Thoughts for Days - Wordsmith.org

You are not logged in. [Log In] Wordsmith.org » Forums » General Topics » Miscellany » Thoughts for Days

Topic Options

#206926 - 08/31/12 04:41 AM Thoughts for Days
BranShea Carpal Tunnel Registered: 06/23/06 Posts: 5249 Loc: Netherlands, the Hague	Today's quotes got me going. I got stuck on the John Steinbeck's and Kahlil Gibran's quotes. Quote: "The things we admire in men, kindness and generosity, openness, honesty, understanding, and feeling are the concomitants of failure in our system. And those traits we detest, sharpness, greed, acquisitiveness, meanness, egotism, and self-interest are the traits of success. And while men admire the quality of the first they love the produce of the second." Novelist and Nobel laureate John Steinbeck (1902-1968). A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: I have learned silence from the talkative, toleration from the intolerant, and kindness from the unkind; yet strange, I am ungrateful to these teachers. -Kahlil Gibran, mystic, poet, and artist (1883-1931) I do not believe in the division Steinbeck makes for those two scores of qualities. And do we still love the produce of the traits that lead to succes, in view of the concomitants of 'succes'. Is Kahlil Gibran serious or is it coquetry of a man who had succes in spite of what he tells in his quote? * Here's from the Councels of Cormac, grandson of Conn, an Irish King Cormac MacAirt (227-206 CE). Cormac answers to young Cabre who questions him on how he should be. "Be intelligent to the intelligent, so no one may dupe you by means of intelligence. Be proud to the proud, so no one may be over you causing you to quiver. Be humble to the humble, so you will may be done. Be talkative to the talkative, so you may be respected. Be silent with the silent, when listening to information. Be hard to the hard, so no one treats you with contempt. Be soft with the soft, so everyone does not attack. A young man who is tractable, humble, obedient, earnest in conscience and confession, will be beloved in youth, esteemed in old age, true in his word,noble in his appearance, high even if lowly, mature though youthful; his destiny with Gods and humanity will be good." (man is a social animal who must try to combine good and bad in the best possible way.) * footnote * Kahlil Gibran. I read it again and think it can be understood in different ways. He could be ungrateful towards his 'teachers' because they did not succeed in making him think and act like them or he is ungrateful to them because they gave him a hard time. No, it is not coquetry. Edited by BranShea (08/31/12 12:07 PM)
Top

#206942 - 08/31/12 11:50 PM Re: Thoughts for Days [Re: BranShea]
Candy Pooh-Bah Registered: 09/21/10 Posts: 1705 Loc: down under	"A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: I have learned silence from the talkative, toleration from the intolerant, and kindness from the unkind; yet strange, I am ungrateful to these teachers. -Kahlil Gibran, mystic, poet, and artist (1883-1931)" I think Bran..... he is talking 'tongue in cheek', the lesson came about from bad examples hence, he is ungrateful to those 'teachers'.
Top

#206944 - 09/01/12 03:24 AM Re: Thoughts for Days [Re: Candy]
BranShea Carpal Tunnel Registered: 06/23/06 Posts: 5249 Loc: Netherlands, the Hague	Agree, that's in better words what I meant to say in the footnote.
Top

#206946 - 09/01/12 03:46 AM Re: Thoughts for Days [Re: BranShea]
Candy Pooh-Bah Registered: 09/21/10 Posts: 1705 Loc: down under	yes....well you must have been writing that footnote at the same time as I was posting my reply.
Top

#206948 - 09/01/12 06:07 PM Re: Thoughts for Days [Re: Candy]
BranShea Carpal Tunnel Registered: 06/23/06 Posts: 5249 Loc: Netherlands, the Hague	Yes, that was pretty close.
Top

Previous Topic

Index

Next Topic

Moderator: Jackie

Forum Stats

8453 Members
16 Forums
13692 Topics
210111 Posts

Max Online: 3341 @ 12/09/11 02:15 PM

Newest Members

zhangzhen, dene13, MariaAnastasia, MNPrasad, Krysto4
8453 Registered Users


	Wordsmith Talk		About Us \| What's New \| Search \| Site Map \| Contact Us

Wordsmith Talk