I find there to be profound wisdom in proverbs, sayings and quotes and I marvel at the way they are so succinct in communicating messages to the reader. Mostly anonymous, they come to us from past generations and from across cultures. They speak of the experiences of lives lived and lessons learned.
Quotes, like proverbs, make us think more deeply about something and this week it comes from Iceland a place of immense beauty and natural forces.
Iceland
You do not really know your friends from your enemies until the ice breaks – Icelandic Proverb
and a really wonderful inclusive quote from Confucius………
“Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it.”
― Confucius
A philosophic Aussie writes here at StPA, one who will readily admit to loving Scandinavia. I'm interested in global politics and what drives us to be who we are. Scratch the surface and you'll find a practical Environmentalist with an egalitarian bent, trying to unleash a little creativity via the written word.
Scandinavian culture, literature and traditions are close to my heart, even though I'm Australian. Travel and courteous discussions greatly broaden the mind, so I travel if I can and am always up for a vigorous, respectful discussion. I'm an avid reader, a writer and I enjoy photography and crafts, particularly traditional art forms. I hope you'll find 'Something to Ponder About,' in my WordPress Community.
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61 thoughts on “Proverbial Thursday – World Sayings”
Wie de schoen past trekt hem aan. Who the shoe fits, put it on.
Taking responsibilty for your action.
Thanks Gerard! I love how you always find another quote to add to Proverbial Thursday! This one is often used and these days, usually, in reproach for someone who has not taken responsibility!
Two wonderful, wonderful quotes this week. The first one: we really don’t know who will be there for us and who truly supports us until we hit challenging times. Or when we are all caught in a bit of a sticky situation. It’s these times when we also learn who we get along and work best with.
The second one: beauty is always around us everyday. Every moment, every second. We don’t always see it because often we are obsessed with chasing the next best thing or that dream of ours. We get caught up in what we are doing that we forget to see outside of the box and appreciate what we have in front of us. I think people who complain or are negative tend to not to realise that beauty is around them…there’s always beauty in hope, being positive and moving forwards.
Your commeents on the first quote are so spot on, Mabel! I don’t know that I can add more to them than what you said. Except to say, it is sometimes the people we least expect to assist in those challenging times, who actually do stick their own neck out to help another. That is interesting, isn’t it?
As for the Confucian quote, I really really like this one. It is a universally golden rule for life, I think and the world would be a better place if we all adopted this confucian suggestion. Your words, ” … there is beauty in hope, being positive and moving forwards,” are really profound, Mabel. I am really impressed by that. I had not thought what a beautiful thing these actions could be, and it is only in recent years that I could relate to this comment. But it is so true, and one aspect of beauty that is not recognized as such. Hope springs eternal, and often the last line before despair. For I think, there is always hope and if once that has gone, there is only despair. However, in particularly deprived settings, hope can be an amazingly beautiful thing, so pure and almost divine. Being positive is associated with happiness and love and must therefore also be beautiful! A thousand thanks for the comment.
Such an interesting point to bring up, that the ones we last think of might be the ones to offer us the most genuine helping hand. Which begs the thought, never judge a book by its cover. Be nice to everyone around you because you never know when you could use a – not necessarily a friend – but that helping hand.
For very long time, I was a negative person. And I didn’t like the person I was and it was this year that I realised that. Happiness and beauty are correlated in my opinion, as per my last comment. By appreciating what we have, we live in the moment and don’t think trivial, petty things too seriously and learn to turn negative into positive.
Thanks for Thursday proverbs. I always love them. I read this post while at work. It was a quite work day 😀
I am so glad that you like them and that the proverbial post has brought us together as blogger friends! Many proverbs in different culture try to impart advice about living in the moment and being positive, so presumably, this is something that works for many, many people. There have discovered the beauty and contentment in living their lives like this, just as you had that epiphany this last year. This is why proverbs are such important life lessons. I think they are a hidden manual for life, in many ways. It is through this feature on my blog, that I continue to appreciate them more and more. I am going to join the Quotes challenge that Millie kindly nominated me for, and I would like to nominate your blog, with the condition that there is absolutely no obligation to post about it, as I know you are on a blogging break. It will be simply to highlight your blog as one worthy of readers to hop on over to, should they wish to be further inspired. Would that be ok, Mabel?
