Ilusão Perdida de Pablo Neruda

Florida ilusão que em mim deixaste
a lentidão duma inquietude
vibrando em meu sentir tu juntaste
todos os sonhos da minha juventude.

Depois dum amargor tu afastaste-te,
e a princípio não percebi. Tu partiras
tal como chegaste uma tarde
para alentar meu coração mergulhado

na profundidade dum desencanto.
Depois perfumaste-te com meu pranto,
fiz-te doçura do meu coração,

agora tens aridez de nó,
um novo desencanto, árvore nua
que amanhã se tornará germinação.

Pablo Neruda, in 'Cadernos de Temuco'
Tradução de Albano Martins

Kafka, o vegetariano que não comia peixes

De repente, ele começou a falar aos peixes nos seus tanques iluminados. “Agora, por fim, posso olhá-los em paz, porque já não os como.” Foi quando ele se tornou vegetariano rigoroso. Se nunca ouviram Kafka a dizer coisas deste género com os seus próprios lábios, é difícil imaginar quão simples e facilmente, sem qualquer afetação, sem o mínimo pingo de sentimentalismo – algo que lhe era  quase totalmente estranho  – ele as pronunciava.

(...)

Cavalos-marinhos, mais do que a maioria dos animais, inspiram estupefação – eles chamam nossa atenção para as assombrosas semelhanças e as diferenças entre cada tipo de criatura e todas as outras. Podem mudar de cor para se mesclar com o ambiente e bater suas nadadeiras dorsais quase tão rapidamente quanto um beija-flor bate suas asas. Devido ao fato de não terem dente ou estômago, a comida passa através deles quase num só instante, o que requer que eles comam o tempo todo. (Daí as adaptações, como olhos que se movem com independência e lhes permitem procurar presas sem mexer a cabeça.) Não são exímios nadadores; podem morrer de exaustão quando pegos mesmo por pequenas correntes, então preferem ancorar-se em algas marinhas ou corais, ou uns aos outros – eles gostam de nadar aos pares, ligados por seus rabos preênseis. Cavalos-marinhos têm rotinas complicadas para fazer a corte e tendem a se acasalar em noites de lua cheia, fazendo sons musicais enquanto isso. Vivem relações monogâmicas duradouras. O que talvez seja mais incomum, contudo, é o fato de ser o macho que carrega os filhotes por seis semanas. O machos ficam “grávidos”, não somente carregando, mas também fertilizando e nutrindo com secreções líquidas os ovos em desenvolvimento. A imagem dos machos dando a luz é sempre assombrosa: um líquido turvo irrompe da bolsa de gestação, e, como num passe de mágica, cavalos-marinhos minúsculos mas formados por completo aparecem de dentro dessa nuvem.

(...)

E sentia vergonha por ser humano: a vergonha em saber que vinte entre o número aproximado de 35 espécies de cavalos-marinhos classificadas no mundo estão ameaçadas de extinção porque são mortas “sem querer” na produção de frutos do mar. A vergonha pela matança indiscriminada, sem nenhuma necessidade nutricional, causa política, ódio irracional ou conflito humano insolúvel. Sentia-me culpado pelas mortes que minha cultura justificava com uma preocupação tão ténue quanto o sabor do atum em lata (os cavalos-marinhos estão entre as mais de cem espécies mortas como “captura acidental” na indústria moderna de atum) ou pelo fato de os camarões constituírem convenientes hors d’oeuvres (a pesca de arrastão do camarão devasta as populações de cavalos-marinhos mais do que qualquer outra atividade).

Jonathan Safran Foer

William Shakespeare - Sonnet 138

When my love swears that she is made of truth,
I do believe her, though I know she lies,
That she might think me some untutor'd youth,
Unlearned in the world's false subtleties.
 
Thus vainly thinking that she thinks me young,
Although she knows my days are past the best,
Simply I credit her false-speaking tongue:
On both sides thus is simple truth supprest.
 
But wherefore says she not she is unjust?
And wherefore say not I that I am old?
O, love's best habit is in seeming trust,
And age in love loves not to have years told:
 
Therefore I lie with her, and she with me,
And in our faults by lies we flatter'd be.

Marguerite Yourcenar

Aimer les yeux fermés, c'est aimer comme un aveugle. Aimer les yeux ouverts, c'est peut-être aimer comme un fou : c'est éperdument accepter. Je t'aime comme une folle.

