O Pioneers!

Feb 23

“And now the old story has begun to write itself over there,” said Carl softly. “Isn’t it queer: there are only two or three human stories, and they go on repeating themselves as fiercely as if they had never happened before; like the larks in this country, that have been singing the same five notes for thousands of years.”
― Willa Cather

Half the joy of life is in the little things taken on the run. Let us run if we must–even the sands do that–but let us keep our hearts young and our eyes open that nothing worth our while shall escape us. And everything is worth its while if we only grasp it and its significance.
―C. Victor Cherbuliez

It is easy in the world to live after the world’s opinion; it is easy in solitude to live after our own; but the great man is he who in the midst of  the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude.
―Ralph Waldo Emerson

The world is always changing. Every day it’s changing. Everything in life is changing. We have to look inside ourselves to find what stays the same, such as loyalty, our shared history and love for each other. In them, the truth of the past lives on.
―Nina, Snowflower and the Secret Fan

Huge waves that would frighten an ordinary swimmer produce a tremendous thrill for the surfer who has ridden them. Let’s apply that to our own circumstances. The things we try to avoid and fight against–tribulation, suffering, and persecution–are the very things that produce abundant joy in us.
―Oswald Chambers