I really do like scrolling through my feed each Thursday, waiting for your proverbs post to pop up. You are right. Many proverbs encourage us to appreciate what we’ve got and the simple things in life. Really like your set of proverbs – they mainly are positive, though…but that is what they aim to do as you said, to impart positivity.
Happy if you want to nominate me…and scrolling through my blog feed earlier I see that you may have included me. Very kind of you, and I will pop over there soon. Already enjoying my blogging break from posting, but still will be lurking around here 😉
Great proverbs again Amanda 🙂 I, as always, really like the Confucius quote, because it’s so true. And so many people are so blinkered to seeing that beauty, whether it’s in other people or things in nature 🙂
Confucius is amazing! His knowledge and intelligence was quite astounding, and such an articulate ability to get to the essence of living our lives in just a few words, or phrases. I don’t know much about his personal life, but I am now interested in finding out more about him. Do you know much about him? Perhaps I will add some more information on him over the course of the series of his quotes here on Something to Ponder About? I would hope that eventually, life has a way of teaching everyone to really open their eyes to the beauty in simply living! And as Mabel alluded, happiness in being positive, even if there immediate circumstances prevent them living, visiting or witnessing a scenic spot in nature. I appreciate the comment, Andy, thanks!
You’re welcome Amanda 🙂 I’m afraid I know very little about Confucius, other than the fact that I really like most of his very succinct sayings. I’ll look forward to learning a wee bit about him from your forthcoming posts! 🙂
It is the wonderful thing about being a positive thinker, you do tend to see beauty in far more things than a negative person does, and thus you tend to be far happier in life than a negative person ever could be!
My glass is always half full, as the saying goes Amanda, and it is a good way to be.Some people say that if you’re positive about everything, you will be constantly disappointed, but I find that’s definitely not the case, because you just find a positive spin to put on those few things that do go wrong 🙂
I have not heard people say that about positivity. Is it perhaps, that they themselves fear the inability to cope with the feeling of disappointment so much that they would rather be negative so as to avoid experiencing disappointment altogether? I know my son is very much of this really negative/avoid disappointment way of thinking and it is very difficult for him to change, but ever so slowly, I see glimmers of positivity creeping in. I often challenge him when he is negative by saying, Yes but tell me what you CAN do about it? It is still a long process to change his concrete mindset, (but again being positive), I feel sure it can be done!
The phrase was only half of it, people over here ask if you are ‘a glass half full’ type of person, or ‘a glass half empty’ type of person! 🙂
I agree with you about people who tend to be on the negative side, are so, more often than not, to avoid any disappointment. I think what you are doing with your son is brilliant. it’s quite a task to change that mindset, and it sounds like you are slowly succeeding, one step at a time. And I’m positive you will turn his mindset around, maybe not the full 180 degrees, as that is part of his character, but enough to make a difference to how he views life 🙂
The first proverb reminds me of one of the quotes I used on my Quotes Challenge.( “A true friend is one who is there for you when he’d rather be anywhere else”) !How true it is that we only find out who our true friends are when things get tough. I see this quote as being similar to the idea as ‘fairweather friends’ – friends who desert us when we’re in difficulty and the friendship no longer benefits them or their way of life.
The second quote is very wide reaching, I think. ‘All things have beauty’ is a really thought provoking phrase to start with. I do think that ‘beauty is in the eye of the beholder’ and we all have different ideas of beauty, But then there’s the idea that ‘beauty is only skin deep’ and applied to people in particular, I think that is very true. People can be beautiful in their treatment of others or their simple joy in life. A loving and caring person is very beautiful. It’s also true that we don’t all see beauty in the same way, or fail to see hidden qualities. On a quite different note to people, many inanimate objects have internal beauty that is hidden from the outside, We only have to think of the structure of a crystal, or just a lump of rock. Under a microscope these hidden patterns are very beautiful. I think I’ve probably gone a bit too wide here, but I hope you can see what I mean.
I like the inferences you have made here, Millie, and how you have challenged us to include internal beauty as well. The world today, especially the media give far too much attention to the “beautiful people” who have already such an advantage in life. When I read your comment, I thought of a thunderegg. I am not sure what the geological term for that is, perhaps Andy might read this and tell us, but it is quite an ugly rock on the outside, all bumpy and warty, almost, and once cut open, is strikingly beautiful on the inside. Ice crystals are stunning when magnified and even patterns at a cellular level can be beautiful. Goodness, our world is stuffed full of gorgeousness, if we LOOK! AS for the Icelandic quote, I do think it is absolutely like the concept of fairweather friends, and your quote on the quotes challenge, ( which I will get to post soon), but I really liked the parochial description of this quote. Iceland, where the nature is incredibly beautiful, yet also incredibly cruel. The landscape and weather can be harsh, even brutal, and the people who are willing to go and assist others in times of crisis, risking their own lives to save others, is a total selfless act. I think also of the emergency services personnel who assist people in times of natural disaster. Why do they do it? What motivates them to risk their own lives. Are they brave, or taking calculated risks?