(Feux: http://www.babelio.com/livres/Yourcenar-Feux/36512)

The Day the Saucers Came by Neil Gaiman

That Day, the saucers landed. Hundreds of them, golden,
Silent, coming down from the sky like great snowflakes,
And the people of Earth stood and
stared as they descended,
Waiting, dry-mouthed, to find out what waited inside for us
And none of us knowing if we would be here tomorrow
But you didn’t notice because
That day, the day the saucers came, by some some coincidence,
Was the day that the graves gave up their dead
And the zombies pushed up through soft earth
or erupted, shambling and dull-eyed, unstoppable,
Came towards us, the living, and we screamed and ran,
But you did not notice this because
On the saucer day, which was zombie day, it was
Ragnarok also, and the television screens showed us
A ship built of dead-men’s nails, a serpent, a wolf,
All bigger than the mind could hold,
and the cameraman could
Not get far enough away, and then the Gods came out
But you did not see them coming because
On the saucer-zombie-battling-gods
day the floodgates broke
And each of us was engulfed by genies and sprites
Offering us wishes and wonders and eternities
And charm and cleverness and true
brave hearts and pots of gold
While giants feefofummed across
the land and killer bees,
But you had no idea of any of this because
That day, the saucer day, the zombie day
The Ragnarok and fairies day,
the day the great winds came
And snows and the cities turned to crystal, the day
All plants died, plastics dissolved, the day the
Computers turned, the screens telling
us we would obey, the day
Angels, drunk and muddled, stumbled from the bars,
And all the bells of London were sounded, the day
Animals spoke to us in Assyrian, the Yeti day,
The fluttering capes and arrival of
the Time Machine day,
You didn’t notice any of this because
you were sitting in your room, not doing anything
not even reading, not really, just
looking at your telephone,
wondering if I was going to call.

nothing behind me

Real love is the love that sometimes arises after sensual pleasure

“Real love is the love that sometimes arises after sensual pleasure: if it does, it is immortal; the other kind inevitably goes stale, for it lies in mere fantasy.”

 

 

Giacomo Casanova

Inc's Inspiration Quotes

1. “Only a genius can do things his own way. You? You’re no genius.” I worked a construction job one summer and kept questioning what I was told to do. The foreman finally, in no uncertain terms, set me straight. It’s okay to reinvent the wheel, but only after you know how the current wheel works. Never assume you know better when you don’t really know anything.
2. “If you want to know how much you’ll be missed when you are gone, put your finger in a bucket of water and then remove it. The hole that’s left will be how much you are missed.” No one is irreplaceable. No one. Not even this guy. Instead of depressing, the thought we’re professionally replaceable is liberating. You may not leave a hole, but you can leave a mark on a person, a team, or a culture that lives on after you’re gone.
You may not be missed but you can be remembered–in the best possible way.
3. “We all have limits. Almost no one reaches theirs. You definitely haven’t.” You could swim faster if a shark was on your tail. You could run faster if your child was in danger. You could work harder if the payoff was truly exceptional.
What we think we can do is always–always–less than what we can do if we really, reallytry. We always have a little more in us. Find your true limits and you may find that success is limitless.
4. “Unless you’re the lead dog in the sled, the view never changes.” Following the crowd means living the same life as the crowd. You don’t want that.
5. “There are two types of pain you will go through in life: the pain of discipline and the pain of regret. Discipline weighs ounces while regret weights tons.” (Original to Jim Rohn.) The worst words you can say are, “I just wish I had…” Push yourself to do what you hope to do… so you will never have to regret not having tried.
6. “Fat, drunk and stupid is no way to go through life, son.” (Gotta love Dean Wormer.) I haven’t overcome the stupid part… but I’m trying.
7. “The coward dies a thousand deaths, the brave but one.” (Original to Ernest Hemingway.) Think about easing into a cold ocean; every inch is excruciating. Dive in and it sucks big time, but then it’s over. It’s even worse to turn away from what scares you because when you do, deep inside, a little piece of you withers and dies.
Dive in. It’s never as cold, or as bad, as you think.
8. “Today’s pain is tomorrow’s power. The more you suffer today, the stronger you are tomorrow.” Self-pity is self-defeating. Tomorrow’s success is based on today’s discomfort. Plus willpower is like a muscle: the more you exercise it, the stronger your will gets.
And the easier it is to call on when dedication and persistence make all the difference.
9. “Bravery means finding something more important than fear.” Courage without meaning is just recklessness. Brave people aren’t fearless; they’ve simply found something that matters more to them than the fear they’re facing. Say you’re scared to start a business. Find a reason that has greater meaning than the fear: Your family’s future, your desire to make a difference, or your dream of a more fulfilling life.
When you find a greater meaning you find the courage to overcome your fear.
10. “Do it or not. There is no try.” (Original Yoda, philosopher and avant-garde sentence constructor.) A boss once gave me what I thought was an impossible task. I said, “Okay… I’ll try.” He explained that I would finish as long as I didn’t quit. Trying didn’t enter into it. Persistence was all that mattered.
Often we say, “I’ll try…” because it gives us an out. Once we say, “I will,” our perspective changes. What previously seemed insurmountable is no longer a matter of luck or chance but of time and effort and persistence.
When what you want to do really matters, never say, “I’ll try.” Say, “I will,” and keep that promise to yourself.
11. “Stop waiting for the ‘right time.’ Success is a numbers game: the number of times you take a shot.” You’ll never create the perfect business plan, never find the perfect partners, the perfect market, the perfect location, but you can find the perfect time to start.
That time is now.
Talent, experience, and connections are important, but put your all into enough new things and some will work. Take enough shots and over time you’ll grow more skilled, more experienced, and more connected. And that will mean a greater percentage of your efforts will succeed. Take enough shots, learn from what didn’t work, and in time you’ll have all the skills, experience, and connections you need.
Ultimately success is all about taking your shot, over and over again. Sometimes you may win, sometimes you will definitely lose, but the more things you try the more chances you have of succeeding. Put the power of numbers on your side. Take as many shots as you can. There’s no guarantee of success, but when you don’t take a shot, there’s a definite guarantee of failure.
12. “Resentment is like drinking poison and expecting the other guy to die.” The same holds for bitterness. And jealousy. And dislike. Let it go. If you don’t, the only loser is you.
13. “The extra mile is a vast, unpopulated wasteland.” (Me.) Everyone says they go the extra mile, but almost no one actually does. Most people think, “Wait… no one else is here… why am I doing this?”
That’s why the extra mile is such a lonely place. That’s also why the extra mile is a place filled with opportunities. Be early. Stay late. Make the extra phone call. Send the extra email. Do the extra research. Help a customer unload or unpack a shipment. Don’t wait to be asked; offer. Every time you do something, think of one extra thing you can do–especially if other people aren’t doing that one thing. Sure, it’s hard.
But that’s what will make you different–and over time will make you incredibly successful.
14. “It’s just a flesh wound.”The Black Knight never gives up.
Neither should we.

