Commonplace Book

A Commonplace Book. “Commonplace”, from the Latin 'locus communis', meaning “a theme or argument of general application.”  For me, it is a collection of thoughts, ideas, anecdotes, poems, observations, and quotes that stood out and caught my attention, some with comment, some without. Essentially a scrapbook, a repository of thoughts too good to just pass over and let go.

"Even a bad experience becomes a good story. They are imperfect, but our memories and stories of them get sweet with time."

(James Hamblin, Buy Experiences, Not Things, The Atlantic, October 7, 2014)

“An act of kindness is never wasted.”

(Michelle D. Craig, Divine Discontent, October General Conference 2018)

“The Earth laughs in flowers.”
(E.E. Cummings 1894-1962, American poet, painter, essayist, author, and playwright)

“So much is happening in nature right now—prime springtime—that it's hard to absorb it all. ... Get outside today if you can!”

(The Naturalists Notebook,  thenaturalistsnotebook.com.)

“Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass under the trees on a summer's day, listening to the murmur of the water, or watching the clouds float across the sky, is by no means a waste of time.”
(John Lubbock 1834-1913, English banker, liberal politician, philanthropist, scientist, and polymath)

"Look, if you’ve been successful, you didn’t get there on your own. . . . If you were successful, somebody along the line gave you some help. ... The point is, is that when we succeed, we succeed because of our individual initiative, but also because we do things together.”

(Barack Obama, Remarks by the President at a Campaign Event in Roanoke, Virginia, July 13, 2012)

"American society, understood as hundreds of millions of people making billions of decisions daily, is a marvel of spontaneous cooperation. Sensible government facilitates this cooperative order by providing roads, schools, police, etc., and by getting out of the way of spontaneous creativity. This is a dynamic, prosperous society’s “underlying social contract."

(George Will, Is the individual obsolete?, Washington Post, May 31, 2019)

“I love those who can smile in trouble, who can gather strength from distress, and grow brave by reflection. 'Tis the business of little minds to shrink, but they whose hearts are firm, and whose conscience approves their conduct, will pursue their principles until their death.”

(Leonardo da Vinci)

“Transcendentals — truth, goodness and beauty, which correspond sequentially to the mind, the will and the heart.”

(Kathleen Parker, Can Easter bring an end to this ungodly episode in American history?, Washington Post, April 19, 2019)

“Pursuing happiness should remain, mostly, a personal responsibility. Making it a public responsibility would ensure failure.”

(Robert J Samuelson, David Brooks, let me respectfully suggest: Lighten up, Washington Post, 17 April 2019)

“Native distinction needs no official stamp.”

(William James, 1842-1910, American philosopher, psychologist, and educator)

“Opportunity Cost: A benefit, profit, or value of something that must be given up to acquire or achieve something else. Since every resource (land, money, time, etc.) can be put to alternative uses, every action, choice, or decision has an associated opportunity cost.”

(Business Dictionary, http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/opportunity-cost.html)

“Let yourself be silently drawn by the stronger pull of what you really love.”

(Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Rūmī, 13th-century Persian poet, jurist, Islamic scholar, theologian, and Sufi mystic)

“Get mixed up with ... garbage and it will lead you to the landfill—the dumping ground of temporal dreams and eternal destinies.”

(Dallin H Oaks, Where Will it Lead?, BYU Devotional, November 9, 2004)