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Communing With God Is Communing With Our Own Hearts, Our Own Best Selves, Not With Something Foreign And Accidental. Saints And Devotees Have Gone Into The Wilderness To Find God; Of Course They Took God With Them, And The Silence And Detachment Enabled Them To Hear The Still, Small Voice Of Their Own Souls, As One Hears The Ticking Of His Own Watch In The Stillness Of The Night.

-John Burroughs

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Communing With God Is

John Burroughs

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Communing With God Is Communing With Our Own Hearts, Our Own Best Selves, Not With Something Foreign And Accidental. Saints And Devotees Have Gone Into The Wilderness To Find God; Of Course They Took God With Them, And The Silence And Detachment Enabled Them To Hear The Still, Small Voice Of Their Own Souls, As One Hears The Ticking Of His Own Watch In The Stillness Of The Night.

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It Doesn't Seem To Be That Huge A Commitment That Would Create, You Know, Some Kind Of Really Powerful Constituency. But The History Has Been For The United States And Russia Especially That Nuclear Weapons Have Kind Of Become Part Of The Identity Of The Countries.

The Bluebird Enjoys The Preeminence Of Being The First Bit Of Color That Cheers Our Northern Landscape. The Other Birds That Arrive About The Same Time--the Sparrow, The Robin, The Phoebe-bird--are Clad In Neutral Tints, Gray, Brown, Or Russet; But The Bluebird Brings One Of The Primary Hues And The Divinest Of Them All.

The Poor Old Earth Which Has Mothered Us And Nursed Us We Treat With Scant Respect. Our Awe And Veneration We Reserve For The Worlds We Know Not Of. Our Senses Sell Us Out. The Mud On Our Shoes Disenchants Us.

Look Up At The Miracle Of The Falling Snow,—the Air A Dizzy Maze Of Whirling, Eddying Flakes, Noiselessly Transforming The World, The Exquisite Crystals Dropping In Ditch And Gutter, And Disguising In The Same Suit Of Spotless Livery All Objects Upon Which They Fall.

To Find The Universal Elements Enough; To Find The Air And The Water Exhilarating; To Be Refreshed By A Morning Walk Or An Evening Saunter... To Be Thrilled By The Stars At Night; To Be Elated Over A Bird's Nest Or A Wildflower In Spring - These Are Some Of The Rewards Of The Simple Life.

The Floating Vapour Is Just As True An Illustration Of The Law Of Gravity As The Falling Avalanche.

How Many Thorns Of Human Nature - Hard, Sharp, Lifeless Protuberances That Tear And Wound Us, Narrow Prejudices, Bristling Conceits That Repel And Disgust Us - Are Arrested Developments, Calcified Tendencies, Buds Of Promise That Should Have Lifted A Branch Up Into The Sunny Day With Fruit; And Flowers To Delight The Heart Of Men, But Now All Grown Hard, Petrified, For Want Of Culture And A Congenial Soil And Climate.

If I Were To Name The Three Most Precious Resources Of Life, I Should Say Books, Friends, And Nature.

To See Earth Fully We Already Need To Love It

We Are Made Strong By What We Overcome.

The Simplicity Of Winter Has A Deep Moral. The Return Of Nature, After Such A Career Of Splendor And Prodigality, To Habits So Simple And Austere, Is Not Lost Either Upon The Head Or The Heart. It Is The Philosopher Coming Back From The Banquet And The Wine To A Cup Of Water And A Crust Of Bread.

Before The Bud Swells, Before The Grass Springs, Before The Plough Is Started, Comes The Sugar Harvest. It Is Sequel Of The Bitter Frost; A Sap Run Is The Sweet Goodbye Of Winter.

Culture Means The Perfect And Equal Development Of Man On All Sides.

For Two Summers Not A Blue Wing, Not A Blue Warble. I Seemed To Miss Something Kindred And Precious From My Environment--the Visible Embodiment Of The Tender Sky And Wistful Soil. What A Loss, I Said, To Coming Generations Of Dwellers In The Country--no Bluebird In Spring!

There Is Hardly A Man On Earth Who Will Take Advice Unless He Is Certain That It Is Positively Bad.

Joy In The Universe, And Keen Curiosity About It All - That Has Been My Religion.

If You Want To See Birds, You Must Have Birds In Your Heart.

The Sunbeams Are Welcome Now. They Seem Like Pure Electricity—like Friendly And Recuperating Lightning. Are We Led To Think Electricity Abounds Only In Summer, When We See In The Storm-clouds As It Were, The Veins And Ore-beds Of It? I Imagine It Is Equally Abundant In Winter, And More Equable And Better Tempered. Who Ever Breasted A Snowstorm Without Being Excited And Exhilarated, As If This Meteor Had Come Charged With Latent Auroræ Of The North, As Doubtless It Has? It Is Like Being Pelted With Sparks From A Battery.

