Always smile back at little children. To ignore them is to destroy their belief that the world is good.
The baby rises to its feet, takes a step, is overcome with triumph and joy – and falls flat on its face. It is a pattern for all that is to come! But learn from the bewildered baby. Lurch to your feet again. You’ll make the sofa in the end.
Music speaks of Platonic truth – the ideal river rather than the polluted reality, love as we dream it rather than we experience it, grief noble and uplifting rather than our distracted weeping. It is necessary to our survival and our sanity.
In a world gone bad, a bear – even a bear standing on its head – is a comforting, uncomplicated, dependable hunk of sanity.
For the sake of the sons – and even for the son’s future wives – a woman must keep a part of her mind and heart entirely for herself. Every family is better off with a wife and mother who can astonish and occasionally dewilder.
It should be possible to exist with only a short shelf of books, to read and give away. After all – we may not open a book, once read, for ten years or more. But the act of reading has made it part of us – to relinquish it would be to lose an extension of our being.
A teddy bear is your childhood wrapped up in faded yellow fur, and as such, he commands affection long after he is out grown.
A dog wakens your heart to joy and companionship.
Medicines may be necessary. Flowers lift the heart. But your smile is the best restorative of all.
The first step to wisdom is to be sure one says and does what one believes.
From serenity comes gentleness, comes lasting strength.
For sheer excitement you can keep movie premieres and roller-coasters. An empty white canvas waiting to be filled. That’s the thing.
However time or circumstances may come between mother and her child, their lives are interwoven forever.
Integrity rings like fine glass. True, clear, and reassuring.
Many a cat can only be lured in by switching off all the lights and keeping very still. Until the indignant cry of a cat-locked-out comes at the door.
Give a pup a home and a little love and he will give you his heart forever.
Sisters don’t need words. They have perfected a language of snarls and smiles and frowns and winks – expressions of shocked surprise and incredulity and disbelief. Sniffs and snorts and gasps and sighs – that can undermine any tale you’re telling.
The trouble with sharing one’s bed with cats is that they’d rather sleep on you than beside you.
You are asleep. Deep, deep asleep – and then the world caves in. The cat has leapt from the top window onto your stomach. He is saturated. He is hungry. He taps you into full wakefulness with a sodden paw “Could you open a can?”
A teddy bear does not depend upon mechanics to give him the semblance of life. He is loved – and therefore he lives.