Commonplace Book: November

“He was now known to be a man of skill; it was observed that he gathered herbs and the blossoms of wild-flowers, and dug up roots and plucked off twigs from the forest-trees like one acquainted with hidden virtues in what was valueless to common eyes.”

-The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorn


There is no education without leisure for the simple reason that education is a leisure activity. It requires all the other values: controls, freedom, money, and honor. But the only true end is virtue for the simple reason that only virtue is big enough to rightly order the other goods. The wise man ... is not driven [by his desires] as by an unruly mob. Instead he governs them.
-Andrew Kern, quoted in "Charlotte Mason is Powerful"


見よ、わたしを救われる神。わたしはわたしは信頼して、恐れない。
主こそわたしの力、わたしの歌わたしの救いとなってくださった。
イザヤ１２章２節


The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good. ... They are all gone aside, they are altogther become filthy, there is none that doeth good, no, not one.
-Psalm 14:1,3


Forgive, and leave his further retribution to the Power that claims it! ... There might be good for thee, and thee alone, since thou hast been deeply wronged and hast it at thy will to pardon. Wilt thou give up that only privilege?  Wilt thou reject that priceless benefit?
-The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorn


...it is natural to be selfish, defensive, argumentative, full of pride, but it is supernatural to be mature, loving and patient, humble.
-How To Slow Down All The Fussing

A Jesus girl who rises up and unexpectedly gives grace when she surely could have done otherwise reveals the power and mystery of Christ at work in her life and in the world.
-Seen on Pinterest


"But you don't see the point, Wesley. She would have grown into a fine woman with us; but as we would have raised her, would her heart ever have known the world as it does now? Where's the anguish, Wesley, that child can't comprehend? Seeing what she's seen of her mother hasn't hardened her. She can understand any mother's sorrow. Living life from the rough side has only broadened her. Where's the girl or boy burning with shame, or struggling to find a way, that will cross Elnora's path and not get a lift from her? She's had the knocks, but there'll never be any of the thing you call 'false pride' in her. I guess we better keep out. Maybe Kate Comstock knows what she's doing. Sure as you live, Elnora has grown bigger on knocks than she would on love."

-Girl of the Limberlost

すべての成功は「続ける力」から生まれる。そして「続ける力」はだれもが持っている。

-quoted by Khatz

“It is June. Philip and I are in the grades. You have an hour to put an idea into our heads that will stick for a lifetime, and grow for good. That’s the way I look at your job. Now, what are you going to give us? We don’t want any old silly stuff that has been hashed over and over, we want a big new idea to plant in our hearts. Come on, Miss Teacher, what is the boiled-down, double-distilled essence of June? Give it to us strong. We are large enough to furnish it developing ground. Hurry up! Time is short and we are waiting. What is the miracle of June? What one thing epitomizes the whole month, and makes it just a little different from any other?”
-Girl of the Limberlost, chapter 16.


A day may come when the courage of men fails, when we forsake our friends and break all bonds of fellowship, but it is not this day. And hour of wolves and shattered shields, when the age of men comes crashing down! But it is not this day! By all that you hold dear on this good earth, I bid you stand, men of the West!
-Aragorn, Return of the King


「あなたは何を望んでのか」

-二ーファイ第一書11章2節

But remember, when the people once part with power, they can seldom or never resume it again but by force. Many instances can be produced in which the people have voluntarily increased the powers of their rulers; but few, if any, in which rulers have willingly abridged their authority. This is a sufficient reason to induce you to be careful, in the first instance, how you deposit the powers of government.
-Brutus #1


From this view of the subject it may be concluded that a pure democracy, by which I mean a society consisting of a small number of citizens, who assemble and administer the government in person, can admit of no cure for the mischiefs of faction. A common passion or interest will, in almost every case, be felt by a majority of the whole; a communication and concert result from the form of government itself; and there is nothing to check the inducements to sacrifice the weaker party or an obnoxious individual. Hence it is that such democracies have ever been spectacles of turbulence and contention; have ever been found incompatible with personal security or the rights of property; and have in general been as short in their lives as they have been violent in their deaths.
-James Madison, Federalist #10


Baby and I were baked in a pie;
The gravy was wonderful hot.
We had nothing to pay
To the baker that day
And so we crept out of the pot.
-Mother Goose


The Owl
When cats run home and light is come,
And dew is cold upon the ground,
And the far-off stream is dumb,
And teh whirring sail goes round;
Alone and warming his five wits,
The white owl in the belfry sits.

Whe merry milkmaids click the latch,
And rarely smells the new-mown hay,
And the cock hath sung beneath the thatch,
Twice or thrice his roundelay;
Alone and warming his five wits,
The white owl in the belfry sits.
-Lord Alfred Tennyson


Fortitude should be learned by the subduing of self; that is to say, by repressing the desire to play at the wrong time or beyond the proper time, and by bridling impatience, discontent, and anger.
The principle which underlies this is that we should accustom boys to do everything by reason, and nothing under the guidance of impulse. For man is a rational animal, and should therefore be led by reason, and, before action, ought to deliberate how each operation should be performed, so that he may really be master of his own actions.
-Comenius, quoted in Charlotte Mason and Comenius: The Will and Reason