Small worries are a bit like kittens

They appeal to us. They seem endearing. After all, life with nothing to worry about would be a bit like life with nothing or nobody to love. Very safe, but more than a bit bland. And empty. Adorable little kittens, though, soon grow into haughty hungry cats. And as for those little worries? Well, woe betide you if you feed them...

We can't all be born to be king

"We can't all be born to be king, but we can all have a position where we really can aspire for ourselves and for our families to do the very best that we possibly can." --- Charles Clarke; 19th November 2004

UK Education Secretary Charles Clarke, when pressed to comment on a note written by Prince Charles in which the latter questioned "child-centred" education and "a learning culture" for seeking to push people without "the natural ability" to attempt to rise above their station.

Breaching the longstanding protocol that ministers do not criticise the royals, the Education Secretary took a swipe at the prince's privileged background by stating that "we can't all be born to be king", and urged the prince to think before speaking out.

What do we really know?

As we know, there are known knowns
There are things we know we know
We also know, there are known unknowns
That is to say we know there are some things we don't know
But there are also unknown unknowns
The ones we don't know we don't know

Donald Rumsfeld, Secretary of Defense
12th February 2002; Department of Defense news briefing

Tracing a Light Arc

A Boeing Delta II satellite launch vehicle lifting off from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.
6th November 2004, Florida
Reuters / Carleton Bailie

What is your opinion about life?

"I'd like to know because just when I thought I have everything figured out, I realize it's impossible to have everything figured out. And just when you think you are finally happy, something comes along to make you question your bliss. Life in all its simplicity is indeed complicated."

He Wishes for the Clothes of Heaven

The clothes of heaven. A princess and a commoner. An impossible love. The latter with nothing but his dreams to offer, and offered them all he did... Pleading now that his dreams not be shattered. A profession of both love & futility. How sad, and quite true it could be.

He Wishes for the Clothes of Heaven

Had I the heavens' embroidered cloths,
Enwrought with golden and silver light,
The blue and the dim and the dark cloths
Of night and light and the half-light,
I would spread the cloths under your feet:
But I, being poor, have only my dreams;
I have spread my dreams under your feet;
Tread softly because you tread upon my dreams.

--- William Butler Yeats