Fill your paper with the breathings of your heart. ~William Wordsworth

And that's what I shall do today. I will fill this paper (blogspace) with the breathings of my heart (some quotes, lyrics, exerpts that I like) and why I like them. Others' words help me bring out my own, I guess. :D

I'll start with something I just read in Paradise Lost, spoken by the character of Satan:

"The mind is its own place, and in it self Can make a Heav'n of Hell, a Hell of Heav'n."
We all know Satan to speak lies to us, but deception is sometimes not as harsh than the truth can be.

"Don't tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass." ~Anton Chekhov
To me, being able to SEE has been one of my most cherished gifts. To be able to see through words is a most pleasant alternative.

"There is no surer method of evading the world than by following Art, and no surer method of linking oneself to it than by Art." ~Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Ah, looks like art is the answer to all our problems! It's also funny to think that most of us want to both evade and link ourselves to the world.

"Man will begin to recover the moment he takes art as seriously as physics, chemistry or money." ~Ernst Levy
Oh, that this would ever become a reality! I think we would all be able to see the beauty around us and be grateful for it, and gratitude most often leads to happiness; ours as well as others'.

"Great art is as irrational as great music. It is mad with its own loveliness." ~George Jean Nathan, House of Satan
Mad with its own lovliness! Stability, while being able to be interpreted many ways, has never been what I would consider the most lovely. Flaws and uniqueness are what build character and confidence, in my opinion.

"Don't hit at all if it is honorably possible to avoid hitting; but never hit softly." ~Theodore Roosevelt
I cannot express how much I adore this man. I think that what he says here is essential to our self-respect and goals for the future. And hilarious.

It was hard to pick one phrase from Thoreau, from whose mouth came some of my favorite sentences ever:

"Men profess to be lovers of music, but for the most part they give no evidence in their opinions and lives that they have heard it." ~Henry David Thoreau
The same could be said about so-called lovers of almost anything! If we were all as civil, educated, humble, respectful, artistic, creative, happy as we say we are, imagine the benefits to ourselves and those around us! And what's stopping us from being what we want to be?

"They make no mention of the beauty of decay." ~Tears For Fears, Break It Down Again
I've always enjoyed a lyric that has made me stop and think and say, "Oh, that's very true!" Decay often leads to rebirth, and that is a truly beautiful thing, if not dark. I also enjoy a bit of the dark. :D

"I am a lyrical soul, bound to get carried away." ~Roisin Murphy, Sow Into You
How else could I describe myself? There probably isn't any other way, haha.
"By daily dying I have come to be." ~Theodore Roethke
This was one of my favorite philosophers I learned about in high school. I wondered about what he meant by this phrase, but then I remembered something an artist said once, about giving so much of himself for his art, so that it would come alive, that it seemed he lost his personality. Maybe by giving of ourselves, we find what we really are.

"This is how it works: you're young until you're not. You love until you don't. You try until you can't. You laugh until you cry, you cry until you laugh, and everyone must breathe, until their dying breath." ~Regina Spektor, On The Radio
I love the simplicity of this. It's all true! You do what you can until you can't anymore. But when and why that is, all depends on you.

I wanted to include some lyrics from My Brightest Diamond songs, but they can be kind of dark, and while I like them for their creative construction, I'm afraid people would think I'm grotesque or something. :D I'm not entirely.

While there's plenty more where this came from, I think I've bored you all enough. :D

Who's excited for Christmas, raise your hands!