Chapter 256: Wonders

 This is to certify, under oath, that the following quotes have been made on account of wisdom and clarity of thoughts, and to properly attribute the author, to wit:

"No one lights a lamp in order to hide it behind the door: the purpose of light is to create more light, to open people's eyes, to reveal the marvels around."

Paolo Coelho

"If we cannot start up to the sky of our dreams with the bluebirds of ecstasy or soar along on the rhythm of the humming bumblebees of our imagination, we must dare to think and apprehend what is hindering us, trying to capture the wonders of the moment."

Erik Pevernagie

"I don't think it is enough appreciated how much an outdoor book the Bible is. It is a 'hypaethral book,' such as Thoreau talked about - a book open to the sky. It is best read and understood outdoors, and the farther outdoors the better. Or that has been my experience of it. Passages that within walls seem improbable or incredible, outdoors seem merely natural. This is because outdoors we are confronted everywhere with wonders; we see that the miraculous is not extraordinary but the common mode of existence. It is our daily bread."

Wendell Berry, The Art of the Commonplace: The Agrarian Essays

"My belief is that we were put into this world of wonders and beauty with a special ability to appreciate them, in some cases to have the fun of taking a hand in developing them, and also in being able to help other people instead of overreaching them, and, through it all, to enjoy life - that is, to be happy."

Robert Baden-Powell

"Knowledge can be communicated, but not wisdom. One can find it, live it, be fortified by it, do wonders through it, but one cannot communicate and teach it."

Hermann Hesse

"We must learn to balance the material wonders of technology with the spiritual demands of the human race."

John Naisbitt

"One always wonders about roads not taken."

Warren Christopher

"God gives us intelligence to uncover the wonders of nature. Without the gift, nothing is possible."

James Clavell

"Man is a creature who walks in two worlds and traces upon the walls of his cave the wonders and the nightmare experiences of his spiritual pilgrimage."

Morris West

"Understanding why we are here, what we are supposed to be doing, relationships, and striving to do more other than play football - when you get understanding like that and apply it, it works wonders."

Eric Weddel

"I hate changes of administrations, because I have all my villains in place and they are all taken away and replaced with faceless wonders nobody knows."

Pat Oliphant

May the words of these testimonies about the world give us the necessary faculty to ascertain the difficulties of life, and then appreciate the beauty of living, despite all the associated odds and challenges, in order to feel and experience all that there is, in this world, and the life to come.

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