alskuefhaih
asoiefh

Sunday, February 10, 2008

Valentine's Day thoughts


Faust. You’ll never reach the heart
unless you speak from the heart.



Wagner. But it’s beautiful language
that makes an orator succeed.
I’m way behind on that score.

Faust. You’ve got to look for honest accomplishment!
Don’t be a fool with gaudy expressions!
The right kind of intelligence and good sense

[and love]


will come with little art and strain.


from Goethe's Faust
(my paraphrase and added [and love])

16 comments:

Mrs. SwedeHart said...

I've never read Faust. Is it a good one? Would that lady bug like to be resting by the heart of that plant? Green and red look so pretty together.

Daniel Chérouvrier said...

Hello from Bourg Saint Maurice near La Plagne where I'll spend 8 days in the snow far from my own computer.
Have a nice week and Valentine day.

Ruth said...

Swedehart, I just started reading it. I'll let you know. It's the first time for me.

Ohh, so that's what the ladybug was looking for, Lesley's plant Harley.

Ruth said...

Deslilas, that's wonderful, I know you've been wanting to go. Enjoy, and please don't break anything. I'll see you in Brienne le Château when you come back, and at flying.

rauf said...

i used to see lot of commercials on TV, Valentine is marketed well in India too.
We want your money. Christmas or Valentine.
any way its nice to remember friends.
Haven't read Faust. i do not know the thoughts of Wagner, but Hitler made him a racist.
black money or white money. We want it.
When i finish my ice cream i look at your bowl Ruth, want to have that too. i am just as greedy as the guys who are after your money.

Ruth said...

rauf, I don't know if you say this in India, but here we call this a 'Hallmark holiday,' Hallmark being the greeting card company. The idea is that the only reason we celebrate is that someone lures us into spending money, just as you said. In all our stores when one holiday ends, the next is marketed. So after Valentine's we have St. Patrick's Day. Actually they don't wait for one to end anymore, leprechauns are already learing from shelves. And before St. Paddy's Day has come, Easter will be out.

My mom took every Hallmark opportunity, and I love her for it. Every Valentine's Day and Mother's Day, we woke up to cards on our breakfast plates. (She said she wouldn't be a mother if it weren't for us.) When Don, the kids and I moved to Istanbul, she made packets for Lesley and Peter for the long journey. There were several cards for each of them, and on the envelope she wrote: "to be opened in NYC" or "to be opened in Frankfurt," etc.

Ginnie Hart said...

I LOVE love, Ruth. Of course, it needs to be loved every single day.

I like the first Faust quote: "You'll never reach the heart unless you speak from the heart." So true!. So true!

Happy Valentine' Day, dearest sister!

Mrs. SwedeHart said...

Yes, I loved my cards from G'ma. And then I received them for a while form Aunt Nancy on behalf of G'ma, and it was really sweet because their handwriting is so similar! In one card they sent for Christmas, I slipped $100 in it and stashed it away in the top of my closet to keep it safe. Well, I completely forgot about it, and about a year later or so, I really needed a little extra money to help pay the bills. I prayed about it. And later that day, my hand accidentally ran across the card in the top of the closet under my hats and scarves. When I pulled it out and found the money in the card from G'ma, well, I don't have to tell you that I was convinced she had played her part!

Ruth said...

Boots, I agree. Love has to be attended to every day. Love is attention. If I love my houseplants every day, they will likely thrive. And I'm contemplating what you've said about loving Love.

Happy Valentine's Day to you, Abla (that's 'big sister' in Turkish).

Ruth said...

Swedehart, how sweet of Grandma, and how sweet of Aunt Nancy. They both had/have hearts of gold. And yes, both had/have beautiful handwriting. Aunt Nancy's is a little rounder, but yes, very similar. Did you get one of Grandma's hand written diaries? Do you know she was writing in the margins of all her books before she went into Alzheimer's? And her writing became so tiny, you almost couldn't read it without a magnifying glass.

You never cease to amaze me, dear girl. What an idea to put $100 away. I don't remember ever being in a time when I thought I could afford to do that, but it's brilliant, and I should have. To put it in G'ma's/Nancy's card is such a loving thing, that bonded you to them again later. I'm really touched.

Anonymous said...

Happy valentines day Ruth

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
mystic rose said...

Those are good quotes. I think I should read faust, but perhaps youve selected the really good ones. :)

Ruth said...

Thank you, Tracy. I hope yours was sweet. :)

Ruth said...

flyingstars (aka Kalyan :), thank you so much. I hope yours was lovely too.

Ruth said...

Mystic Rose, I haven't read far. These are from the first page. :) It's fine with me to just read a few lines and see what I can get from them. I'm sort of looking at the trees, rather than the forest, for now.