“You have to know what you want to get. But when you know that, let it take you. And if it seems to take you off the track, don’t hold back, because perhaps that is instinctively where you want to be. And if you hold back and try to be always where you have been before you will go dry.”
Gertrude Stein.
This is the quote I got in my Bon Bon. I think it suits me well. Hopefully I will bear it in mind more; in 2008 and beyond.
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Hello,
I haven’t ready anything by Gertrude Stein (apart from a few quotes) is there anything you would recommend?
Your quote reminds me of the words in a book that has become one of my favourites – do you know it – The Prophet, by Kahlil Gibran – in this he writes about many aspects of life – here below is what he said about children -
On Children
Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life’s longing for itself.They come through you but not from you,
and though they are with you yet they belong not to you.
You may give them your love but not your thoughts,
for they have their own thoughts. You may house their bodies but not their souls, for their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams. You may strive to be like them,
but seek not to make them like you. For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.
You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth. The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite, and He bends you with His might that His arrows may go swift and far. Let our bending in the archer’s hand be for gladness;for even as He loves the arrow that flies, so He loves also the bow that is stable.
Kahlil Gibran
PS: I am not religious so don’t subscribe to beliefs in the archer – I would put – life itself – the child’s aspirations, hopes and desires are what set the arrow into the future
best, Joannie
I got this Bon Bon quote also. I have kept it because it really struck a chord with me. Mine seemed to be the only one with depth. I am very much in a rebuilding phase of life and feel that a lot of my life to date has been “dry”.