“There is neither happiness nor misery in the world; there is only the comparison of one state with another, nothing more. He who has felt the deepest grief is best able to experience supreme happiness. We must of felt what it is to die, Morrel, that we may appreciate the enjoyments of life.
” Live, then, and be happy, beloved children of my heart, and never forget, that until the day God will deign to reveal the future to man, all human wisdom is contained in these two words, ‘Wait and Hope.” -Alexander Dumas
Today is Pearl S. Buck’s birthday.
I inhaled “The Good Earth“: it was so vivid, so beautiful, in the way crisp photographs of ordinary things are beautiful. If you’ve not read it, put it on your list. If you have, read it again: time changes our perspective, and re-reading the Great Stories shows us new things about ourselves.
Pearl spent much of her life in China, where she was called Sai Zhenzhu. She won both the Pulitzer Prize and the Nobel Prize in Literature. Her legacy is larger than her words: she worked tirelessly on behalf of women and minorities, and devoted mch of her energy to children. When Pearl learned that Asian children were considered “unadoptable” she established the first international interracial adoption agency. Her name now is linked to Pearl S. Buck International, an agency devoted to international adoptions. In her life, just as in her writing, Pearl treated ordinary people with a reverent humanity.
Today, to celebrate this beautiful writer’s words, I thought I’d share some of them with all of you. Enjoy these Pearls of Wisdom:
“The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.” -Mark Twain
“The truly creative mind in any field is no more than this:
A human creature born abnormally, inhumanly sensitive. To him…
a touch is a blow,
a sound is a noise,
a misfortune is a tragedy,
a joy is an ecstasy,
a friend is a lover,
a lover is a god,
and failure is death.
Add to this cruelly delicate organism the overpowering necessity to
create, create, create –
so that without the creating of music or poetry of books or buildings or
something of meaning,
his very breath is cut off from him.
He must create,
must pour out creation.
By some strange, unknown, inward urgency he is not really alive unless he is creating.”
“As coal pressured into pearls by our weighty existence. Beauty that arose out of pain.” -Suzanne Collins, Catching Fire
“When good people in any country cease their vigilance and struggle,
then evil men prevail.”
“Count your age by friends, not years. Count your life by smiles, not tears.” -John Lennon
“An intelligent, energetic, educated woman
cannot be kept in four walls
- even satin-lined, diamond-studded walls -
without discovering sooner or later
that they are still a prison cell.”
“If we never experience the chill of a dark winter, it is very unlikely that we will ever cherish the warmth of a bright summer’s day. Nothing stimulates our appetite for the simple joys of life more than the starvation caused by sadness or desperation. In order to complete our amazing life journey successfully, it is vital that we turn each and every dark tear into a pearl of wisdom, and find the blessing in every curse.” -Anthony St. Maarten
(From _Pavilion of Women_)
“Is our Heaven your God, and is your God our Heaven?” she inquired.
“They are one and the same,” he replied… ”There is only one true God. He has many names.”
“Then anywhere upon the round earth, by whatever seas, those who believe in any God believe in the One?” she asked.
“And so are brothers,” he said, agreeing.
“And if I do not believe in any?” she inquired willfully.
“God is patient,” he said. “God waits. Is there not eternity?”