Friday, October 30, 2015

What one thing guides you in life?

Daughter (to father): What one thing is your one guiding principle in life?

Old Man : Be curious and ejoy life.

Daughter: That is two things.

Old Man: Then, 'Be curious.' Curiosity drives the human mind to new experiences and consequently to life's enjoyment.



Be ... more curious about ideas - Marie Curie


Vacationing with her husband in Brittany, Marie Curie was mistaken as a housekeeper by a reporter seeking an interview and asked if she could reveal any titillating gossip. 

This was her response.

"Be less curious about people and more curious about ideas."


[As told in Living Adventures in Science‎ (1972), by Henry Thomas and Dana Lee Thomas]

Wednesday, October 28, 2015

The Secret of the Sea




The mystery of the sea




The Secret of the Sea

By Henry Wordsworth Longfellow



Ah! what pleasant visions haunt me

  As I gaze upon the sea!

All the old romantic legends,

  All my dreams, come back to me.



Sails of silk and ropes of sandal,

  Such as gleam in ancient lore;

And the singing of the sailors,

  And the answer from the shore!



[Tell me of] the Spanish ballad…

Of the noble Count Arnaldos…



Like the long waves on a sea-beach,

  Where the sand as silver shines,

With a soft, monotonous cadence,

  Flow its unrhymed lyric lines;--



Tell [me] how the Count Arnaldos,…

Saw a fair and stately galley,…



How he heard the ancient helmsman

  Chant a song so wild and clear,

That the sailing sea-bird slowly

  Poised upon the mast to hear,



Till his soul was full of longing,

  And he cried, with impulse strong,--

"Helmsman! for the love of heaven,

  Teach me, too, that wondrous song!"



"Wouldst thou,"--so the helmsman answered,

  "Learn the secret of the sea?

Only those who brave its dangers

  Comprehend its mystery!"



In each sail that skims the horizon,

  In each landward-blowing breeze,

I behold that stately galley,

  Hear those mournful melodies;



Till my soul is full of longing

  For the secret of the sea,

And the heart of the great ocean

  Sends a thrilling pulse through me.



A slightly shortened version, the full version is found here.

my soul is full of longing for the secret of the sea