It’s amazing how quotes and proverbs like the ones you post, can set up a whole chain of thoughts – and memories. Your thoughts on Iceland and her selfless people are fascinating. I think that to help others in the way you describe, those people, including those in the emergency services, are extremely brave. Perhaps calculating the risks play a part, but they go ahead and get on with it anyway.
The internal structures of many rocks are very lovely, and thundereggs, when halved to expose the interiors, are beautiful (and similar to geodes, which they aren’t, of course). I’ve never heard them called anything else, in all my training as a geologist. .
Okay, the name for them is Thundereggs. Cool, I was expecting some tongue-twisting generic name. I also failed to remember that you had training in geology. I was thinking you were an urban environmental science nerd like me. No wonder you and Andy have connected!!! Is a geode a rock as well? I am not familiar with them at all.
I’ve never come across any other name for thundereggs, except that some people split the word into two.
A geode is similar to a thuderegg in its outer shape but has a cavity inside in which crystals can grow (inside a thunderegg are layers of different rocks). Geodes often form from hollow bubbles inside rocks, more often igneous rocks, but they do occur in sedimentary ones, too. The crystals inside them grow from dissolved minerals and grow from the outer wall towerds the centre. I have a beautiful amethyst geode that my daughters bought me years ago.
I am partly an ‘environmental nerd’ Amanda. My two main subjects during my three years of teacher training were geography and environmental science. I did the geology degree after that. I suppose, overall, I love all earth sciences.
Aha! Different rocks within a thunder egg, you say? Now that makes sense why it doesn’t have another name. And I now know that we have part of an amethyst geode here – cut open. Seems to be something daughter’s like, as it is my daughter who brought it home.
You have such a wonderful education, Millie. I wasn’t imagining the environmental science qual, then. And to go and do a geology degree after that indicates how much you love the earth and rocks in general. And yet it is history that seems to have garnered your attention in latter years?
Thank you for that great compliment! Yes, I do love history, too. I’ve come to realise how much history and earth sciences are linked. All the settlement patterns on earth have been dependent on the availability of resources. At frist it would have been basic things like water supply, fuel (wood) and building materials like wood or stome (plus other things like land to cultivate or graze livestock etc). But people of the past and their lives and stuggles fascinate me, too – particularly in older times. I don’t dislike more modern history, but older stuff feeds my imagination better. And I have a very over-active imagination!
But you, too, have had a broad and varied education, Amanda. Look at the art work you do! Brilliant for someone who studied environmental science. I think many people are far more versatile than their formal qualifications would suggest. My elder daughter, whose first degree was in archaeology, has a PhD in analytical chemistry. And she’s a brilliant artist, and almost went to art college instead of uni to do archaeology. It’s a funny old world, and the funniest thing about it is the people. Great for writing books about!
Sorry for the ramble…again. 🙂
Ramble away please, Millie. I love your rambles! From art to archaeology to analytical chemistry is an amazing skill set and i really admire the way your daughter seems to be an all – rounder! Very talented! I can see where archaeology might have stemmed from with your interests. And I have been a Nurse, barmaid, teacher, counsellor, therapist, Audio visual technician and worked in retail, child care, disability, schools and allied health. Sometimes I see it as a disadvantage, jack of all trades, master of none!!LOL! But it may help me write fiction stories, if I ever wanted to do that. Modern History and Environmental stuff was always my first love before art came along….
You’ve had an amazing career! I don’t think the word versatile begins to descibe you. I don’t know what your present work involves, but I somehow imagined it to involve art. I had thought your degree was in Environmental Science and didn’t know you were qualified in Modern History, too. They can’t both have been on the same course ‘package’ – or were they? And all those other job…! I’m so impressed. But your art is wonderful and I’m sure that’s where your main interest lies now, even if it doesn’t feature in your present work. Thank you for all this interesting info. about you. It’s lovely to know more about you, even if you’ve left me mind-boggled.