How Beautiful The Leaves Grow Old. How Full Of Light And Color Are Their Last Days.

Science Sees The Process Of Evolution From The Outside, As One Might A Train Of Cars Going By, And Resolves It Into The Physical And Mechanical Elements, Without Getting Any Nearer The Reason Of Its Going By, Or The Point Of Its Departure Or Destination.

The Very Idea Of A Bird Is A Symbol And A Suggestion To The Poet. A Bird Seems To Be At The Top Of The Scale, So Vehement And Intense His Life. . . . The Beautiful Vagabonds, Endowed With Every Grace, Masters Of All Climes, And Knowing No Bounds - How Many Human Aspirations Are Realised In Their Free, Holiday-lives - And How Many Suggestions To The Poet In Their Flight And Song!

Without Death And Decay, How Could Life Go On?

Temperament Lies Behind Mood; Behind Will, Lies The Fate Of Character. Then Behind Both, The Influence Of Family The Tyranny Of Culture; And Finally The Power Of Climate And Environment; And We Are Free, Only To The Extent We Rise Above These.

The Place To Observe Nature Is Where You Are.

Nothing Relieves And Ventilates The Mind Like A Resolution.

I Was Born With A Chronic Anxiety About The Weather.

The Smallest Deed Is Better Than The Greatest Intention.

I Go To Books And To Nature As A Bee Goes To The Flower, For A Nectar That I Can Make Into My Own Honey.

I Go To Nature To Be Soothed And Healed, And To Have My Senses Put In Order.

The International Court Of Justice (a.k.a. World Court) Is The Judicial Branch Of The United Nations And In The Early 1990's A Campaign Started And It Was Supported By Civil Society Non-governmental Groups Around The World.

The Story Goes On In The Sense That At A Most Basic Level, The United States Ignored, That Is Violated, The United Nations Charter When It Invaded Iraq In 2003. This Is Not Wise Policy.

A Somebody Was Once A Nobody Who Wanted To And Did.

One Of The Hardest Lessons We Have To Learn In This Life, And One That Many Persons Never Learn, Is To See The Divine, The Celestial, The Pure, In The Common, The Near At Hand-to See That Heaven Lies About Us Here In This World.

Every Walk To The Woods Is A Religious Rite, Every Bath In The Stream Is A Saving Ordinance. Communion Service Is At All Hours, And The Bread And Wine Are From The Heart And Marrow Of Mother Earth.

One May Summon His Philosophy When They Are Beaten In Battle, Not Till Then.

We've Been In A Period Of Relative Stability And Cooperation Since The End Of The Cold War Among The World's Major Powers, But That May Not Always Exist. And Certainly One Could Even Predict That There Will Be Periods Of Hostility Or Tension Ahead.

I Still Find Each Day Too Short.

Thinking Of You

Do Not Despise Your Own Place And Hour. Every Place Is Under The Stars, Every Place Is The Center Of The World.

[nuclear Weapons] Now I Think I Mentioned Around 27,000 And During The Cold War The Total Global Arsenal Was On The Order Of 70,000.

I Want Nothing Less Than A Faith Founded Upon A Rock, Faith In The Constitution Of Things. The Various Man-made Creeds Are Fictitious, Like The Constellations Orion, Cassiopeia’s Chair, The Big Dipper; The Only Thing Real In Them Is The Stars, And The Only Thing Real In The Creeds Is The Soul’s Aspiration Toward The Infinite.

The Honey-bee's Great Ambition Is To Be Rich, To Lay Up Great Stores, To Possess The Sweet Of Every Flower That Blooms. She Is More Than Provident. Enough Will Not Satisfy Her, She Must Have All She Can Get By Hook Or Crook.

I Still Find Each Day Too Short For All The Thoughts I Want To Think, All The Walks I Want To Take, All The Books I Want To Read, And All The Friends I Want To See.

The Lesson Which Life Repeats And Constantly Enforces Is 'look Under Foot.' You Are Always Nearer The Divine And The True Sources Of Your Power Than You Think.

We Cannot Walk Through Life On Mountain Peaks.

Here's How The Court Put It, And All Judges Agreed To This. The Court Said: "there Exists And Obligation To Pursue In Good Faith And Bring To A Conclusion Negotiations Under Nuclear Disarmament In All Its Aspects Under Strict And Effective International Control."

