Index of Pearls and Quinces
Imagination
Imagination is intelligence having fun.
--attributed to Tess
You must stay drunk on writing so reality cannot destroy you.
-- Ray Bradbury
Fire Leaping
"Of course they are naked. It’s much too dangerous to jump a fire with your clothes on."
--Lord Summer Isle in The Wicker Man
Defense
Christian pacifist: If man hits me with a stick, I have 3 choices.
I can hit him back. I can stand there and be hit again. Or I can walk away.
Qwai Chang Cain: There is a 4th choice. You can take the stick away.
--Kung Fu, the 1970's TV series
Tea
Teabing: (voice over intercom) But first, a test of honour. Three questions.
Langdon: Fire away.
Teabing: Shall I serve coffee or tea?
Langdon: Tea, of course.
Teabing: Excellent. Second, milk or lemon?
Sophie: (softly to Langdon) Milk?
Langdon: That would depend on the tea.
Teabing: Correct. ...
--The DaVinci Code movie
Tea was introduced to Europe in the mid-1600's. By the 1700's, it had replaced beer as the beverage
of choice at breakfast.
--from inside an Honest Tea bottle cap, collected April 2007.
Deity
Deity is who. Evolution is how.
--author unknown
Mysteries
Guard the Mysteries; constantly reveal them.
--popular Craft saying found on Nancy Button,
ultimately taken from a poem from the late Lew Welsh
There is no key to the universe. It was never locked.
--Nancy Button
In just two days, tommorow will be yesterday.
--bumpersticker
The Impossible
Never try to teach a pig to sing. It only wastes your time and annoys the pig.
--Nancy Button
Earth Changes
The Earth quakes and the Heavens rattle; the beasts of nature flock together and the nations of men flock apart;
volcanos use up heat while elesewhere water becomes ice and melts; and on other days it just rains.
Indeed do many things come to pass.
--HBT; The Book of Predictions,Chapter 19
Sometime around 2700 c.e when the next aeon arrives--we're on our own.
--Astrological aphorism about the Age of Aquarius
Athames and Swords
Of course you can cast a perfectly fine circle with
a kitchen knife...but there's something about a two-hundred dollar hand-forged designer athame
that makes you want to cast it more often.
Athames are like penises. The size may not matter,
but most people like 'em bigger anyway.
Never expect a police officer to understand the
ritual nature of your athame.
-- from "Arachne's aphorisms for Wiccans"
Any excuse to wear a sword is a good excuse.
--Nancy Button
Philosophical Observations
The most radical notion in Wicca is that religion can be fun.
-- from "Arachne's aphorisms for Wiccans"
No magic is ever truly destructive. For what is destruction, except creation with an agenda?
--Nancy Button
Those who dance are thought mad by those who hear not the music.
--source unknown
If the Wiccan Rede was created, as some suggest, to alleviate the fears of
cowans, it appears not to have worked.
-- from "Arachne's aphorisms for Wiccans"
Morris dancing is an exercise in fertility.
--Nancy Button
Two witches, eight opinions.
-- from "Arachne's aphorisms for Wiccans"
The border between the Real and the Unreal is not fixed, but just marks the last place where rival gangs of
shamans fought each other to a standstill.
--Nancy Button
No witch stands so tall as when she stoops to clean the litter-box.
-- from "Arachne's aphorisms for Wiccans"
The Moon's children have the Moon's luck.
--source unknown
Laying a hoodoo trick in someone else's house does not make you a witch. Finding one in your own house
probably will.
-- from "Arachne's aphorisms for Wiccans"
A squashed insect does not forgive the windshield.
--LWW
Never forget that there are genuinely good Christian
people in the world, and that their religion may have something to do with it.
-- from "Arachne's aphorisms for Wiccans"
Good manners is the art of graciouly pretending one is not superior.
--LWW
What's the difference between New Age and Neo-Pagan? About one decimal point in cost
per weekend.
--Neo-Pagan saying
The meek shall inherit the Earth. The rest of us are going to the stars!
--SF fandom saying
In nature, there are no rewards or punishments, only consequences.
--source unknown
Against stupidity, the gods themselves struggle in vain.
--Common saying
All general statements are wrong.
--LWW
Rain happens.
Surveys have shown that there are only two types of people: those that answer
surveys and those that don't.
--LWW
Courtesy is contagious.
--source unknown
Good manners are caught, not taught.
--source unknown
Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups.
--source unknown
A pile for everything and everything in its pile.
--Nancy Button
There are no answers, only cross-references.
--LWW
A free society is one where it is safe to be unpopular. --Adlai E. Stevenson
We are locked inside our own skulls for most of our lives.
