A Word for Wednesday

 "Many a one has lost his faith in God because he first lost his faith in man; 

and again, many a one has found his faith in God again 

because he met a good man who took the bitterness out of his heart."

~Michael von Faulhauber~

A Word for Wednesday

I made an attempt at a grin. "You wouldn't like it in Russia."

"I'll hate it everywhere if I'm not in this war! Why do you think I kept saying there wasn't any war all winter? I was going to keep on saying it until two seconds after I got a letter from Ottawa or Chungking or some place saying, 'Yes, you can enlist with us.'" A look of pleased achievement flickered over his face momentarily, as though he had really gotten such a letter. "Then there would have been a war."

"Finny," my voice broke but I went on, "Phinehas, you wouldn't be any good in the war, even if nothing had happened to your leg."

A look of amazement fell over him. It scared me, but I knew what I said was important and right, and my voice found that full tone voices have when they are expressing something long-felt and long-understood and released at last. "They'd get you some place at the front and there'd be a lull in the fighting, and the next thing anyone knew you'd be over with the Germans or the Japs, asking if they'd like to field a baseball team against our side. You'd be sitting in one of their command posts, teaching them English. Yes, you'd get confused and borrow one of their uniforms, and you'd lend them one of yours. Sure, that's just what would happen. You'd get things so scrambled up nobody would know who to fight any more. You'd make a mess, a terrible mess, Finny, out of the war." 

~from A Separate Peace by John Knowles~

A Word for Wednesday

"How come if your favorite color is blue, you painted your house so pink?"

She laughed. "That was May's doing. She was with me the day I went to the paint store to pick out the color. I had a nice tan color in mind, but May latched on to this sample called Caribbean Pink. She said it made her feel like dancing a Spanish flamenco. I thought, 'Well, this is the tackiest color I've ever seen, and we'll have half the town talking about us, but if it can lift May's heart like that, I guess she ought to live inside it.'"

"All this time I just figured you liked pink," I said.

She laughed again. "You know, some things don't matter that much, Lily. Like the color of a house. How big is that in the overall scheme of life? But lifting a person's heart–now, that matters. The whole problem with people is–"

"They don't know what matters and what doesn't," I said, filling in her sentence and feeling proud of myself for doing so.

"I was gonna say, The problem is they know what matters, but they don't choose it. You know how hard that is, Lily? I love May, but it was still so hard to choose Caribbean Pink. The hardest thing on earth is choosing what matters."

~from The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd~

A Word for Wednesday

 "You remember winning, don't you? A battle won, somewhere?"

"No," said the old man, deep under. "I don't remember anyone winning anywhere any time.

War's never a winning thing, Charlie. 

You just lose all the time, and the one who loses last asks for terms.

All I remember is a lot of losing and sadness and nothing good but the end of it.

The end of it, Charles, that was a winning all to itself, having nothing to do with guns.

But I don't suppose that's the kind of victory you boys mean for me to talk on."

~from Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury~

A Word for Wednesday

 "Other evils there are that may come; 

for Sauron is himself but a servant or emissary. 

Yet it is not our part to master all the tides of the world, 

but to do what is in us for the succour of those years wherein we are set, 

uprooting the evil in the fields that we know, 

so that those who live after may have clean earth to till. 

What weather they shall have is not ours to rule."

~from The Return of the King by J.R.R. Tolkien~

A Word for Wednesday

"Few other griefs amid the ill chances of this world 

have more bitterness and shame for a man's heart 

than to behold the love of a lady so fair and brave 

that cannot be returned."

~from The Return of the King by J.R.R. Tolkien~

A Word for Wednesday

"I wish it need not have happened in my time," said Frodo.

"So do I," said Gandalf, "and so do all who live to see such times. 

But that is not for them to decide. 

All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us."

~from The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien~

A Word for Wednesday

 "But here, I can help myself. Here, I am looked after.

And maybe that is why it feels more like home than anywhere else has ever felt.

Maybe home isn't a place.

It's a feeling.

Of being looked after and understood.

Of being loved."

~from Dear Emmie Blue by Lia Louis~

A Word for Wednesday

 "Because I know, deep down, I am made of strong stuff.

Rebuilt with it, at least, the way we all are, 

over the years, with age and experience, 

skin thickening, heart softening, patched up double in the places prone to breakage. 

A sum of all the things that have hurt us, scared us, sheltered and delighted us."

~from Dear Emmie Blue by Lia Louis~

A Word for Wednesday

 "'I don't think a girl ever gets over losing her mom.

I'm an adult and it's completely normal and expected for my mom to be dead,

but I still feel orphaned sometimes.' 

She smiles at me. 'But that's just inescapable, right? 

When you lose someone and it still hurts, that's when you know the love was real.'"