Well Millie, I have to confess I am not really qualified in Modern History, only as far as my schooling was concerned. It was my best subject at high school, but I haven’t pursued it in a professional sense since then. It is really just an interest of mine. The political aspect of Modern History seems to cross over a little into Environmental matters, but not too much. Unfortunately, having a family meant one had to work around the family’s needs and I had to adapt to many different career areas depending on the times the children were in school/at home with their Dad. Oh! I forgot to mention that I also worked in a pathology laboratory for a time, but that was when I realized I did not have a ‘scientific brain’ but one more suited to the humanities! My current job is one that I feel I have been trying to find my entire life, and as it is a fairly new role that has been developed, so there was no way I could have worked in the area any earlier in my life anyway. Working in Allied Health, I feel combines my nursing, child care, art, disability, counselling and teaching experiences. I sometimes still teach a little art but these days the art is mainly for my benefit!
I hope you have a lovely Christmas, Millie, and thanks for all the lovely comments on Something to Ponder About. It has made it far more interesting! I will take a break from blogging until the New Year, and during that time, hope to read your novel that awaits me. God jul og Godt Nytttår min venn
Dear Amanda, it is me who should be thanking you for making my first whole year in the blogging community feel so welcoming and worthwhile. I’m very much a ‘people person’ and the best thing about me is in being able to talk to lovely people like you. It makes blogging not only so much more interesting, but so much more worth doing. Many bloggers are content to leave just a
‘like’ and move on. I can’t do that. I know what you and I both do is far more time-consuming – but it’s so much more fulfilling. We both seem to have had our fingers in many different pies over the years, and being versatile is a wonderful and beneficial way to be.
Thank you for sharing my world, Amanda. I have really enjoyed sharing yours.
I haven’t yet commented on your Proverbial Thursday, if you have done one this week (which I’ll check very soon). As you know, I was hoping to start doing a weekly post about old English sayings. I mentioned I was hoping to start that soon to another blogger, and guess what… Yes, he’s doing that now. So my plans seem to have been thwarted! It will teach me to keep my mouth shut.
Finally, what can I say about your plans to read my first book, other than ‘THANK YOU!’ It always gives me the jitters when people tell me this. I alwys think they won’t like it – which is always a possibility. So, I’ll await your verdict! 🙂
I, too, will be taking a blogging break soon, but mine will start in January.
And . . . really finally this time . . .
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year my friend.
(As I don’t speak Norwegian, I just had that translated – although I guessed it would be something along those lines!) ❤
I hope your Christmas is full of happy memories. With a large family, I am sure it will be very busy but full of cheer. It is such a shame that the other blogger copied your idea. I hope you ask him for a pingback, at least?. This happened to me only once on wordpress, but more seriously on Youtube. I had a bit of a rant about it, here: https://forestwoodfolkart.wordpress.com/2015/01/03/declare-war-on-plagiarism-stop-the-rot/ but it allowed me to find some really useful information which I posted on that post.
Take care Millie, and we will “talk” again soon. Enjoy your blogging break.
I’m not closing down until after New Year, Amanda. I have a couple of ‘seasonal’ posts to do, then I’ll be gone for a while. Now, I want to have a look at your Proberbial Thursday.
Thank you Ineke, for some reason the anticipated pingback did not eventuate. I don’t know why this is not happening on wordpress. But the nomination is appreciated.
Great quotes. I certainly agree that sometimes people can’t see the beauty that exists in things. The beauty of my singing voice when I’m in the sure in the morning, for example, has often passed the other members of my family completely by.
Thank you BunKaryudo. I guess you are meaning singing in the shower! That is fun, and a lot of people seem to get enjoyment out of it. It is not something I feel like doing. I do sing when I drive along in the car!!
Really? That’s interesting. I’ll belt out the songs in the shower cause nobody can see me (I hope — for their sake as much as mine!). I’d be scared to do it in the car, though, in case little kids in other cars started pointing their fingers at me and laughing. 🙂
I am too focused on the road to notice any little kids pointing at me, and these days, you could be talking to someone via bluetooth on your phone in the car. They would not know it was singing!
Something to Ponder About 
Wie de schoen past trekt hem aan. Who the shoe fits, put it on.
Taking responsibilty for your action.
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Thanks Gerard! I love how you always find another quote to add to Proverbial Thursday! This one is often used and these days, usually, in reproach for someone who has not taken responsibility!
