Joy is the holy fire that keeps our purpose warm and our intelligence aglow

Joy is the holy fire that keeps our purpose warm and our intelligence aglow

And these are joys, like beauty, but skin deep.

And these are joys, like beauty, but skin deep.

And, e'en while fashion's brightest arts decoy,
The heart, distrusting, asks if this be joy.

And, e'en while fashion's brightest arts decoy,
The heart, distrusting, asks if this be joy.

Joy comes from using your potential.

Joy comes from using your potential.

How fading are the joys we dote upon!
Like apparitions seen and gone;
But those which soonest read more

How fading are the joys we dote upon!
Like apparitions seen and gone;
But those which soonest take their flight
Are the most exquisite and strong;
Like angel's visits short and bright,
Mortality's too weak to bear them long.

To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly broken. read more

To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket- safe, dark, motionless, airless--it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable.

All human joys are swift of wing,
For heaven doth so allot it;
That when you get read more

All human joys are swift of wing,
For heaven doth so allot it;
That when you get an easy thing,
You find you haven't got it.

Shared joy is a double joy; shared sorrow is half a sorrow

Shared joy is a double joy; shared sorrow is half a sorrow

I sometimes wonder whether all pleasures are not substitutes for joy.

I sometimes wonder whether all pleasures are not substitutes for joy.