"The jaws' hooked clamp and fangs Not to be changed at this date; A life subdued to its instrument."

“Today's aikido is so dimensionless. It's hollow, empty on the inside. People try to reach the highest levels without even paying their dues. That's why it seems so much like a dance these days. You have to master the very basics solidly, with your body, and then proceed to develop to the higher levels.... Now we see nothing but copying or imitation without any grasp of the real thing....”

“Reason must know the heart's reasons and every other reason”

“How endless is that volume which God hath written of the world! Every creature is a letter, every day a new page.”

Source : Joseph Hall (1808). “The Works of the Right Reverend Father in God, Joseph Hall: Now First Collected. With Some Account of His Life and Sufferings, Written by Himself”, p.204

“And if I should live to be The last leaf upon the tree In the spring, Let them smile, as I do now, At the old forsaken bough Where I cling.”

“There are a lot of car bombs and roadside bombs, house bombs, even, in this city planted by ISIS. So - but it's going to be a tough fight ahead, and the Iraqi generals expect to take the city back, the city of Ramadi, by mid-January.”

“Memories are like water.”

“Every time I look at it, It looks back at me I love the sea, its waters are blue And the sky is too And the sea is very dear to me If when I grow up and the sea is still there Then I’ll open my eyes and smell the fresh air Because the sea is very dear to me The sea is very calm and that’s why I like it there The sand is brand new and the wind blows in my hair And the sea is very dear to me.”

Source : Esther Earl, Lori Earl, Wayne Earl (2014). “This Star Won't Go Out: The Life and Words of Esther Grace Earl”, p.38, Penguin UK

“People talk about the middle of the road as though it were unacceptable. Actually, all human problems, excepting morals, come into the gray areas. Things are not all black and white. There have to be compromises. The middle of the road is all of the usable surface. The extremes, right and left, are in the gutters.”