Enduring Beauty

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  “Beauty is the quality which makes to endure. In a house that I know, I have noticed a block of spermaceti lying about closets and mantel-pieces, for twenty years together, simply because the tallow-man gave it the form of a rabbit; and, I suppose, it may continue to be lugged about unchanged for a century. Let an artist scrawl a few lines or figures on the back of a letter, and that scrap of paper is rescued from danger, is put in portfolio, is framed and glazed, and, in proportion to the beauty of the lines drawn, will be kept for centuries. Burns writes a copy of verses, and sends them to a newspaper, and the human race take charge of them that they shall not perish.” —Ralph Waldo Emerson. (1803–1882).   Essays and English Traits.

Smile!

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 A smile is the effect that affects. And infects. A smile is a quiet greeting, or underscores sincerity in a spoken one. A smile rolls out the red carpet of hospitality and turns politicians into celebrities. It may seal a hard-earned victory or salt the wounds of the defeated. The frown of the worldly great is the smile of sophisticated majesty. Socrates’ executioners smiled down on him in vain-glory and he smiled back, stealing their joy. A smile disarms difficulty. It can be gracious or ghastly. It masks what is hidden in the heart, or unashamedly unleashes everything contained therein. A smile could just mean you are happy! Morning smiles on the earth and all things smile in return.


“You can smile when you can’t say a word

 You can smile when you cannot be heard

 You can smile when it’s cloudy or fair,

 You can smile anytime, anywhere.”






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