My T —
Hello!
As you know, I love quotes.
Wisdom, in a few words.
(All anyone has time for now.)
I collect them.
I’ll pause a movie to write one down if I hear a good one.
(I’m annoying that way.)
Good quotes can surprise. So can where they come from.
After Casablanca, the most quotable movie I know stars Fred Astaire. A lyricist wrote the screenplay.
—He who does not love the faults of his love does not love at all.
(Proof you learn to write from songs.)
I have a magnificent quote file. Here is my favorite, ever:
…it seemed to me that I had several more lives to live, and could not spare any more time for that one…
—Henry David Thoreau
I found it when my first life ran out, when I left home.
It stayed with me likely for that reason.
It makes a great excuse for quitting a job, or anything!
(I also have a great song for quitting a job, if you need one.)
I love this part most:
—I had several more lives to live…
I too have more. Maybe, one more.
It takes time to find your true life —
the one you will protect,
the one you will give everything,
the one you will never abandon
— unless you’re lucky! Maybe some are…
The sad or funny or joyous thing is, I’ve known what I’ve wanted and looked for it forever, only to find it by accident.
(No no, it was no accident.)
—Let’s start a new life…
That quote was the answer. The question was: —If Walden was so great, why did you leave?
I’ve been there. I know why.
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I’ve lived a few lives.
(I won’t bore you with the details.)
Lives can overlap. I’ve even relived one.
How do you know the time has come?
You know.
It’s like missing a flight; you know you should be home, but you’re not.
You know where you belong.
Relationships differ from lives but they can define them.
(Her for example, any marriage or betrothal, a career or vocation.)
Take this girl I dated.
Her hand snapped perfectly into mine, but it felt all wrong.
Right hand, wrong soul.
You know to whom you belong.
…relationships are like shoes: no matter how beautiful they are or how much you love them, if they don’t fit there will be pain with every step…
I’ve worn those. I know.
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When asked —How did you sculpt David? Michelangelo replied —I removed what wasn’t David.
(Mamet says his answer means —Fuck off, and he’s right!)
We must abandon what’s not us so what is us can shine.
You know who you are.
Thoreau describes reincarnation. Michelangelo, molting.
Lately I’ve focused on shedding…distraction.
We experience this world through one body. Perhaps we experience this life through one lens.
Mine is writing.
I want to write my way into eternity.
(No no, I want to write my way into your heart.)
My dad could die at any moment (heart trouble) so I have given much thought lately to what will make my days matter.
It always comes down to writing well, loving well.
(For me, writing is loving.)
—I’m a storyteller, man, that’s all I am.
(Loving is loving.)
The opposite of that quote is also true: we must put on what is us; we must dress the part!
—Clothes make the man — and woman.
I know it…
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I might have a new favorite quote — one I read from a subtitle on an airplane movie.
(Someone else’s movie, lol.)
It would have fit perfectly in the first letter I wrote you:
—Love is as simple as “Hello!”
— Your D