Nuclear Disarmament

Love Is The Measure Of Life; Only So Far As We Love Do We Really Live.

The Life Of Nature We Must Meet Halfway; It Is Shy, Withdrawn, And Blends Itself With A Vast Neutral Background. We Must Be Initiated; It Is An Order The Secrets Of Which Are Well Guarded.

One Summer Day, While I Was Walking Along The Country Road On The Farm Where I Was Born, A Section Of The Stone Wall Opposite Me, And Not More Than Three Or Four Yards Distant, Suddenly Fell Down. Amid The General Stillness And Immobility About Me The Effect Was Quite Startling. ... It Was The Sudden Summing Up Of Half A Century Or More Of Atomic Changes In The Material Of The Wall. A Grain Or Two Of Sand Yielded To The Pressure Of Long Years, And Gravity Did The Rest.

Science Makes No Claim To Infallibility; It Leaves That Claim To Be Made By Theologians.

The Art Of Nature Is All In The Direction Of Concealment.

He Who Marvels At The Beauty Of The World In Summer Will Find Equal Cause For Wonder And Admiration In Winter.

It Is Reported Of Margaret Fuller That She Said She Accepted The Universe. "gad, She'd Better!" Retorted Carlyle. Carlyle Himself Did Not Accept The Universe In A Very Whole-hearted Manner. Looking Up At The Midnight Stars, He Exclaimed: "a Sad Spectacle! If They Be Inhabited, What A Scope For Misery And Folly; If They Be Not Inhabited, What A Waste Of Space!"

One Resolution I Have Made, And Try Always To Keep, Is This: ‘to Rise Above Little Things’.

Almost All Of The Governments Have Agreed That They Will Not Acquire Nuclear Weapons And That They Will Allow The International Atomic Energy Agency To Monitor Their Commercial And Research Nuclear Power Operations To Ensure That Nuclear Materials - Highly Enriched Uranium And Plutonium - Are Not Diverted To Use In Weapons.

The Rocks Have A History; Gray And Weatherworn, They Are Veterans Of Many Battles; They Have Most Of Them Marched In The Ranks Of Vast Stone Brigades During The Ice Age; They Have Been Torn From The Hills, Recruited From The Mountaintops, And Marshaled On The Plains And In The Valleys; And Now The Elemental War Is Over, There They Lie Waging A Gentle But Incessant Warfare With Time And Slowly, Oh, So Slowly, Yielding To Its Attacks!

The United States Says "we're Complying. We're Following The Disarmament Obligation. Look At The Quantitative Reductions That Are Taking Place." But, Since '96, There Really Hasn't Been Progress On Specific Commitments That Have Been Made. Perhaps Most Disturbing Is This: That The United States And France In Particular, Since 1996, Have Expanded The Range Of Circumstances Under Which They Might Use - They Say They Might Use - Nuclear Weapons.

My Group, The Lawyers Committee On Nuclear Policy, Was One Of The Principle Organizers. So, There Was This Campaign To Support The United Nations General Assembly In Asking The International Court Of Justice For An Advisory Opinion On The Legality Of Threat Or Use Of Nuclear Weapons.

The Five Original Nuclear Weapon States I Mentioned - U.s., Britain, France, China, And Russia - Under The Npt Have Committed To The Achievement Of The Elimination Of Their Nuclear Arsenals Through Good Faith Negotiations Of Nuclear Disarmament - That's Article Six Of The Treaty.

Nuclear Disarmament

I Am In Love With This World . . . I Have Climbed Its Mountains, Roamed Its Forests, Sailed Its Waters, Crossed Its Deserts, Felt The Sting Of Its Frosts, The Oppression Of Its Heats, The Drench Of Its Rains, The Fury Of Its Winds, And Always Have Beauty And Joy Waited Upon My Goings And Comings.

Basically [united States And France] Said "we Will Use Nuclear Weapons Whenever It Suits Our Purposes To Do So." So This Expansion Of Doctrines Regarding Possible Use Of Nuclear Weapons Makes Them More, You Know, Sort Of, Salient And Important And So It's Increasing The Perceived Political Value Of Nuclear Weapons And Therefore Causing Or Contributing To Possible Proliferation.

Especially In The Case Of India And Pakistan, It's Very Clear That Significant Parts Of The Elites In Both Countries View Having Nuclear Weapons As A Ticket To Prestige.

India And Pakistan

I Think Rain Is As Necessary To The Mind As To Vegetation. My Very Thoughts Become Thirsty, And Crave The Moisture.

One May Return To The Place Of His Birth, He Cannot Go Back To His Youth.

