As a lifelong collector of quotes in the wild, this past year I launched QUOTE/WORKS, illustrating favorite quotes by authors, poets, teachers and other roustabouts, instigators, and agent provocateurs. Here are some. Feel free to nab any that work for you and pass them forward into the Omniverse. ~ Douglas John Imbrogno
A Wish for Thee & Me in ’23
Easier said than done, true. We are addicted to gain and despise loss. Is that where serenity lies? On the other side of them?
Elvis had it right
We live in an era of drive-by cruelty, seen every third tweet, headline, or cold-hearted stance by powerful people twisting a knife on behalf of their tiny tribe. Playwright Tennessee Williams delivers an X-ray insight into the dark heart of much cruelty: the wish to punish those who, unlike them, sought out their dreams.
What Ike said
This quote, from the kind of Republican we can only dream about these days, has been in heavy rotation since that warped guy with orange hair came slithering down an escalator in 2016. Now, as 2023 commences, his Conspiracy Party (isn’t that the sole thing it has going for it, after all?) rolls on, the law still in pursuit.
Walk the labyrinth
I love this quote. Its author is writing of live performance and every performer knows this moment on stage well. (‘Wait, I need more instruction! I’m not ready for this!‘). Yet broaden the quote outward and it works as well for all spiritual questing and bewilderment. Genuine spiritual guidance and teachings land you right back at this mirror moment. The labyrinth of you, of us, is ours to solve. Our teachers and their teachings only point the way.
Nuts to you
A brilliant, welcome message. We should have this wisdom turned into coded shorthand with our besties. TEXT TO A DEAR FRIEND: Picture of a nut or squirrel. TEXT BACK: ‘I’ll be by in a half-hour …‘
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Folie à deux
Life advice. This Tamil quote may seem to address only those frantic, full-of-themselves fools in any society. But stop and run your life — our very own life — through the filter of this insight. What folly am I clutching still that continues to harm me?
Solitudinous
My life-saving prescription for personal sustained mental health and nourishment. PS: That is a 2022 shot of the ethereal hills of Tucker County, West Virginia, one of Appalachia’s finest scenic heartlands.
Imperial Dreaming
The 17th-century Japanese haiku master Basho says so much in such a small space. This quote should be appliqued on the prison uniform after The Hague convicts Vladimir Putin and other violence-drunk warmongers of crimes against humanity. And then, locks them away with photos of their victims plastered on their cell walls and playing on looped TV.
Eh ….
I did this graphic for a climate change newsletter I occasionally publish, ChangingClimateTimes.Substack.com. The image is from a magnificent series of swirled photographs — yes, that is an actual photographic image — by my elder brother, David, a world-class shooter. See more of this astounding photo series at this link.
When the cock crows …
On my better days, I am a chanticleer. I may also be annoying some of the neighbors …
Don’t do fascism’s work
I’ll take Woody Guthrie’s words and songs over most pundits writing today. He cuts right to the chase and his words are as timely today as the day he penned them.
P.S.
Enough said.