Read more: 14 Inspiration Quotes That Will Change Your Life in 2014 | TIME.com http://www.inc.com/jeff-haden/14-inspirational-quotes-for-2014-mon.html#ixzz2qfk0pLvH

FOMA!

The Fourteenth Book

[ A short book with a long title.]
Title: What Can a Thoughtful Man Hope for Mankind on Earth, Given the Experience of the Past Million Years?

Only verse: Nothing.


(Kurt Vonnegut, Cat's Cradle)

terms and conditions

The World is Yours but...

life is like a bycicle

life is like a bycicle...
in order to have balance you have to keep moving!

a Lover's Discourse - roland barthes

"There's a point (...) when he says the situation of a rejected lover is not unlike the situation of a prisoner in Dachau. (...) It's about the loss of self. And when you lose yourself where do you go? There's nowhere to go, it's actually a kind of madness."

"When you love obsessively, you do lose yourself. And when you then lose the object of your love , you have none of the normal resources to fall back on. It can completely destroy you. And very obviously concentration camps are about dehumanizing people before they are killed. I wanted to raise some questions about these two extreme and apparently different situations."

Sarah Kane in "Love me or Kill me" by Graham Saunders

vegetating

Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.
Mark Twain - Innocents Abroad

let go

"I believe that everything happens for a reason. People change so that you can learn to let go, things go wrong so that you appreciate them when they're right, you believe lies so you eventually learn to trust no one but yourself, and sometimes good things fall apart so better things can fall together."

Marilyn Monroe

love & lack of imagination

“People who love only once in their lives are. . . shallow people. What they call their loyalty, and their fidelity, I call either the lethargy of custom or their lack of imagination.”

Oscar Wilde

imagine

“Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand.”

A. Einstein.

qui tu est

Devient qui tu est
-Picasso

blackboxing

blackboxing is "the way scientific and technical work is made invisible by its own success. When a machine runs efficiently, when a matter of fact is settled, one need focus only on its inputs and outputs and not on its internal complexity. Thus, paradoxically, the more science and technology succeed, the more opaque and obscure they become."

Bruno Latour