another one on friendship (not the whole poem - copyright) - while lying in a boat on Port Phillip Bay. One for Melburnians…

“...and while I lay sleeping,
my dream upward creeping,
had fastened itself to the mast.
So blow all ye gales,
and fill up my sails,
and carry me far, far away.
Till my billowing dreams all burst at the seams,
as I lie in a boat on the bay”

Michael Leunig

The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man.

George Bernard Shaw

[NB I have no reason at all for liking this quote]

One of my favourite 80s movies, Aliens…

Ripley: How long before we’re declared overdue can we expect a rescue? 
Hicks: Seventeen days. 
Hudson: Seventeen days? Look man, I don’t wanna rain on your parade, but we’re not gonna last seventeen hours! Those things are gonna come in here just like they did before. And they’re gonna come in here…
Ripley: Hudson! 
Hudson: ...and they’re gonna come in here AND THEY’RE GONNA KILL US! 
Ripley: HUDSON! This little girl survived longer than that with no weapons and no training, right? 
Hudson: So why don’t you put her in charge?

Arthur Hugh Clough (1819-1861)

The Latest Decalogue

            Thou shalt have one God only; who
            Would be at the expense of two? 
            No graven images may be
            Worshipp’d, except the currency: 
            Swear not at all; for, for thy curse
            Thine enemy is none the worse: 
            At church on Sunday to attend
            Will serve to keep the world thy friend: 
            Honour thy parents; that is, all
            From whom advancement may befall: 
            Thou shalt not kill; but need’st not strive
            Officiously to keep alive: 
            Do not adultery commit;
            Advantage rarely comes of it: 
            Thou shalt not steal; an empty feat,
            When it’s so lucrative to cheat: 
            Bear not false witness; let the lie
            Have time on its own wings to fly: 
            Thou shalt not covet; but tradition
            Approves all forms of competition. 

Arthur Hugh Clough (1819-1861)

notice that the lines “ Thou shalt not kill; but need’st not strive  Officiously to keep alive”, often used to draw the line between euthanasia and ‘letting go’ are, in the context of the poem, a sarcastic attack on legalistic avoidance of obedience to God’s commandment…

Bishop Latimer to Bishop Ridley, 1555, as they faced death (burnt at the stake) for denying Transubstantiaion and the sacrifice of the Mass during the reign of Queen Mary:

Be of good cheer, Master Ridley, and play the man; we shall this day, by God’s grace, light such a torch in England as will never be put out.

[quote author="Angela Crittle"]Bishop Latimer to Bishop Ridley, 1555, as they faced death (burnt at the stake) for denying Transubstantiaion and the sacrifice of the Mass during the reign of Queen Mary:

Be of good cheer, Master Ridley, and play the man; we shall this day, by God’s grace, light such a torch in England as will never be put out.

One of my favourites - thanks Angela.

[quote author="Angela Crittle"]Bishop Latimer to Bishop Ridley, 1555, as they faced death (burnt at the stake) for denying Transubstantiaion and the sacrifice of the Mass during the reign of Queen Mary:

Be of good cheer, Master Ridley, and play the man; we shall this day, by God’s grace, light such a torch in England as will never be put out.

Brilliant. Hard to find bishops like that these days.

[quote author="Gordon Cheng"][quote author="Angela Crittle"]Bishop Latimer to Bishop Ridley, 1555, as they faced death (burnt at the stake) for denying Transubstantiaion and the sacrifice of the Mass during the reign of Queen Mary:

Be of good cheer, Master Ridley, and play the man; we shall this day, by God’s grace, light such a torch in England as will never be put out.

Brilliant. Hard to find bishops like that these days.

Yes!!! It’s about time we had some bishops with enough backbone to be prepared to burn a heretic....

oh,

I see what you mean. Ignore the above ;-)

The television, that insidious beast, that Medusa which freezes a billion
people to stone every night, staring fixedly, that Siren which called and
sang and promised so much and gave, after all, so little.

Ray Bradbury,
science-fiction writer (1920- )

Again I saw that under the sun the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to the intelligent, nor favor to those with knowledge, but time and chance happen to them all.

Ecclesiastes 9:11

(Posted the day Jana Pittman announced she was withdrawing from the Olympics due to a freak training accident)

edit: oh! she’s back in today (9 Aug)! Eccles is still true, though :-)

After watching the Compass episode dedicated to Julia black’s personal reflections on abortion, I need to retreat to the ridiculous. And who better than Spike Milligan:

Skin Deep

I think that I am lovely
Despite a broken nose
You can detract from it
By wearing fancy clothes
I think I am beautiful
Although I have cross-eyes
You can detract from that as well
By wearing fancy ties
I think that I am beautiful
Even though I’ve got big ears
I cover them with blankets
When anyone appears.
I think I am beautiuful
Although my legs are thin
If people want to see them
I say my legs aren’t in
If some folk say I’m ugly
As some folk certainly will
I get out my rotweler
And say kill kill kill

A bit more TS Eliot to cheer up a Monday morning… (From The Wasteland)

What are the roots that clutch, what branches grow
 

Out of this stony rubbish? Son of man,
  

You cannot say, or guess, for you know only
 

A heap of broken images, where the sun beats,
 

And the dead tree gives no shelter, the cricket no relief,
 

And the dry stone no sound of water. Only
 

There is shadow under this red rock,

(Come in under the shadow of this red rock),
 

And I will show you something different from either
 

Your shadow at morning striding behind you
 

Or your shadow at evening rising to meet you;
 

I will show you fear in a handful of dust.

Si j’avais vote, je n’aurais pu vote que pour mois

If I had voted, I could only have voted for myself

-Charles Baudelaire

There is only one thing better I like than praying, It’s when God answers those prayers - but of course to have recieved an answer to prayer, I must have first spent time with God in prayer!

Craig Bennett quote

“Come on Craig! You can’t quote yourself!”

-Gordon Cheng