Study to be quiet. II.

This post is basically going to consist of two quotations, one from Blaise Pascal's Pensees, and one by the theologian/philosopher, Soren Kierkegard.

I'm also including more photos of the roses I photographed in the back garden two days ago.

Click to enlarge.

Some one once said; "Only God can make a rose". How true!

"I have often said that the sole cause of man's unhappiness is that he does not know how to stay quietly in his room... What people want is not the easy peaceful life that allows us to think of our unhappy condition, nor the dangers of war, nor the burdens of office, but the agitation that takes our mind off it and diverts us. That is why we prefer the hunt to the capture. That is why we are so fond of the hustle and bustle; that is why prison is such a fearful punishment; that is why the pleasures of solitude are so incomprehensible."  Pascal, Pensees.

"He hath made every thing beautiful in his time; ..." Ecclesiastes, 3:4.

Soren Kierkegaard once said; "If I were a doctor and some one asked for advice I would tell them; create silence in your life, it will heal you".

..and only God could have made this tiny wild flower in all it's perfection, only two or the millimetres across, but perfect in every way.

If I had a neighbour who had a camera with a macro lens I would be coveting it, definitely not his ox or his ass. I spend half of my photography time on me knees and elbows trying to photograph tiny flowers. Although my camera has a macro mode it's not a macro lens.
 
The leaves and detritus under the flower are the remains of last seasons maize crop. This is a minimum tillage farm and no plowing is done, at most the fields might be lightly discs ed. The next crop will be planted directly into this detritus.

PS to Pumice; our libraries are as noisy as the rest of the country, radio on, people talking at the top of their voices, etc., etc. I've given up using them.