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Such nice quotes!
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Thank you so very much, Moritz for stopping by
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My pleasure 🙂
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Two wonderful, wonderful quotes this week. The first one: we really don’t know who will be there for us and who truly supports us until we hit challenging times. Or when we are all caught in a bit of a sticky situation. It’s these times when we also learn who we get along and work best with.
The second one: beauty is always around us everyday. Every moment, every second. We don’t always see it because often we are obsessed with chasing the next best thing or that dream of ours. We get caught up in what we are doing that we forget to see outside of the box and appreciate what we have in front of us. I think people who complain or are negative tend to not to realise that beauty is around them…there’s always beauty in hope, being positive and moving forwards.
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Your commeents on the first quote are so spot on, Mabel! I don’t know that I can add more to them than what you said. Except to say, it is sometimes the people we least expect to assist in those challenging times, who actually do stick their own neck out to help another. That is interesting, isn’t it?
As for the Confucian quote, I really really like this one. It is a universally golden rule for life, I think and the world would be a better place if we all adopted this confucian suggestion. Your words, ” … there is beauty in hope, being positive and moving forwards,” are really profound, Mabel. I am really impressed by that. I had not thought what a beautiful thing these actions could be, and it is only in recent years that I could relate to this comment. But it is so true, and one aspect of beauty that is not recognized as such. Hope springs eternal, and often the last line before despair. For I think, there is always hope and if once that has gone, there is only despair. However, in particularly deprived settings, hope can be an amazingly beautiful thing, so pure and almost divine. Being positive is associated with happiness and love and must therefore also be beautiful! A thousand thanks for the comment.
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Such an interesting point to bring up, that the ones we last think of might be the ones to offer us the most genuine helping hand. Which begs the thought, never judge a book by its cover. Be nice to everyone around you because you never know when you could use a – not necessarily a friend – but that helping hand.
For very long time, I was a negative person. And I didn’t like the person I was and it was this year that I realised that. Happiness and beauty are correlated in my opinion, as per my last comment. By appreciating what we have, we live in the moment and don’t think trivial, petty things too seriously and learn to turn negative into positive.
Thanks for Thursday proverbs. I always love them. I read this post while at work. It was a quite work day 😀
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I am so glad that you like them and that the proverbial post has brought us together as blogger friends! Many proverbs in different culture try to impart advice about living in the moment and being positive, so presumably, this is something that works for many, many people. There have discovered the beauty and contentment in living their lives like this, just as you had that epiphany this last year. This is why proverbs are such important life lessons. I think they are a hidden manual for life, in many ways. It is through this feature on my blog, that I continue to appreciate them more and more. I am going to join the Quotes challenge that Millie kindly nominated me for, and I would like to nominate your blog, with the condition that there is absolutely no obligation to post about it, as I know you are on a blogging break. It will be simply to highlight your blog as one worthy of readers to hop on over to, should they wish to be further inspired. Would that be ok, Mabel?
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I really do like scrolling through my feed each Thursday, waiting for your proverbs post to pop up. You are right. Many proverbs encourage us to appreciate what we’ve got and the simple things in life. Really like your set of proverbs – they mainly are positive, though…but that is what they aim to do as you said, to impart positivity.
Happy if you want to nominate me…and scrolling through my blog feed earlier I see that you may have included me. Very kind of you, and I will pop over there soon. Already enjoying my blogging break from posting, but still will be lurking around here 😉
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Hi Mabel, Yes I did already nominate you, but as I said, don’t feel that you have to accept. Lurking is good!!!
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Great and wise words.
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Thanks Coffee. Always appreciate your visit.
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And I always appreciate your proverbs, quotes and sayings. ☕️❤️
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That makes me happy to hear that Coffee!
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Your Thursday postings are a gift, and I thank you for offering them. ☕️❤️
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You are too kind! Thank you so much Coffee!
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Great proverbs again Amanda 🙂 I, as always, really like the Confucius quote, because it’s so true. And so many people are so blinkered to seeing that beauty, whether it’s in other people or things in nature 🙂
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Confucius is amazing! His knowledge and intelligence was quite astounding, and such an articulate ability to get to the essence of living our lives in just a few words, or phrases. I don’t know much about his personal life, but I am now interested in finding out more about him. Do you know much about him? Perhaps I will add some more information on him over the course of the series of his quotes here on Something to Ponder About? I would hope that eventually, life has a way of teaching everyone to really open their eyes to the beauty in simply living! And as Mabel alluded, happiness in being positive, even if there immediate circumstances prevent them living, visiting or witnessing a scenic spot in nature. I appreciate the comment, Andy, thanks!
