405. Quotes: Ravi Zacharias on Meaning

“. . . For a child[,] meaning is procured by his recognition of the awe-inspiring reality that surrounds his life. That reality is fused with wonder and design, engendering purpose.”

—Ravi Zacharias, Can Man Live Without God

399. Dictionary

Dictionaries are imperative. There’s a difference between bodacious, salacious, and pugnacious.

398. Suggested Reading: Beowulf

Beowulf, the epic poem. Distant lands, grand warriors, mythical beasts, battles aplenty.

And I wrote a rap about it for a class project in seventh grade. And we acted it out on video. And I still have a copy.

384. Quotes: Mark Twain on Education

“I’ve never let my school interfere with my education.”

—Mark Twain

381. America’s Declaration

“In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.”

—From America’s Declaration of Independence, 4 July 1776

370. Punctuate for Intended Meaning

There are right and wrong ways to punctuate your writing.

Once you master those rules, move to the next level. Phrase and punctuate so readers grasp your intended meaning. This is the beginning of developing your personal writing style.

344. Suggested Reading: Wild At Heart and Captivating

One of the books that most impacted me was Wild At Heart by John Eldredge, and eventually the companion book Captivating by John and Stasi Eldredge.

The first is written to men, but is quite eye-opening for women as well. Its premise is that men seek three primary things: an adventure to live, a battle to fight and win, and a beauty to rescue. This is seen in movies, business ventures, sporting events, and the art forms we are surrounded by, as well as by the lives of men everywhere.

These are the things that motivate him so if one of these aspects is taken away from him, he will begin to fade. He may cover it up or ignore it as much as possible, but like a shell on the beach he will feel drained of all life. So use the thrill of the journey, the satisfation of success, or the mystique and transcendent nature of beauty to both your benefit, but never as manipulation. Hard work is a great opportunity, but a man whose heart is alive is better than a man who just works. This book resonated so deeply that I made reading it one of the things your mom had to do before we got married.

Captivating was released a few years later and balances the equation from the woman’s side, with the understanding that a woman always feels that she is “too much” and “never enough” simultaneously. A woman wants to be the beauty and be swept up into an adventure with her great love.

Do yourself the favor of not speeding through them just to check them off the list, though. It’s worth it.

341. Quotes: Arthur Quiller-Couch on Written Style

“For — believe me, Gentlemen — so far as Handel stands above Chopin, as Velasquez above Greuze, even so far stand the great masculine objective writers above all who appeal to you by parade of personality or private sentiment.

Mention of these great masculine ‘objective’ writers brings me to my last word: which is, ‘Steep yourselves in them: habitually bring all to the test of them: for while you cannot escape the fate of all style, which is to be personal, the more of catholic manhood you inherit from those great loins the more you will assuredly beget.’

This then is Style. As technically manifested in Literature it is the power to touch with ease, grace, precision, any note in the gamut of human thought or emotion.

But essentially it resembles good manners. It comes of endeavouring to understand others, of thinking for them rather than for yourself — of thinking, that is, with the heart as well as the head. It gives rather than receives; it is nobly careless of thanks or applause, not being fed by these but rather sustained and continually refreshed by an inward loyalty to the best. Yet, like ‘character’ it has its altar within; to that retires for counsel, from that fetches its illumination, to ray outwards. Cultivate, Gentlemen, that habit of withdrawing to be advised by the best. So, says Fénelon, ‘you will find yourself infinitely quieter, your words will be fewer and more effectual; and while you make less ado, what you do will be more profitable.’”

—“On the Art of Writing,” Chapter 12: Lectures Delivered in the University of Cambridge, 1913–1914, by Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch (1863–1944), published in 1916 by Cambridge University Press

300. Quotes: Donald Miller on Wonder

“There is no up and down. There has never been an up and down. Things like up and down were invented so as not to scare children, so as to reduce mystery to math. [. . .] I think we have two choices in the face of such big beauty: terror or awe. [. . .] We are too proud to feel awe and too fearful to feel terror. [. . .] Too much of our time is spent trying to chart God on a grid, and too little time is spent allowing our our hearts to feel awe. By reducing Christian spirituality to formula, we deprive our hearts of wonder.”

—Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller, chapter 17, pages 204 and 205

250. Quotes: Marcus Aurelius on Injustice Being Impiety

“Injustice is impiety. [. . .] And whereas [mankind] had previously been endowed by nature with the means of distinguishing false from true, by neglecting the use of them, he has lost the power. [. . .] And he who pursues pleasure will not abstain from injustice, and this is plainly impiety.”

—Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, Book IX, #1

That first three-word phrase above is, to me, one of the greatest, truest phrases ever penned. Sadly, it is so fraught with assumptions as to be logical swiss cheese.

It is far from axiomatic. But it is really, really good.