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Be In·spired



In·spired

adjective
1.
aroused, animated, or imbued with the spirit to dosomething, by or as if by supernatural or divine influence:an inspired poet.



A Collection of Brilliant and Inspiring Letters From Famous Authors to Their Young Fans http://www.flavorwire.com/302861/a-collection-of-brilliant-and-inspiring-letters-from-famous-authors-to-their-young-fans

A Collection of Brilliant and Inspiring Letters From Famous Authors to Their Young Fans

+
Writing advice from C.S. Lewis to a young American fan named Joan Lancaster:
The Kilns,
Headington Quarry,
Oxford
26 June 1956
Dear Joan–
Thanks for your letter of the 3rd. You describe your Wonderful Night v. well. That is, you describe the place and the people and the night and the feeling of it all, very well — but not the thing itself — the setting but not the jewel. And no wonder! Wordsworth often does just the same. His Prelude (you’re bound to read it about 10 years hence. Don’t try it now, or you’ll only spoil it for later reading) is full of moments in which everything except the thing itself is described. If you become a writer you’ll be trying to describe the thing all your life: and lucky if, out of dozens of books, one or two sentences, just for a moment, come near to getting it across.
About amn’t Iaren’t I and am I not, of course there are no right or wrong answers about language in the sense in which there are right and wrong answers in Arithmetic. “Good English” is whatever educated people talk; so that what is good in one place or time would not be so in another. Amn’t I was good 50 years ago in the North of Ireland where I was brought up, but bad in Southern England. Aren’t I would have been hideously bad in Ireland but very good in England. And of course I just don’t know which (if either) is good in modern Florida. Don’t take any notice of teachers and textbooks in such matters. Nor of logic. It is good to say “more than one passenger was hurt,” although more than one equals at least two and therefore logically the verb ought to be plural were not singular was!
What really matters is:–
1. Always try to use the language so as to make quite clear what you mean and make sure your sentence couldn’t mean anything else.
2. Always prefer the plain direct word to the long, vague one. Don’timplement promises, but keep them.
3. Never use abstract nouns when concrete ones will do. If you mean “More people died” don’t say “Mortality rose.”
4. In writing. Don’t use adjectives which merely tell us how you want us to feel about the thing you are describing. I mean, instead of telling us a thing was “terrible,” describe it so that we’ll be terrified. Don’t say it was “delightful”; make us say “delightful” when we’ve read the description. You see, all those words (horrifying, wonderful, hideous, exquisite) are only like saying to your readers, “Please will you do my job for me.”
5. Don’t use words too big for the subject. Don’t say “infinitely” when you mean “very”; otherwise you’ll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite.
Thanks for the photos. You and Aslan both look v. well. I hope you’ll like your new home.
With love
yours
C.S. Lewis


Our Deepest Fear
by Marianne Williamson

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”  



"Have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become." - Steve Jobs


"The brick walls are there for a reason. They're not there to keep us out. The brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something."
— Randy Pausch

Read more: http://www.oprah.com/blogs/index.html#ixzz1XPh7Q66i



"Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world." -- Harriet Tubman




“As Black women, we’re always given these seemingly devastating experiences -- experiences that could absolutely break us. But what the caterpillar calls the end of the world, the master calls the butterfly. What we do as Black women is take the worst situations and create from that point…” –Viola Davis, ESSENCE 

Read more: http://www.essence.com/2011/07/07/viola-davis-graces-the-august-issue-of-


"

Move with the flow. Don't fight the current. Resist nothing. Let life carry you. Don't try to carry it." - Oprah 


7/31/2011

I just watch a Bloomberg feature piece - Game Changers on Michelle Rhee on the state of education, specifically the state of education in Washington DC and I was inspired to dig deeper and learn all I could about Michelle Rhee. Below is a feature piece done by Time magazine on her back in 2008 . 





















Style:

Style is a unique and nontransferable and perfectly personal as a fingerprint. It is wise to take time to develop one’s own way of being, increasing those things one does well and eliminating the elements in one’s character which can hinder and diminish the good personality. Style allows the person to appear neither inferior in one location nor superior in the other.  Good manners and tolerance, which are the highest manifestation of style, can often transform disaster into good fortune.  Many people utter insults or disparaging remarks without thinking, but a wise or stylish person takes the time to consider the positive as well as negative possibilities in each situation.