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You’re welcome Amanda 🙂 I’m afraid I know very little about Confucius, other than the fact that I really like most of his very succinct sayings. I’ll look forward to learning a wee bit about him from your forthcoming posts! 🙂
It is the wonderful thing about being a positive thinker, you do tend to see beauty in far more things than a negative person does, and thus you tend to be far happier in life than a negative person ever could be!
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What a wonderful way to be! Those who are born or grow into negative thinking, can also train themselves to be like this, but it takes practice.
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My glass is always half full, as the saying goes Amanda, and it is a good way to be.Some people say that if you’re positive about everything, you will be constantly disappointed, but I find that’s definitely not the case, because you just find a positive spin to put on those few things that do go wrong 🙂
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I have not heard people say that about positivity. Is it perhaps, that they themselves fear the inability to cope with the feeling of disappointment so much that they would rather be negative so as to avoid experiencing disappointment altogether? I know my son is very much of this really negative/avoid disappointment way of thinking and it is very difficult for him to change, but ever so slowly, I see glimmers of positivity creeping in. I often challenge him when he is negative by saying, Yes but tell me what you CAN do about it? It is still a long process to change his concrete mindset, (but again being positive), I feel sure it can be done!
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The phrase was only half of it, people over here ask if you are ‘a glass half full’ type of person, or ‘a glass half empty’ type of person! 🙂
I agree with you about people who tend to be on the negative side, are so, more often than not, to avoid any disappointment. I think what you are doing with your son is brilliant. it’s quite a task to change that mindset, and it sounds like you are slowly succeeding, one step at a time. And I’m positive you will turn his mindset around, maybe not the full 180 degrees, as that is part of his character, but enough to make a difference to how he views life 🙂
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Yes, I hope so, Andy. Thanks for the positive encouragement!
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You’re most welcome Amanda 🙂
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The first proverb reminds me of one of the quotes I used on my Quotes Challenge.( “A true friend is one who is there for you when he’d rather be anywhere else”) !How true it is that we only find out who our true friends are when things get tough. I see this quote as being similar to the idea as ‘fairweather friends’ – friends who desert us when we’re in difficulty and the friendship no longer benefits them or their way of life.
The second quote is very wide reaching, I think. ‘All things have beauty’ is a really thought provoking phrase to start with. I do think that ‘beauty is in the eye of the beholder’ and we all have different ideas of beauty, But then there’s the idea that ‘beauty is only skin deep’ and applied to people in particular, I think that is very true. People can be beautiful in their treatment of others or their simple joy in life. A loving and caring person is very beautiful. It’s also true that we don’t all see beauty in the same way, or fail to see hidden qualities. On a quite different note to people, many inanimate objects have internal beauty that is hidden from the outside, We only have to think of the structure of a crystal, or just a lump of rock. Under a microscope these hidden patterns are very beautiful. I think I’ve probably gone a bit too wide here, but I hope you can see what I mean.
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I like the inferences you have made here, Millie, and how you have challenged us to include internal beauty as well. The world today, especially the media give far too much attention to the “beautiful people” who have already such an advantage in life. When I read your comment, I thought of a thunderegg. I am not sure what the geological term for that is, perhaps Andy might read this and tell us, but it is quite an ugly rock on the outside, all bumpy and warty, almost, and once cut open, is strikingly beautiful on the inside. Ice crystals are stunning when magnified and even patterns at a cellular level can be beautiful. Goodness, our world is stuffed full of gorgeousness, if we LOOK! AS for the Icelandic quote, I do think it is absolutely like the concept of fairweather friends, and your quote on the quotes challenge, ( which I will get to post soon), but I really liked the parochial description of this quote. Iceland, where the nature is incredibly beautiful, yet also incredibly cruel. The landscape and weather can be harsh, even brutal, and the people who are willing to go and assist others in times of crisis, risking their own lives to save others, is a total selfless act. I think also of the emergency services personnel who assist people in times of natural disaster. Why do they do it? What motivates them to risk their own lives. Are they brave, or taking calculated risks?