I Am Not Going To Advocate ... The Abandoning Of The Improved Modes Of Travel; But I Am Going To Brag As Lustily As I Can On Behalf Of The Pedestrian, And Show How All The Shining Angels Second And Accompany The Man Who Goes Afoot, While All The Dark Spirits Are Ever Looking Out For A Chance To Ride.

Life Is A Struggle, But Not A Warfare.

In 2002 The [george] Bush Administration Effectively Put An End To Negotiations Of An Agreement Which Would Have Established Inspection Procedures To Ensure Or To Monitor Compliance With The Existing Legal Ban On Biological Weapons.

It Is Always Easier To Believe Than To Deny. Our Minds Are Naturally Affirmative.

One Goes To Nature Only For Hints And Half-truths. Her Facts Are Crude Until You Have Absorbed Them Or Translated Them ... It Is Not So Much What We See As What The Thing Seen Suggests.

For Anything Worth Having One Must Pay The Price; And The Price Is Always Work, Patience, Love, Self-sacrifice - No Paper Currency, No Promises To Pay, But The Gold Of Real Service.

I See On A Immense Scale, And As Clearly As In A Demonstration In A Laboratory, That Good Comes Out Of Evil; That The Impartiality Of The Nature Providence Is Best; That We Are Made Strong By What We Overcome; That Man Is Man Because He Is As Free To Do Evil As To Do Good; That Life Is As Free To Develop Hostile Forms As To Develop Friendly; That Power Waits Upon Him Who Earns It; That Disease, Wars, The Unloosened, Devastating Elemental Forces Have Each And All Played Their Part In Developing And Hardening Man And Giving Him The Heroic Fiber.

Nature Will Not Be Conquered, But Gives Herself Freely To Her True Lover - To Him Who Revels With Her, Bathes In Her Seas, Sails Her Rivers, Camps In Her Woods, And With No Mercenary Ends, Accepts All.

When You Bait Your Hook With Your Heart, The Fish Always Bite.

....success In Walking Is Not To Let Your Right Foot Know What Your Left Foot Doeth. Your Heart Must Furnish Such Music That In Keeping Time To It Your Feet Will Carry You Around The Globe Without Knowing It.

To Learn Something New, Take The Path That You Took Yesterday.

Close Scrutiny Of An Object In Nature Will Nearly Always Yield Some Significant Fact.

Then, Again, How Annoying To Be Told It Is Only Five Miles To The Next Place When It Is Really Eight Or Ten!

In What Bold Relief Stand Out The Lives Of All Walkers Of The Snow! The Snow Is A Great Tell-tale, And Blabs As Effectually As It Obliterates. I Go Into The Woods, And Know All That Has Happened. I Cross The Fields, And If Only A Mouse Has Visited His Neighbor, The Fact Is Chronicled.

When I Look Up Into The Starry Heavens At Night And Reflect Upon What It Is I Really See There, I Am Constrained To Say, ´there Is No God´.

Oh, Spring Is Surely Coming, Her Couriers Fill The Air; Each Morn Are New Arrivals, Each Night Her Ways Prepare; I Scent Her Fragrant Garments, Her Foot Is On The Stair.

I Do Not Think I Exaggerate The Importance Or The Charms Of Pedestrianism, Or Our Need As A People To Cultivate The Art. I Think It Would Tend To Soften The National Manners, To Teach Us The Meaning Of Leisure, To Acquaint Us With The Charms Of The Open Air, To Strengthen And Foster The Tie Between The Race And The Land. No One Else Looks Out Upon The World So Kindly And Charitably As The Pedestrian; No One Else Gives And Takes So Much From The Country He Passes Through.

The Court Was Unable To Rule On All Circumstances In Which Nuclear Weapons Might Be Used, And It Said In View Of The Problems, The Risks Posed By Nuclear Weapons, And In View Of The Lack Of Certainty Of The Law In All Circumstances, The Best Course Is Fulfilling The Obligation Of Good Faith Negotiations Of Nuclear Disarmament Contained In The Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty.

Nuclear Disarmament

The Countries Outside The Non-proliferation Treaty Also Are Bound By That Obligation [ Article Six Of The Treaty] According To, At Least It's A Strong Implication Of, A 1996 Opinion Of The International Court Of Justice.

Proliferation Treaty

One Can Return To Their Place Of Birth, But One Cannot Go Back To Your Youth.

Happiness Comes Most To Persons Who Seek It Least And Think Least About It. It Is Not An Object To Be Sought, It Is A State To Be Induced. It Must Follow And Not Lead. It Must Overtake You, And Not You Overtake It.

