the kingdom where nobody dies January 3, 2010

Childhood is the kingdom where nobody dies. Nobody that matters, that is. —Edna St. Vincent Millay

And sallied from the gate December 10, 2009

Captain Carpenter got up on his roan And sallied from the gate in hell’s despite I heard him asking in the grimmest tone If any enemy yet there was to fight? —John Crowe Ransom

the presentiment of its end December 7, 2009

Happiness consumes itself like a flame. It cannot burn for ever, it must go out, and the presentiment of its end destroys it at its very peak. —August Strindberg

the last romance December 3, 2009

The romance of your child’s childhood may be the last romance you can give up. — Adam Gopnik

a renunciation of instinct November 30, 2009

It is impossible to overlook the extent to which civilization is built upon a renunciation of instinct. —Sigmund Freud

or else alone November 30, 2009

I want to be with those who know secret things or else alone. —Rainer Maria Rilke

a contradiction in our belief November 30, 2009

To extend our memories by monuments whose death we daily pray for, and whose duration we cannot hope, without injury to our expectations in the advent of the last day, were a contradiction to our belief. —Sir Thomas Browne

the foremost civilized nation November 30, 2009

“The country which first recognizes its responsibilities to the child,” S. W. Newmayer wrote in 1911, ”will receive the recognition of the world as being the foremost civilized nation.” Newmayer had just been asked to guide Philadelphia’s child health and welfare efforts, and as he surveyed indicators of child healthfrom around the world, he found that the United States [...]

tools to make tools November 30, 2009

Intelligence is the faculty of making artificial objects, especially tools to make tools. - Henri Bergson

a photographic ideal November 30, 2009

        There are an awful lot of people in the world and it’s going to be terribly hard to photograph all of them. —Diane Arbus