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It’s amazing how quotes and proverbs like the ones you post, can set up a whole chain of thoughts – and memories. Your thoughts on Iceland and her selfless people are fascinating. I think that to help others in the way you describe, those people, including those in the emergency services, are extremely brave. Perhaps calculating the risks play a part, but they go ahead and get on with it anyway.
The internal structures of many rocks are very lovely, and thundereggs, when halved to expose the interiors, are beautiful (and similar to geodes, which they aren’t, of course). I’ve never heard them called anything else, in all my training as a geologist. .
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Okay, the name for them is Thundereggs. Cool, I was expecting some tongue-twisting generic name. I also failed to remember that you had training in geology. I was thinking you were an urban environmental science nerd like me. No wonder you and Andy have connected!!! Is a geode a rock as well? I am not familiar with them at all.
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I’ve never come across any other name for thundereggs, except that some people split the word into two.
A geode is similar to a thuderegg in its outer shape but has a cavity inside in which crystals can grow (inside a thunderegg are layers of different rocks). Geodes often form from hollow bubbles inside rocks, more often igneous rocks, but they do occur in sedimentary ones, too. The crystals inside them grow from dissolved minerals and grow from the outer wall towerds the centre. I have a beautiful amethyst geode that my daughters bought me years ago.
I am partly an ‘environmental nerd’ Amanda. My two main subjects during my three years of teacher training were geography and environmental science. I did the geology degree after that. I suppose, overall, I love all earth sciences.
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Aha! Different rocks within a thunder egg, you say? Now that makes sense why it doesn’t have another name. And I now know that we have part of an amethyst geode here – cut open. Seems to be something daughter’s like, as it is my daughter who brought it home.
You have such a wonderful education, Millie. I wasn’t imagining the environmental science qual, then. And to go and do a geology degree after that indicates how much you love the earth and rocks in general. And yet it is history that seems to have garnered your attention in latter years?
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Thank you for that great compliment! Yes, I do love history, too. I’ve come to realise how much history and earth sciences are linked. All the settlement patterns on earth have been dependent on the availability of resources. At frist it would have been basic things like water supply, fuel (wood) and building materials like wood or stome (plus other things like land to cultivate or graze livestock etc). But people of the past and their lives and stuggles fascinate me, too – particularly in older times. I don’t dislike more modern history, but older stuff feeds my imagination better. And I have a very over-active imagination!
But you, too, have had a broad and varied education, Amanda. Look at the art work you do! Brilliant for someone who studied environmental science. I think many people are far more versatile than their formal qualifications would suggest. My elder daughter, whose first degree was in archaeology, has a PhD in analytical chemistry. And she’s a brilliant artist, and almost went to art college instead of uni to do archaeology. It’s a funny old world, and the funniest thing about it is the people. Great for writing books about!
Sorry for the ramble…again. 🙂
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Ramble away please, Millie. I love your rambles! From art to archaeology to analytical chemistry is an amazing skill set and i really admire the way your daughter seems to be an all – rounder! Very talented! I can see where archaeology might have stemmed from with your interests. And I have been a Nurse, barmaid, teacher, counsellor, therapist, Audio visual technician and worked in retail, child care, disability, schools and allied health. Sometimes I see it as a disadvantage, jack of all trades, master of none!!LOL! But it may help me write fiction stories, if I ever wanted to do that. Modern History and Environmental stuff was always my first love before art came along….
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You’ve had an amazing career! I don’t think the word versatile begins to descibe you. I don’t know what your present work involves, but I somehow imagined it to involve art. I had thought your degree was in Environmental Science and didn’t know you were qualified in Modern History, too. They can’t both have been on the same course ‘package’ – or were they? And all those other job…! I’m so impressed. But your art is wonderful and I’m sure that’s where your main interest lies now, even if it doesn’t feature in your present work. Thank you for all this interesting info. about you. It’s lovely to know more about you, even if you’ve left me mind-boggled.
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Well Millie, I have to confess I am not really qualified in Modern History, only as far as my schooling was concerned. It was my best subject at high school, but I haven’t pursued it in a professional sense since then. It is really just an interest of mine. The political aspect of Modern History seems to cross over a little into Environmental matters, but not too much. Unfortunately, having a family meant one had to work around the family’s needs and I had to adapt to many different career areas depending on the times the children were in school/at home with their Dad. Oh! I forgot to mention that I also worked in a pathology laboratory for a time, but that was when I realized I did not have a ‘scientific brain’ but one more suited to the humanities! My current job is one that I feel I have been trying to find my entire life, and as it is a fairly new role that has been developed, so there was no way I could have worked in the area any earlier in my life anyway. Working in Allied Health, I feel combines my nursing, child care, art, disability, counselling and teaching experiences. I sometimes still teach a little art but these days the art is mainly for my benefit!
