On the weekends, I add to my morning reflection time (reading the daily entries from those 365 Days type books* and saying my prayers) by randomly opening these books and reading whatever I flip to:
Visual Dictionary (Corbeil)
The Oxford Companion to Philosophy (Honderich)
The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations (Third Edition, 1979)
Visual Reference Guides: Philosophy
So this morning I learned about two people in history I never heard of today from their quotes in the Oxford Quotation book. Here are the quotes I read and a little I Googled about these two (to figure out who they were!):
Catullus (87-54 BC)
"As a flower grows concealed in an enclosed garden, unknown to the cattle, bruised by no plough, which the breezes caress, the sun makes strong, and the rain brings out; many boys and many girls long for it."
Catullus, in full Gaius Valerius Catullus, (born c. 84 bce, Verona, Cisalpine Gaul—died c. 54 bce, Rome), Roman poet whose expressions of love and hatred are generally considered the finest lyric poetry of ancient Rome. In 25 of his poems he speaks of his love for a woman he calls Lesbia, whose identity is uncertain.
Edith Cavell (1865-1915)
"Standing, as I do, in view of God and eternity, I realise that patriotism is not enough. I must have no hatred or bitterness towards anyone." (On the eve of her execution)
Edith Cavell was a British nurse, working in German-occupied Belgium during the First World War. She helped hundreds of British, French and Belgian soldiers escape the Germans and was arrested, tried and executed in 1915.
Edith was born in the village of Swardeston, Norfolk. She was the daughter of a rector and worked as a governess in Belgium, before training to be a nurse in London. She worked in hospitals in Shoreditch, Kings Cross and Manchester and then accepted a position in Brussels as Matron in Belgium's first training hospital and school for nurses. There was no established nursing profession in Belgium at the time of Edith's appointment, and her pioneering work led her to be considered the founder of modern nursing education in that country. She was in Norfolk visiting her mother when the First World War broke out in 1914. On hearing of the threat to Belgium, from the advancing German troops, she felt it was her duty to return to Brussels immediately.
*My 2023 Daily Reflection Books:
Backyard Almanac: 365 Days of Northern Nature (Weber, Stensaas, Gibbs)
Thoughtful Wisdom for Every Day: 365 Days of Love, Kindness, Healing, Faith, and Peace (Tolstoy)
365 Days of Walking the Red Road: The Native American Path to Leading a Spiritual Life Every Day (Terri Jean)
Daily Reflections for Highly Effective People (Covey)
The 4 Agreements sorting cards (Ruiz)