O Bluebird, Welcome Back Again, Thy Azure Coat And Ruddy Vest, Are Hues That April Loveth Best.

What A Severe Yet Master Artist Old Winter Is... No Longer The Canvas And The Pigments, But The Marble And The Chisel.

If We Take Science As Our Sole Guide, If We Accept And Hold Fast That Alone Which Is Verifiable, The Old Theology Must Go.

A Man Can Fail Many Times, But He Isn't A Failure Until He Begins To Blame Somebody Else.

Every Walk To The Woods Is A Religious Rite, Every Bath In The Stream Is A Saving Ordinance. Communion Service Is At All Hours, And The Bread And Wine Are From The Heart And Marrow Of Mother Earth. There Are No Heretics In Nature's Church; All Are Believers, All Are Communicants. The Beauty Of Natural Religion Is That You Have It All The Time; You Do Not Have To Seek It Afar Off In Myths And Legends, In Catacombs, In Garbled Texts, In Miracles Of Dead Saints Or Wine-bibbing Friars. It Is Of Today; It Is Now And Here; It Is Everywhere.

One Is Tempted To Say That The Most Human Plants, After All, Are The Weeds.

If The October Days Were A Cordial Like The Sub-acids Of Fruit, These Are A Tonic Like The Wine Of Iron. Drink Deep Or Be Careful How You Taste This December Vintage. The First Sip May Chill, But A Full Draught Warms And Invigorates.

Unfortunately, Nuclear Weapons Have Become Identified With State Power.

[t]he Cold Warms Me—after A Different Fashion From That Of The Kitchen Stove.

Look Underfoot. You Are Always Nearer To The True Sources Of Your Power Than You Think. The Lure Of The Distant And The Difficult Is Deceptive. The Great Opportunity Is Where You Are. Don't Despise Your Own Place And Hour. Every Place Is The Center Of The World.

The Kingdom Of Heaven Is Not A Place, But A State Of Mind.

Positive Thinking

There Is A Condition Or Circumstance That Has A Greater Bearing Upon The Happiness Of Life Than Any Other. What Is It? Something To Do; Some Congenial Work. Take Away The Occupation Of All People And What A Wretched World It Would Be.

Few Persons Realize How Much Of Their Happiness Is Dependent Upon Their Work, Upon The Fact That They Are Busy And Not Left To Feed Upon Themselves. Blessed Is The Person Who Has Some Congenial Work, Some Occupation In Which To Place One's Heart, And Which Affords A Complete Outlet To All The Forces That Are In Him Or Her.

Literature Is An Investment Of Genius Which Pays Dividends To All Subsequent Times.

The Most Precious Things Of Life Are Near At Hand, Without Money And Without Price. Each Of You Has The Whole Wealth Of The Universe At Your Very Door. All That I Ever Had, And Still Have, May Be Yours By Stretching Forth Your Hand And Taking It.

Man Takes Root At His Feet, And At Best He Is No More Than A Potted Plant In His House Or Carriage Till He Has Established Communication With The Soil By The Loving And Magnetic Touch Of His Soles To It.

Science Has Done More For The Development Of Western Civilization In One Hundred Years Than Christianity Did In Eighteen Hundred Years.

The Thing That I Focus On Because I Don't Think It Gets Enough Attention Is That Among The World's Major Powers, There Is Still A Nuclear Balance Of Terror - I'm Talking About Between The United States And Russia, The United States And China.

In Fact, The United States Is Building Up Its Trident Nuclear Sub Fleet In The Pacific, Based At Bangor, Washington To Build Up Its Capabilities To Wage Nuclear War.

Time Does Not Become Sacred To Us Until We Have Lived It.

The Gift Of Perfume To A Flower Is A Special Grace Like Genius Or Like Beauty, And Never Becomes Common Or Cheap.

Somewhat By Historical Happenstance The Five Permanent Members Of The Un Security Council - United States, Britain, France, Russia, And China - Also Were The Original Five Countries To Have Nuclear Weapons.

How Readily The Bluebirds Become Our Friends And Neighbors When We Offer Them Suitable Nesting Retreats!

Maybe That Will Happen With Other Countries As Well. And So, That's Why One Of The Things That Groups Like Mine That Work For The Elimination Of Nuclear Weapons And Work For Their Marginalization In The Meantime, We Say You Have To Diminish The Political Value That's Attached To Nuclear Weapons In Order To Give Them Less (kind Of) Desirability In The Eyes Of Governments That Do Not Now Have Them, And Thus To Help Stop Their Spread.

