He who holds the ladder is as bad as the thief. ~ German proverb ~

Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time. ~ Thomas Merton ~ Ballerina by Henri Matisse. Image courtesy the Sta...

The time to relax is when you don't have time for it. ~ Sydney J. Harris ~

Intellectual freedom—the freedom to access information and express ideas, even if the information and ideas might be considered unorthodox o...

Who among us hasn't envied a cat's ability to ignore the cares of daily life and to relax completely? ~ Karen Brademeyer ~ Photo by ...

But I, when I undress me Each night, upon my knees Will ask the Lord to bless me With apple-pie and cheese. ~ Eugene Field ~ Photo by pageha...

The poems come to me, I don't go to them. As soon as I see that what I'm mulling--a line or a sentence is repeating itself in my min...

                                The squirrel's granary is full,                                 And the harvest's done. ~ John Keats...

In the United States, English has become increasingly irrelevant, particularly among young adults. ~ Gene Weingarten ~

Toys were lots of fun before they became capitalist tools. ~ Beth Copeland Vargo ~

My portraits are more about me than they are about the people I photograph. ~ Richard Avedon ~

Pussy-cat ate the dumplings, the dumplings, Pussy-cat ate the dumplings. Mamma stood by, and cried, "Oh, fie! Why did you eat the dumpl...

The only correct actions are those that demand no explanation and no apology. ~ Red Auerbach ~ I guess anyone who had the confidence to wear...

Never wear anything that panics the cat. ~ P. J. O'Rourke ~ Photo by doyoubleedlikeme

And mankind is naught but a single nation. ~ Quran ~ Image by fdecomite

Hold back the edges of your gowns, Ladies, we are going through hell. ~ William Carlos Williams ~ I was greatly intrigued by this quote and...

While photographs may not lie, liars may photograph. ~ Lewis Wickes Hine ~

The world is moved along, not only by the mighty shoves of its heroes, but also by the aggregate of the tiny pushes of each honest worker. ~...

All photographs are there to remind us of what we forget. In this--as in other ways--they are the opposite of paintings. Paintings record wh...

Labor Day sack race , 1940, Ridgway, CO The end of labor is to gain leisure. ~ Aristotle ~

If a fish is the movement of water embodied, given shape, then a cat is a diagram and pattern of subtle air. ~ Doris Lessing ~ Photo by the...

There is a great deal of hatred and bigotry in this country, but it does not define the country. The daily experience of most Americans is n...

What’s in store for me in the direction I don’t take? ~ Jack Kerouac ~ Image courtesy tompalumbo

We read deeply for varied reasons, most of them familiar: that we cannot know enough people profoundly enough; that we need to know ourselve...

If sunbeams were weapons of war, we would have had solar energy centuries ago. ~ Sir George Porter ~

I have read in my earlier years about prisoners in the revolutionary war, and other wars. It sounded noble and heroic to be a prisoner of wa...

A novel must be exceptionally good to live as long as the average cat . ~ Lord Chesterfield ~ Photo by PAR1138

Strangely enough, politics may just be the one realm in which having kids imposes no penalty on women. Kids are practically a necessity. For...

The art of art, the glory of expression and the sunshine of the light of letters, is simplicity. ~ Walt Whitman ~

Your part is equivalent to the part you place in your everyday life to keep yourself safe: You know which alleys not to walk down at night, ...

Thieves respect property. They merely wish the property to become their property that they may more perfectly respect it. ~ G. K. Chesterton...

Stop wearing your wishbone where your backbone ought to be. ~ Elizabeth Gilbert from Eat, Pray, Love ~

We are CEOs of our own companies: Me Inc. To be in business today, our most important job is to be head marketer for the brand called You. ...

Kittens can happen to anyone. ~ Paul Gallico ~ Photo by Terry Bain

In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock. ~ Thomas Jefferson ~ Photo by vawa_92

A poem is never finished, only abandoned. ~ Paul Valery ~

For me, problem solving is a normal part of the art-making process, regardless of the media used. If something happens that I don't lik...

O Music! Miraculous art! A blast of thy trumpet and millions rush forward to die; a peal of thy organ and uncounted nations sink down to pra...

A bookstore cat is a shop's mascot and keeper, equally adept at charming customers and, when the lights go out, chasing away rodents. An...

Once when a lady was visiting the painter Matisse in his studio, she remarked 'But surely, the arm of this woman is much too long!' ...

To conceive of a world without physical books is to conceive of a world somehow diminished. It may be more efficient—yes, you can take a ...

I lived between my heart and my head, like a married couple who can't get along. ~ Edward Hirsch from "Self-portrait" ~

Ice-cream is exquisite. What a pity it isn't illegal. ~ Voltaire ~

Bread, milk and butter are of venerable antiquity. They taste of the morning of the world. ~ Leigh Hunt ~ Photo by Nomadic Lass

The school is the last expenditure upon which America should be willing to economize. ~ Franklin D. Roosevelt ~

LIBRARY To dream that you are in a library , denotes that you will grow discontented with your environments and associations, and seek compa...

A kitten is in the animal world what a rosebud is in the garden. ~ Robert Southey ~ Photo by karindalziel

Love recognizes no barriers. It jumps hurdles, leaps fences, penetrates walls to arrive at it destination full of hope. ~ Maya Angelou ~

It takes a courageous person to leave spaces empty ~ Kay Ryan from "Leaving Spaces" ~

Books are a uniquely portable magic. ~ Stephen King ~

The desire to fly is an idea handed down to us by our ancestors who, in their grueling travels across trackless lands in prehistoric times, ...

Toys are among the most important human artifacts. They are learning tools. By guiding play, they foster imagination, creativity, and critic...

The caterpillar does all the work but the butterfly gets all the publicity. ~ George Carlin ~ Photo by Martin LaBar

The cats went out to serenade And on a banjo sweetly played; And summer nights they climbed a tree And sang, "My love, oh, come to me!...

While scouring design books, I find that I am always drawn to rooms where an entire wall is devoted to books. Books, quite obviously, give d...

Yes, we can assess art. The doing of art, though, requires--paradoxically--a recklessness. ~ William Stafford ~

"Everybody knows the moon is made of cheese..." ~ from Wallace & Gromit A Grand Day Out ~

A broken hand can work but a broken heart can't. ~ Afghan proverb ~

Fear is the main source of superstition, and one of the main sources of cruelty. To conquer fear is the beginning of wisdom, in the pursuit ...

Just as the tumultuous chaos of a thunderstorm brings a nurturing rain that allows life to flourish, so too in human affairs time of advance...