“Wisdom consists of the anticipation of consequences.’
–Norman Cousins
“All human wisdom is summed up in these two words–Wait and Hope.”
–Alexandre Dumas, Pere
“The art of being wise is the art of knowing what to overlook.”
–William James
“Wisdom is to the soul what health is to the body.”
–Francois Duc de la Rochefoucauld
“It is characteristic of wisdom not to do desperate things.”
–Henry David Thoreau
“There is this difference between wit and humor: wit makes you think, humor makes you laugh.”
–Josh Billings
“Wit goes for the jugular, not the jocular.”
–Florence King
“Wit penetrates; humor envelops.”
–Peggy Noonan
“Impropriety is the soul of wit.”
–W. Somerset Maugham
“By words the mind is winged.”
–Aristophanes
“All words are pegs to hang ideas on.”
–Henry Ward Beecher
“Words easy to be understood do often hit the mark, when high and learned ones do only pierce the air.”
–John Bunyan
“Words are, of course, the most powerful drug used by mankind.”
–Rudyard Kipling
“A word is the carving and coloring of a thought, and gives it permanence.”
–Osbert Sitwell
“For words, like nature, half reveal and half conceal the Soul within.”
–Alfred, Lord Tennyson
Leroy Anderson. I grew up hearing catchy, unforgettable pieces like “Sleigh Ride”, “Bugler’s Holiday”, “Belle of the Ball”, “The Syncopated Clock”, “The Typewriter”, and “The Waltzing Cat” played often on ’50s AM pop radio of the day. He also wrote “The Phantom Regiment”, “Blue Tango”, “Horse and Buggy”, “Jazz Legato”, “A Trumpeter’s Lullaby”, and many more. A CD of his best work, pictured above, is a highly pleasurable instrumental treat. Recommended for children, too.
My wooden two-volume-books coffee table in the family room. Love it!
Books–reading, writing, editing, publishing them–have been most of my life. My school textbooks sold over 1 million copies across Canada from 1980 to about 2005. During that time, I could travel anywhere in Canada and talk to high-school kids who had seen and used my books in every Canadian province. I also used these books in my classes when I taught from 1980-2002.
Given how icy and snow-covered Edmonton roads are.
My main winter-exercise device. A simple old-fashioned CCM stationary bike from the 1960s, inherited from my wife’s parents long ago.
is an indoor fountain. Psychologically and spiritually, it helps to hear slow-falling water on winter days.
a metallophone. I use it to create musical poems each day. Never the same two days in a row.
A typewriter-tea kettle in honor of all the typewriters we both used in the past.
On top of the fridge, an unused wooden pig carving-board he made in the 1950s.
He was a very creative soul.
