Author Archives: Laura Dobson

“No matter how bad things become, they will eventually get better. In the end, the innate desire of all people for truth, justice and human understanding must triumph over ignorance and despair. So if the Chinese oppressed us, it could only strengthen us.” From Freedom in Exile by the Dalai Lama, who fled to IndiaContinue reading “Thought for the day, Thursday 30th March”

“in Just-spring when the world is mud-luscious the littlelame balloonman whistles far and wee and eddieandbill comerunning from marbles andpiracies and it’sspring when the world is puddle-wonderful the queerold balloonman whistlesfar and weeand bettyandisbel come dancing from hop-scotch and jump-rope and it’sspringandthe balloonMan whistlesfarandwee” E.E. Cummings

“Water soundless, a wandering stream skirts bamboo forest. And west of Bamboo, wildflowers delight in gentle spring.Facing all this under thatch eaves, I sit through the day not a single bird. No song. Mountain quiet goes deeper still.” Wang An-Shih (1021 – 1086)

“Hope is about the possible; despair is about the impossible.” Thomas Aquinas (1225 – 1274) Hope in a Prison of Despair by Evelyn de Morgan

“The interdependence of all living things is something we often take for granted. It goes unnoticed in the daily round, so we forget that what happens in one place has its effect upon another place. It is only now that deforestation has been revealed to be a terrible legacy to our children that we beginContinue reading “Thought for the day, Sunday 26th March”

“With maturity comes the wish to economize – to be more simple. Maturity is the period when one finds the just measure.” Béla Bartok, composer and Unitarian, born on this day in 1881

“My peace, O my brothers, is in solitude,And my Beloved is with me always,For His love I can find no substitute.” Rabia al-Adawiyya (717 – 801)

“No longer conscious of my movement, I discovered a new unity with nature. I had found a new source of power and beauty, a source I never dreamt existed.” Roger Bannister (born on this day in 1929) on running the first sub four-minute mile

INTERNATIONAL DAY OF WATER “Let us bless the humility of water,Always willing to take the shapeOf whatever otherness holds it,The buoyancy of water,Stronger than the deadening,Downward drag of gravity,The innocence of water,Flowing forth, without thoughtOf what awaits it,The refreshment of water,Dissolving the crystals of thirst.Water: voice of grief,Cry of love,In the flowing tear.Water: vehicle andContinue reading “Thought for the day, Wednesday 22nd March”

INTERNATIONAL DAY OF FORESTS “When I am among the trees,especially the willows and the honey locustequally the beech, the oaks and the pines,they give off such hints of gladness.I would almost say that they save me, and daily.I am so distant from the hope of myself,in which I have goodness, and discernment,and never hurry throughContinue reading “Thought for the day, Tuesday 21st March”