The lark that shuns on lofty boughs to build, Her humble nest, lies silent in the field.
Edmund WallerRead
Music so softens and disarms the mind That not an arrow does resistance find.
Interpretation
Music has the power to soothe and disarm even the most resistant minds.
This quote suggests that music possesses a remarkable ability to calm the mind, making it open and receptive. It highlights the transformative nature of music, implying that it can affect emotions and thoughts in a way that disarms our defenses, allowing us to experience vulnerability and connection.
In practice
In a speech about the healing powers of art, one could use this quote to emphasize how music can comfort us.
The lark that shuns on lofty boughs to build, Her humble nest, lies silent in the field.
Could we forbear dispute, and practise love,_x000D_ _x000D_ We should agree as angels do above.
All human things Of dearest value hang on slender strings.
The chain that's fixed to the throne of Jove, On which the fabric of our world depends, One link dissolved, the whole creation ends.
The soul's dark cottage, batter'd and decay'd, Lets in new light through chinks that Time has made. Stronger by weakness, wiser men become As they draw near to their eternal home: Leaving the old, both worlds at once they view That stand upon the threshold of the new.
Vexed sailors cursed the rain, for which poor shepherds prayed in vain.
The pen is the language of the soul; as the concepts that in it are generated, such will be its writings.
Meanwhile, let us have a sip of tea. The afternoon glow is brightening the bamboos, the fountains are bubbling with delight, the soughing of the pines is heard in our kettle. Let us dream of evanescence, and linger in the beautiful foolishness of things.
All beauty comes from beautiful blood and a beautiful brain.
Art is born when the temporary touches the eternal.
Every story has already been told. Once you've read Anna Karenina, Bleak House, The Sound and the Fury, To Kill a Mockingbird and A Wrinkle in Time, you understand that there is really no reason to ever write another novel. Except that each writer brings to the table, if she will let herself, something that no one else in the history of time has ever had.
Being Doctor Who, I used to look at the clock and know at half past four we were going to stop rehearsing - and that was a sad moment for me because I wanted to stay in this beautiful, unreal world.
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