Nature Exists For Man No More Than She Does For Monkeys, And Is As Regardless Of His Life Or Pleasure Or Success As She Is Of The Fleas. Her Waves Will Drown Him, Her Fire Burn Him, And Her Earth Devour Him, Her Storms And Lightning Smite Him, As If He Were Only A Dog.

The U.s. Had About 10,000 Nuclear Warheads. It Is Estimated That The U.s. Is Heading Towards Having 6,000 Nuclear Warheads In The Year 2012.

There Are Nine Countries In The World That Have Nuclear Weapons. There Are About 27,000 Nuclear Weapons Total On The Planet. The Countries That Have Nuclear Weapons Deploy Them Ready For Use And Have Doctrines Saying That They Would Use Them In Certain Circumstances.

Blessed Is The Man Who Has Some Congenial Work, Some Occupation In Which He Can Put His Heart, And Which Affords A Complete Outlet To All The Forces There Are In Him.

It Is The Life Of The Crystal, The Architect Of The Flake, The Fire Of The Frost, The Soul Of The Sunbeam. This Crisp Winter Air Is Full Of It.

Few Persons Realize How Much Of Their Happiness, Such As It Is, Is Dependent Upon Their Work.

The Rocks Are Not So Close Akin To Us As The Soil; They Are One More Remove From Us; But They Lie Back Of All, And Are The Final Source Of All. ... Time, Geologic Time, Looks Out At Us From The Rocks As From No Other Objects In The Landscape.

Nature Comes Home To One Most When One Is At Home. The Stranger And Traveler Finds Her A Stranger And Traveler Also.

A Man’s Life May Stagnate As Literally As Water May Stagnate, And Just As Motion And Direction Are The Remedy For One, So Purpose And Activity Are The Remedy For The Other.

I Am In Love With This World. It Has Been My Home. It Has Been My Point Of Outlook Into The Universe. I Have Never Bruised Myself Against It Nor Tried To Use It Ignobly.

Certainly In The United States, You Have A Constituency In The Form Of The Weapons Laboratories, And You Also Have The Branches Of The Armed Services That Are Involved With Nuclear Weapons Deployment, Especially The Naval Submarine Operations And Also The Air Force's Land-based Icbm Operations. So They Have A Big Lobby In Washington.

Nature Is Not Benevolent; Nature Is Just, Gives Pound For Pound, Measure For Measure, Makes No Exceptions, Never Tempers Her Decrees With Mercy, Or Winks At Any Infringement Of Her Laws.

The Atmosphere Of Our Time Is Fast Being Cleared Of The Fumes And Deadly Gases That Arose During The Carboniferous Age Of Theology.

The Longer I Live, The More My Mind Dwells Upon The Beauty And The Wonder Of The World.

The Spirit Of Man Can Endure Only So Much And When It Is Broken Only A Miracle Can Mend It.

The Commitment To International Agreements Is Embodied, It's Found In The U.s. Constitution. Article Six Of The U.s. Constitution Provides That Treaties Of The United States Are Part Of The Supreme Law Of The Land Along With The Constitution Itself And Laws Passed By Congress. Well, The Us Government Certainly Has Not Been Acting In Recent Years As If Treaties Were Part Of The Supreme Law Of The Land.

I Always Feel At Home Where The Sugar Maple Grows.... Glorious In Autumn, A Fountain Of Coolness In Summer, Sugar In Its Veins, Gold In Its Foliage, Warmth In Its Fibers, And Health In It The Year Round.

Communing With God Is Communing With Our Own Hearts, Our Own Best Selves, Not With Something Foreign And Accidental. Saints And Devotees Have Gone Into The Wilderness To Find God; Of Course They Took God With Them, And The Silence And Detachment Enabled Them To Hear The Still, Small Voice Of Their Own Souls, As One Hears The Ticking Of His Own Watch In The Stillness Of The Night.

The Tendinous Part Of The Mind, So To Speak, Is More Developed In Winter; The Fleshy, In Summer. I Should Say Winter Had Given The Bone And Sinew To Literature, Summer The Tissues And The Blood.

The Budget For Nuclear Forces In The United States Is On The Order Of $25 Billion Or So. That Includes Warheads, Delivery Systems, Command And Control; Does Not Include Environmental Clean-up, Which Is Another Maybe $10 Billion Or So. So That's About 5% Of The U.s. Military Budget.

Command And Control

Every Day Is A Sabbath To Me. All Pure Water Is Holy Water, And This Earth Is A Celestial Abode.

The Fuel In The Earth Will Be Exhausted In A Thousand Or More Years, And Its Mineral Wealth, But Man Will Find Substitutes For These In The Winds, The Waves, The Sun's Heat, And So Forth.

