You Gave the Wrong Answer

Myth

Long afterward, Oedipus, old and blinded, walked the
roads.  He smelled a familiar smell.  It was
the Sphinx.  Oedipus said, "I want to ask one quetsion.
Why didn't I recognize my mother?"  "You gave the
wrong answer," said the Sphinx.  "But that was what
made everything possible," said Oedipus.  "No," she said.
"When I asked, What walks on four legs in the morning,
two at noon, and three in the evening, you answered,
Man.  You didn't say anything about women."
"When you say Man," said Oedipus, "you include women
too.  Everyone knows that."  She said, "That's what
you think."

- Muriel Rukeyser
(found in this article)

Censorship is the Child of Fear...

“Censoring books that deal with difficult, adolescent issues does not protect anybody. Quite the opposite. It leaves kids in the darkness and makes them vulnerable. Censorship is the child of fear and the father of ignorance. Our children cannot afford to have the truth of the world withheld from them”

-Laurie Halse Anderson

The Best Moments in Reading...

“The best moments in reading are when you come across something - a thought, a feeling, a way of looking at things - which you had thought special and particular to you. And now, here it is, set down by someone else, a person you have never met, someone even who is long dead. And it is as if a hand has come out, and taken yours.”

- Alan Bennett
"The History Boys"

"Along with Enormous Creativity..."

"There is a piece of received wisdom that says that the most creative people are often odd, or irritating, eccentric, damaged, difficult. That along with enormous creativity come certain deficits in humanity or decency. We are familiar with this trope in our business: Mozart, Van Gogh, Tarantino, Eminem."

- Meryl Streep

(link)

The Smell of Burnt Wood

"When you're standing at the plate and you hit a sharp foul ball to the backstop, the spot on the bat that made contact gets hot; the American dream forgot to tell me to step back and enjoy the smell of burnt wood."

- Adrian Cárdenas, formerly a player for the Chicago Cubs, who quit baseball to pursue an education in creative writing and philosophy (via Kottke)

But Thou Art All Replete With Very Thou

Indwelling

If thou couldst empty all thyself of self,
Like to a shell dishabited,
Then might He find thee on the Ocean shelf,
And say—" This is not dead,"—
And fill thee with Himself instead. 
But thou art all replete with very thou,
And hast such shrewd activity,
That, when He comes, He says :—" This is enow
Unto itself—’Twere better let it be:
It is so small and full, there is no room for Me."

- T.E. Brown

10 Honest Thoughts on Being Loved by a Skinny Boy

(warning - language)