~from P.S. I Still Love You by Jenny Han~

A Word for Wednesday

 "Margot would say she belongs to herself.

Kitty would say she belongs to no one.

And I guess I would say I belong to my sisters and my dad,

but that won't always be true.

To belong to someone—I didn't know it, but now that I think about it,

it seems like that's all I've ever wanted. 

To really be somebody's, and to have them be mine."

~from To All the Boys I've Loved Before by Jenny Han~

A Word for Wednesday

 "A man who's not completely honest can keep within the bounds of decency 

if he's lucky enough to be unattractive and of slender means. 

But add money and good looks, and the road to ruin is clearly signposted."

~from The Awakening of Miss Prim by Natalia Sanmartin Fenollera~

A Word for Wednesday

"What about fairy tales? Don't you like fairy tales?" she asked, trying to change the subject.

"We like them," said Eksi shyly. "We like them a lot."

"What's your favorite?"

"The story of the Redemption," replied her older sister simply.

Astounded, Miss Prim couldn't think how to respond. The child's strange statement showed that despite his efforts, despite his insistence and his arrogance, the Man in the Wing Chair hadn't succeeded in instilling even the most basic rudiments of the faith that was so important to him. He hadn't managed to explain the historical background of his religion. How could this be? All those morning walks to the abbey, all that reading of theology, all that ancient liturgy, all that playing at medieval jousting and what had he achieved? Four children convinced that the texts he so loved were just fairy tales.

"But Tes, it's not exactly a fairy tale. Fairy tales are stories full of fantasy and adventure; they're meant to entertain. They're not set at any specific time and aren't about real people or places."

"Oh, we know that," said the little girl. "We know it's not a normal fairy tale; it's a real fairy tale."

Miss Prim, pensive, adjusted her position on the old iron bench.

"What you mean is it's like a fairy tale, is that it?" she asked, intrigued.

"No, of course not. The Redemption is nothing like a fairy tale, Miss Prim. Fairy tales and ancient legends are like the Redemption. Haven't you ever noticed? It's like when you copy a tree from the garden on a piece of paper. The tree from the garden doesn't look like the drawing, does it? It's the drawing that's a bit, just a little bit, like the real tree."

~from The Awakening of Miss Prim by Natalia Sanmartin Fenollera~

A Word for Wednesday

"Is she all right?"

Miss Prim searched for her words before replying.

"I think so, but she seems very sad. She believes you blame her for something that happened many years ago."

The Man in the Wing Chair was silent for a moment.

"I don't. I forgave her many years ago, when I was still a boy. It's she who blames herself, but she can't see that. It's easier to project blame into the eyes of others and defend yourself against that than to find it within yourself, where there's no possible defense."

~from The Awakening of Miss Prim by Natalia Sanmartin Fenollera~

"Dear Lady Disdain" by John Lavery

A Word for Wednesday

 "Mine honour keeps the weather of my fate:

Life every man holds dear; but the dear man

Holds honour far more precious dear than life."

~from Troilus and Cressida by William Shakespeare~

A Word for Wednesday

Pandarus :  Be moderate, be moderate.

Cressida :  Why tell you me of moderation?

                    The grief is fine, full, perfect, that I taste,

                    And violenteth in a sense as strong

                    As that which causeth it: how can I moderate it?

                    If I could temporize with my affection,

                    Or brew it to a weak and colder palate,

                    The like allayment could I give my grief:

                    My love admits no qualifying dross;

                    No more my grief, in such a precious loss.

~from Troilus and Cressida by William Shakespeare~

A Word for Wednesday

 "We have tears in our eyes

As we wave our goodbyes,

We so loved being with you, we three.

So do please now and then

Come and see us again,

The Giraffe and the Pelly and me.

All you do is to look

At a page in this book

Because that's where we always will be.

No book ever ends

When it's full of your friends

The Giraffe and the Pelly and me."

~from The Giraffe and the Pelly and Me by Roald Dahl~

Illustration by Quentin Blake

A Word for Wednesday

 "Tabby is my third miracle."

"Really? Tabby ranks up there with baby birds and kittens?"

"She's kind of like a baby. She didn't know she was supposed to grow up, 

and that makes her more fun than other grown-up people."

~from Where the Forest Meets the Stars by Glendy Vanderah~

A Word for Wednesday

 "'Do you think that all children's books ought to have funny bits in them?' Miss Honey asked.

'I do,' Matilda said. 'Children are not so serious as grown-ups and they love to laugh.'"

~from Matilda by Roald Dahl~

A Word for Wednesday

 "Ya need some girlfriends, hon, 'cause they're furever.

Without a vow.

A clutch of women's the most tender, most tough place on Earth."

~from Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owen~

~shoutout to my clutch of women~