The Overall Quantity Of Nuclear Weapons In The World Continues To Decline Slowly.

In The Printed Page The Only Real Things Are The Paper And The Ink; The White Spaces Play The Same Part In Aiding The Eye To Take In The Meaning Of The Print As Do The Black Letters.

I Have Discovered The Secret Of Happiness - It Is Work, Either With The Hands Or The Head. The Moment I Have Something To Do, The Draughts Are Open And My Chimney Draws, And I Am Happy.

When Nature Made The Blue-bird She Wished To Propitiate Both The Sky And The Earth, So She Gave Him The Color Of The One On His Back And The Hue Of The Other On His Breast.

The Pleasure And Value Of Every Walk Or Journey We Take May Be Doubled To Us By Carefully Noting Down The Impressions It Makes Upon Us.

Travel And Society Polish One, But A Rolling Stone Gathers No Moss, And A Little Moss Is A Good Thing On A Man.

Nature Teaches More Than She Preaches. There Are No Sermons In Stones. It Is Easier To Get A Spark Out Of A Stone Than A Moral.

That Which Distinguishes This Day From All Others Is That Then Both Orators And Artillerymen Shoot Blank Cartridges.

I Seldom Go Into A Natural History Museum Without Feeling As If I Were Attending A Funeral.

The Deeper Our Insight Into The Methods Of Nature . . . The More Incredible The Popular Christianity Seems To Us.

Some Men Are Like Nails, Very Easily Drawn; Others However Are More Like Rivets Never Drawn At All.

If You Think You Can Do It, You Can.

The Secret Of Happiness Is Something To Do.

So The Idea About How Detonation Of A Nuclear Weapon Might Happen Vary, You Know - Some People Are Especially Concerned About Terrorists Getting Their Hands On Nuclear Weapons And Using Them. Some People Are Worried That There Might Be A Nuclear War Between India And Pakistan. Some Think The Middle East, Were Israel Already Has Nuclear Weapons And Where Other Countries May Be Interested At Some Point And Acquiring Them, Might Be A Flash Point.

Science Is A Capital Or Fund Perpetually Reinvested; It Accumulates, Rolls Up, Is Carried Forward By Every New Man. Every Man Of Science Has All The Science Before Him To Go Upon, To Set Himself Up In Business With. What An Enormous Sum Darwin Availed Himself Of And Reinvested! Not So In Literature; To Every Poet, To Every Artist, It Is Still The First Day Of Creation, So Far As The Essentials Of His Task Are Concerned. Literature Is Not So Much A Fund To Be Reinvested As It Is A Crop To Be Ever New-grown.

The Fisherman Has A Harmless, Preoccupied Look; He Is A Kind Of Vagrant, That Nothing Fears. He Blends Himself With The Trees And The Shadows. All His Approaches Are Gentle And Indirect. He Times Himself To The Meandering, Soliloquizing Stream; He Addresses Himself To It As A Lover To His Mistress; He Woos It And Stays With It Till He Knows Its Hidden Secrets. Where It Deepens His Purpose Deepens; Where It Is Shallow He Is Indifferent. He Knows How To Interpret Its Every Glance And Dimple; Its Beauty Haunts Him For Days.

Serene, I Fold My Hands And Wait, Nor Care For Wind, Nor Tide, Nor Sea; I Rave No More 'gainst Time Or Fate, For Lo! My Own Shall Come To Me.

You Cannot Use [nuclear Weapons] To Target Civilians; You Cannot Use Them Against Military Targets If They Have Indiscriminate Effects On Civilians In Addition To The Attack On The Military Target.

Man Is, And Always Has Been, A Maker Of Gods. It Has Been The Most Serious And Significant Occupation Of His Sojourn In The World.

I Came From A Race Of Fishers; Trout Streams Gurgled About The Roots Of My Family Tree.

The Lure Of The Distant And The Difficult Is Deceptive. The Great Opportunity Is Where You Are.

[theodore Roosevelt] Was A Naturalist On The Broadest Grounds, Uniting Much Technical Knowledge With Knowledge Of The Daily Lives And Habits Of All Forms Of Wild Life. He Probably Knew Tenfold More Natural History Than All The Presidents Who Had Preceded Him, And, I Think One Is Safe In Saying, More Human History Also.

There Is An International Treaty Framework For This. It's The Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (npt). Most Countries In The World Are Members Of The Treaty.

Proliferation Treaty

In The Order Of Nature We May Behold The Ways Of The Eternal.