By Maya Angelou

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Be In·spired



In·spired

adjective
1.
aroused, animated, or imbued with the spirit to dosomething, by or as if by supernatural or divine influence:an inspired poet.



A Collection of Brilliant and Inspiring Letters From Famous Authors to Their Young Fans http://www.flavorwire.com/302861/a-collection-of-brilliant-and-inspiring-letters-from-famous-authors-to-their-young-fans

A Collection of Brilliant and Inspiring Letters From Famous Authors to Their Young Fans

+
Writing advice from C.S. Lewis to a young American fan named Joan Lancaster:
The Kilns,
Headington Quarry,
Oxford
26 June 1956
Dear Joan–
Thanks for your letter of the 3rd. You describe your Wonderful Night v. well. That is, you describe the place and the people and the night and the feeling of it all, very well — but not the thing itself — the setting but not the jewel. And no wonder! Wordsworth often does just the same. His Prelude (you’re bound to read it about 10 years hence. Don’t try it now, or you’ll only spoil it for later reading) is full of moments in which everything except the thing itself is described. If you become a writer you’ll be trying to describe the thing all your life: and lucky if, out of dozens of books, one or two sentences, just for a moment, come near to getting it across.
About amn’t Iaren’t I and am I not, of course there are no right or wrong answers about language in the sense in which there are right and wrong answers in Arithmetic. “Good English” is whatever educated people talk; so that what is good in one place or time would not be so in another. Amn’t I was good 50 years ago in the North of Ireland where I was brought up, but bad in Southern England. Aren’t I would have been hideously bad in Ireland but very good in England. And of course I just don’t know which (if either) is good in modern Florida. Don’t take any notice of teachers and textbooks in such matters. Nor of logic. It is good to say “more than one passenger was hurt,” although more than one equals at least two and therefore logically the verb ought to be plural were not singular was!
What really matters is:–
1. Always try to use the language so as to make quite clear what you mean and make sure your sentence couldn’t mean anything else.
2. Always prefer the plain direct word to the long, vague one. Don’timplement promises, but keep them.
3. Never use abstract nouns when concrete ones will do. If you mean “More people died” don’t say “Mortality rose.”
4. In writing. Don’t use adjectives which merely tell us how you want us to feel about the thing you are describing. I mean, instead of telling us a thing was “terrible,” describe it so that we’ll be terrified. Don’t say it was “delightful”; make us say “delightful” when we’ve read the description. You see, all those words (horrifying, wonderful, hideous, exquisite) are only like saying to your readers, “Please will you do my job for me.”
5. Don’t use words too big for the subject. Don’t say “infinitely” when you mean “very”; otherwise you’ll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite.
Thanks for the photos. You and Aslan both look v. well. I hope you’ll like your new home.
With love
yours
C.S. Lewis


Our Deepest Fear
by Marianne Williamson

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”  



"Have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become." - Steve Jobs


"The brick walls are there for a reason. They're not there to keep us out. The brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something."
— Randy Pausch

Read more: http://www.oprah.com/blogs/index.html#ixzz1XPh7Q66i



"Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world." -- Harriet Tubman




“As Black women, we’re always given these seemingly devastating experiences -- experiences that could absolutely break us. But what the caterpillar calls the end of the world, the master calls the butterfly. What we do as Black women is take the worst situations and create from that point…” –Viola Davis, ESSENCE 

Read more: http://www.essence.com/2011/07/07/viola-davis-graces-the-august-issue-of-


"

Move with the flow. Don't fight the current. Resist nothing. Let life carry you. Don't try to carry it." - Oprah 


7/31/2011

I just watch a Bloomberg feature piece - Game Changers on Michelle Rhee on the state of education, specifically the state of education in Washington DC and I was inspired to dig deeper and learn all I could about Michelle Rhee. Below is a feature piece done by Time magazine on her back in 2008 . 





















Style:

Style is a unique and nontransferable and perfectly personal as a fingerprint. It is wise to take time to develop one’s own way of being, increasing those things one does well and eliminating the elements in one’s character which can hinder and diminish the good personality. Style allows the person to appear neither inferior in one location nor superior in the other.  Good manners and tolerance, which are the highest manifestation of style, can often transform disaster into good fortune.  Many people utter insults or disparaging remarks without thinking, but a wise or stylish person takes the time to consider the positive as well as negative possibilities in each situation.

By Maya Angelou