The stronger the soul and the flesh, the more fruitful the struggle and the richer the final harmony. God does not love weak souls & flabby flesh. The Spirit is a carnivorous bird which is incessantly hungry; it eats flesh and, by assimilating it, makes it disappear.
Kazantzakis
Baobab fruit dries naturally on its branch instead of dropping and spoiling, it stays on the branch and transforms into a hard coconut-like shell. The pulp of the fruit dries out completely producing a delicious pure fruit powder.
If the opinion that men might live very comfortably on virtue only, be a notorious error; no less false is that position of some writers of romance, that a man can live altogether on love; for however delicious repasts this may afford to some of our senses or appetites, it is most certain it can afford none to others.
Those, therefore, who have placed too great a confidence in such writers, have experienced their error when it was too late; and have found that love was no more capable of allaying hunger, than a rose is capable of delighting the ear, or a violin of gratifying the smell.
The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling (1749) by Henry Fielding
And a youth said, Speak to us of Friendship. And he answered, saying: Your friend is your needs answered.
The Prophet – Kahlil Gibran (1923)
The moon is a constant companion. It’s always there, sometimes shining brightly, sometimes obscured by clouds, but it’s a reassuring presence in the night sky.
Like a friend, the moon is ever-present yet often silent, offering its gentle light and gravitational pull to Earth and all who gaze upon it.
ChatGTP
Half of those who die in combat enter Valhalla, while the other half are chosen to reside in Fólkvangr.
Excellence is never an accident. It is always the result of high intention, sincere effort, and intelligent execution.
Aristotle
Flag Hill at Sunol Wilderness is a slab of ancient sea floor which, in response to pressure from below, was tilted up more on one side than the other, revealing a cross-section of its sedimentary layers.
The hill shows a vegetation pattern typical of the inner coast ranges. During summer, the hot sun dries the south-facing slope. Only grassland and soft chaparral can survive under these conditions. On the north-facing slope where moisture lasts longer, trees thrive.
Sunol is one of the most beautiful parks in the Bay Area.
A man walks upright.
For him it is strenuous to climb a steep hill, because he has to keep pushing his own vertical mass upward and cannot gain any momentum.
The rabbit is better off. His forelegs support his horizontal body and the great back legs do the work. They are more than equal to thrusting uphill the light mass in front of them. Rabbits can go fast uphill. In fact, they have so much power behind that they find going downhill awkward, and sometimes, in flight down a steep place, they may actually go head over heels.
On the other hand, the man is five or six feet above the hillside and can see all round. To him the ground may be steep and rough but on the whole it is even, and he can pick his direction easily from the top of his moving, six-foot tower.
Watership Down (1972) by Richard Adams
“It is a long time since my last visit,” said Dumbledore, peering down his crooked nose at Uncle Vernon. “I must say, your agapanthus are flourishing.”
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K.Rowling
What else should our lives be but a series of beginnings, of painful settings out into the unknown, pushing off from the edges of consciousness into the mystery of what we have not yet become.
David Malouf