I hope you have a lovely Christmas, Millie, and thanks for all the lovely comments on Something to Ponder About. It has made it far more interesting! I will take a break from blogging until the New Year, and during that time, hope to read your novel that awaits me. God jul og Godt Nytttår min venn
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Dear Amanda, it is me who should be thanking you for making my first whole year in the blogging community feel so welcoming and worthwhile. I’m very much a ‘people person’ and the best thing about me is in being able to talk to lovely people like you. It makes blogging not only so much more interesting, but so much more worth doing. Many bloggers are content to leave just a
‘like’ and move on. I can’t do that. I know what you and I both do is far more time-consuming – but it’s so much more fulfilling. We both seem to have had our fingers in many different pies over the years, and being versatile is a wonderful and beneficial way to be.
Thank you for sharing my world, Amanda. I have really enjoyed sharing yours.
I haven’t yet commented on your Proverbial Thursday, if you have done one this week (which I’ll check very soon). As you know, I was hoping to start doing a weekly post about old English sayings. I mentioned I was hoping to start that soon to another blogger, and guess what… Yes, he’s doing that now. So my plans seem to have been thwarted! It will teach me to keep my mouth shut.
Finally, what can I say about your plans to read my first book, other than ‘THANK YOU!’ It always gives me the jitters when people tell me this. I alwys think they won’t like it – which is always a possibility. So, I’ll await your verdict! 🙂
I, too, will be taking a blogging break soon, but mine will start in January.
And . . . really finally this time . . .
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year my friend.
(As I don’t speak Norwegian, I just had that translated – although I guessed it would be something along those lines!) ❤
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I hope your Christmas is full of happy memories. With a large family, I am sure it will be very busy but full of cheer. It is such a shame that the other blogger copied your idea. I hope you ask him for a pingback, at least?. This happened to me only once on wordpress, but more seriously on Youtube. I had a bit of a rant about it, here: https://forestwoodfolkart.wordpress.com/2015/01/03/declare-war-on-plagiarism-stop-the-rot/ but it allowed me to find some really useful information which I posted on that post.
Take care Millie, and we will “talk” again soon. Enjoy your blogging break.
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I’m not closing down until after New Year, Amanda. I have a couple of ‘seasonal’ posts to do, then I’ll be gone for a while. Now, I want to have a look at your Proberbial Thursday.
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Please do, Millie!
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Both quotes are spot on!
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Thanks Cocoa, it is nice to know that these proverbial posts are appreciated. Have you heard them before?
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The first one is very familiar. Confucius, I’ve never heard before but makes a lot of sense.
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Confucian quotes are amazing! How one man could have such profound wisdom! He was truly gifted!
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I nominated you for an awesome blog award!
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Thank you Ineke, for some reason the anticipated pingback did not eventuate. I don’t know why this is not happening on wordpress. But the nomination is appreciated.
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Glad you stumbled upon it after all!
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me too! I hope you like my post and it has done the award justice!
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Excellent way you put it
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Thanks, Ineke! 😉
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Great quotes. I certainly agree that sometimes people can’t see the beauty that exists in things. The beauty of my singing voice when I’m in the sure in the morning, for example, has often passed the other members of my family completely by.
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Thank you BunKaryudo. I guess you are meaning singing in the shower! That is fun, and a lot of people seem to get enjoyment out of it. It is not something I feel like doing. I do sing when I drive along in the car!!
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Really? That’s interesting. I’ll belt out the songs in the shower cause nobody can see me (I hope — for their sake as much as mine!). I’d be scared to do it in the car, though, in case little kids in other cars started pointing their fingers at me and laughing. 🙂
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I am too focused on the road to notice any little kids pointing at me, and these days, you could be talking to someone via bluetooth on your phone in the car. They would not know it was singing!
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That’s true, although in my case, the cracks appearing in glass of the windows might be a hint that I was attempting to sing. 🙂
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Lol. I am sure it is not that bad, and if it was, that would apply to the shower too! haha!
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I guess that’s true. 🙂
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Hard to beat Konfucius there!
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He is pretty cluey, isn’t he?
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No wonder people love him.
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