There Tends To Be This Comfortable Assumption That Nuclear Weapons Won't Be Used, But I Don't Think That's Warranted, And I Think We Should Seize The Opportunity Of This Time Of Stability And Cooperation And Move Towards Global Elimination Of Nuclear Weapons As Indeed People Like Henry Kissinger, And William Perry, Former Secretary Of Defense Under Clinton, And Sam Nunn, Former Senator, And George Schultz, Former Undersecretary Of State For Ronald Reagan. All Of Them Recently Called For Achievement Of A Nuclear Weapon-free World.

You Cannot Cause Disproportionate Damage To The Environment; You Cannot Harm Neutral States. The Court Said That The Threat Or Use Of Nuclear Weapons Is Generally Contrary To The International Law Of Armed Conflict.

The Universe Is A Pretty Big Place... And The One Thing I Know About Nature Is It Hates To Waste Anything. So I Guess I'd Say If It Is Just Us, An Awful Lot Of Space Is Going To Waste. The Earth Is Not Alone, It Is Not Like A Single Apple On A Tree; There Are Many Apples On The Tree, And There Are Many Trees In The Orchard.

We Can Outrun The Wind And The Storm, But We Cannot Outrun The Demon Of Hurry.

Some Scenes You Juggle Two Balls, Some Scenes You Juggle Three Balls, Some Scenes You Can Juggle Five Balls. The Key Is Always To Speak In Your Own Voice. Speak The Truth. That's Acting 101. Then You Start Putting Layers On Top Of That.

One Can Only Learn His Powers Of Action By Action, And His Powers Of Thought By Thinking

Power Of Thought

How Much There Is In Books That One Does Not Want To Know, That It Would Be A Mere Weariness And Burden To The Spirit To Know.

In Winter The Stars Seem To Have Rekindled Their Fires, The Moon Achieves A Fuller Triumph, And The Heavens Wear A Look Of A More Exalted Simplicity.

In New York And New England The Sap Starts Up In The Sugar Maple The Very Day The Bluebird Arrives, And Sugar-making Begins Forthwith. The Bird Is Generally A Mere Disembodied Voice; A Rumor In The Air For Two Or Three Days Before It Takes Visible Shape Before You.

Mounting Toward The Upland Again, I Pause Reverently, As The Hush And Stillness Of Twilight Come Upon The Woods. It Is The Sweetest, Ripest Hour Of The Day. And As The Hermit's Evening Hymn Goes Up From The Deep Solitude Below Me, I Experience That Serene Exaltation Of Sentiment Of Which Music, Literature, And Religion Are But The Faint Types And Symbols.

We Have Produced Some Good Walkers And Saunterers, And Some Noted Climbers; But As A Staple Recreation, As A Daily Practice, The Mass Of The People Dislike And Despise Walking.

Natural History Is A Matter Of Observation; It Is A Harvest Which You Gather When And Where You Find It Growing. Birds And Squirrels And Flowers Are Not Always In Season, But Philosophy We Have Always With Us. It Is A Crop Which We Can Grow And Reap At All Times And In All Places And It Has Its Own Value And Brings Its Own Satisfaction.

[invading Iraq] Is Not The Best Way To Make A Safer World In Which The United States Would Be A Responsible Partner, But It Also Goes Against The Role Of Law In The United States.

The God Of The Puritans...was A Monster Too Horrible To Contemplate.

Following World War Ii, The U.s. Was The Architect Of The Un System, And The World Financial System, And The Human Rights Declaration, And Of Course The United Nations Is Based Here In New York City. But, Unfortunately, Especially In The Last Decade, The U.s. Really Has Been Turning Its Back On International Agreements And The Set Of Agencies And Procedures That They Create As A Means For Governing The World.

All Sounds Are Sharper In Winter; The Air Transmits Better. At Night I Hear More Distinctly The Steady Roar Of The North Mountain. In Summer It Is A Sort Of Complacent Purr, As The Breezes Stroke Down Its Sides; But In Winter Always The Same Low, Sullen Growl.

To The Scientist Nature Is A Storehouse Of Facts, Laws, Processes; To The Artist She Is A Storehouse Of Pictures; To The Poet She Is A Storehouse Of Images, Fancies, A Source Of Inspiration; To The Moralist She Is A Storehouse Of Precepts And Parables; To All She May Be A Source Of Knowledge And Joy.

The Only Countries That Are Outside Of [ Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty] Are Israel, Pakistan, India, And North Korea Withdrew In The Last Few Years.

Now Is The Time Of The Illuminated Woods ... When Every Leaf Glows Like A Tiny Lamp.

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Lucien Bouchard

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