--source unknown
The past is fixed, yet the future may be bent.
--Wiccan proverb
Breathe in, breathe out, breathe in, breathe out.... Forget this, and achieving enlightenment will be the least
of your worries.
--Nancy Button
No one person can accomplish all.
--Wiccan proverb
Let them curse, for my Goddess doth bless.
--Wiccan saying
The cistern contains: the fountain overflows.
--William Blake
It might be "treason" to mention that the emperor has no clothes, but somebody's got to say it.
--Isaac Bonewits
The occult arts are arts; their ultimate secrets can be learned but not taught.
-- Richard Cavendish
"Nothing is worth more than this day."
--Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
You can never go down the drain.
--Mr. Rogers
Coming together is a begining; staying together is progress; working together is success.
--author unknown
He who is lucky in love should never play cards.
--Italian saying
If you don't like it, you can't have any.
--Church of All Worlds saying
Advice
Share your knowledge. It's a way to achieve immortality.
--MW
Make the ordinary EXTRAORDINARY!
--source unknown
Live now--procrastinate tomorrow!
--Nancy Button
Practice wanton kindness and random acts of beauty.
--variation of a common New Age saying
Practice random intelligence and senseless acts of self-control.
--variation of a common New Age saying
Adopt an animal companion; save a life.
--source unknown
Don't piss off the faeries.
--general good advice
"Always be excellent to one another!" --Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure
"Strive for Exellence, not Perfection." --10 Things for Sucess
Live your life as you see fit. That's not selfish. Selfish is to demand that others live their lives as you see fit.
--Anthony de Mello
You should never give your money to an organization unless you know how the money's being spent and what the group really does.
--Lilith McLelland, Out of the Shadows, 2002
Play the Fool on April 1st.
--LWW
Never learn how to type; someone will ask you to do it.
--generic wisdom
When Dame Fortune comes to you, invite her in.
--source unknown
Write a last will and testement and tell your relatives where it is. Update it from time to time.
--sound legal advice
Learn local historical legends and folklore.
--LWW
Savor vegetables.
--green advice
Smell the honeysuckle.
--LWW
Buy locally grown produce.
--green advice
Acknowledge the spirituality in yourself and all others.
--New Age saying
Know when to keep silent.
Know when to speak up.
--source unknown
Don't tame a dragon to toast your marshmallows.
Cognite tute--think for yourself.
Homosexual Marriage
"In my 20 years of experience as a family therapist, no one ever blamed the
breakup of their marriage on the fact that homosexuals might want to get married."
--Rabbi Michael Lern
Books
So many books, so little time.
--Nancy Button
A chill in the air, a cat on the lap, a mug of java and a good book.
--Nancy Button
Ecology
Save Mother Earth--She's our only source of chocolate!
We do not inherit the Earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children.
Cats
Dogs think they're human. Cats know they're gods.
--common saying among catlovers
Thousands of years ago, the Egyptians worshipped cats. Cats have never forgotten this.
--common saying among catlovers
Conflict
Religion isn't the cause of war, it's the excuse.
--Nancy Button
Gods don't kill people. People with Gods kill people.
--Nancy Button
Humor
If you gathered together all the known pieces of the True Cross, you could build a house big enough
to hold all the authentic Gardnerian Books of Shadows.
-- from "Arachne's aphorisms for Wiccans"
When witchcraft is outlawed, only outlaws will ride brooms.
--Wiccan humor
Oh sure, it's all fun and games until the flying monkeys show up.
--teeshirt
A witch in time is an hour early for the Sabbat.
--Wiccan humor
Jokes
What do you get if you have thirteen witches in a hot tub? A self-cleaning coven.
--Wiccan humor
What does a Hellenistic Neo-Pagan do at a parking meter?
Reads the signs, calls the quarters, and pays tribute to Demeter.
--Neo-Pagan humor
Trad Wisdom
Do not coddle weakness.
Do not submit your Life Force to anyone.
God is Self and Self is God.
I would know myself in all my parts.
--teachings from the Anderson Feri Tradition
If you don't like it, you can't have any.
--Church of All Worlds saying
It's true, it's true. I made it all up. And it's all true.
--Protean saying
For those who note the attribute of "Nancy Button" on numerous of these pearls of wisdom and qunices of gold, please be aware this refers to Nancy's Buttons, and can be purchased from Nancy at:
Nancy's Buttons
1014 Mountain Street
Philadelphia, PA 19148
www.nancybuttons.com
I urge all people who find these sayings witty, wonderful or wise to purchase a genuine Nancy Button from Nancy.