cup of hydromel and rue--for having once known woman's holy love and a child's kiss, and for a little space been boon companion to the Day and Night, Fed on the odors of the summer dawn, and folded in the beauty of the stars. Dear Lord, though I be changed to senseless clay, and serve the potter as he turns his wheel, I thank Thee for the gracious gift of tears!” LifeChildrenLittlesNightTurnsStarsSpacePayKnownLordDarknessChangedTearsHolyKissingSummerLipsDearDustCupsTheeDawnWheelsFedsCompanionOblivionClayPottersHere And ThereGraciousDay And NightOdorBoonRueDear Lord Book:The Works of Thomas Bailey Aldrich: Poems Source: The Works of Thomas Bailey Aldrich: Poems
“Absolute power turns its possessors not into a God but an anti-God. For God turned clay into men, while the absolute despot turns men into clay.” MenTurnsPowerAbsolutesClayDespotismAbsolute PowerDespotsAnti God Author:Eric Hoffer
“There is a hint of despair in the cry of 'I told you so,' an element of disappointment in the apparent satisfaction when idols turn out to have clay feet. The human race, when it thinks it has proved that no one is superior, is partly gratified and partly depressed.” ThinkingHumansTurnsRaceFeetCryDespairElementsDisappointmentSatisfactionSuperiorsHuman RaceIdolsClayHintsTold You So Author:Alice Thomas Ellis