Whimsical art, prints, and more.
I came across a poem the other day that stopped me in my tracks. I’d read it once, long ago, but this time it took on an entirely new meaning and significance.
Here it is:
”Do not love half lovers
Do not entertain half friends
Do not indulge in works of the half talented
Do not live half a life
and do not die a half death….cnt’d
Few literary texts have had as lasting an effect on the study of ethics and moral goodness as Cicero’s De Officiis. For a time, De Officiis was the leading work on moral authority, looked upon by Aquinas, Voltaire, Locke, and countless other great minds as an essential and preeminent guide to honorable living. Cicero’s expertise has become a superior source for research and inquisition into what it means to be a person of virtue. Cicero believes there are four main virtues from which duty springs forth—Wisdom, or the pursuit of truth; Justice, or giving to a man what is his due; Courage, or the power and strength of an unconquerable spirit; and Temperance, or self-control and moderation in thought, speech, and action. Although these virtues are all honorable and noble traits, he mentions one virtue that is distinct from the others in its inherent weakness…
This list doesn’t encompass all of the good books that I’ve read throughout my life. The books in this list are distinguished from the others in that they have stayed with me in my thoughts and in my heart. They’ve shaped a part of who I am.
They’re all worth reading more than once, in my opinion, and though there are many more that I wanted to mention, I’ve narrowed the list down to 50.
I chose these books more for the effects that the stories have on the human soul and mind, rather than simply for entertainment. They’re thought provoking. Some have such lush and fluid writing that you find yourself getting lost in the words, not realizing the passing time.
Some are a bit harder for the brain to understand--the language being quite difficult—but that, to me, is like lifting weights for the mind. Reading difficult books has the same effect on your brain as lifting heavy weights does on your muscles. If you keep lifting 5lb dumbbells, you’re never going to get stronger. Real growth comes from lifting the heavy stuff, or reading books that are, at first, too hard for you.
I am the fourth, and youngest, daughter of a great man. This man, gifted with brilliance, was a man of accomplishment, of prestige, and of repute. A man whose versatile vernacular commanded audiences spanning the East and West. A man whose genius rivals only his kindness, the magnitude of which warms the hearts of not only those under his wing, but of those who merely pass by his presence.
So with his abrupt and sudden death my entire life was thrown into a dark abyss.