“Endeavour to seek the truth in all things, to the extent permitted to human reason by God…

To know the mighty works of God, to comprehend His wisdom and majesty and power; to appreciate, in degree, the wonderful workings of His laws, surely all this must be a pleasing and acceptable mode of worship to the Most High, to whom ignorance cannot be more grateful than knowledge.”

Nicolaus Copernicus (1473 – 1543), born on this day

“Our soul must perform two duties.
The one is we must reverently wonder and be surprised;
the other is we must gently let go
and let be always taking pleasure in God.”

Julian of Norwich (c. 1343 – c. 1416), quoted in Christian Mystics by Matthew Fox

“It is quite impossible to unite happiness with a yearning for what we don’t have. Happiness has all that it wants, and resembling the well-fed, there shouldn’t be hunger or thirst.”

From the Discourses of Epictetus 3.24.17, Greek Stoic Philosopher (c. 50 – c. 135)

“As the stores close, a winter light
opens air to iris blue,
glint of frost through the smoke
grains of mica, salt of the sidewalk.
As the buildings close, released autonomous
feet pattern the streets
in hurry and stroll; balloon heads
drift and dive above them; the bodies
aren’t really there.
As the lights brighten, as the sky darkens,
a woman with crooked heels says to another woman
while they step along at a fair pace,
“You know, I’m telling you, what I love best
is life. I love life! Even if I ever get
to be old and wheezy—or limp! You know?
Limping along?—I’d still … ” Out of hearing.
To the multiple disordered tones
of gears changing, a dance
to the compass points, out, four-way river.
Prospect of sky
wedged into avenues, left at the ends of streets,
west sky, east sky: more life tonight! A range
of open time at winter’s outskirts.

February Evening in New York by Denise Levertov (1923 – 1997)

“Sooner or later we all discover that the important moments in life are not the advertised ones, not the birthdays, the graduations, the weddings, not the goals achieved. The real milestones are less prepossessing. They come to the door of memory unannounced, stray dogs that amble in, sniff around a bit and simply never leave. Our lives are measured by these.”

Susan B. Anthony (1920 – 1906), feminist and social reformer, born on this day, quoted in Fragments of Holiness for Daily Reflection

St Valentine’s Day

“A life without love is a waste. ‘Should I look for spiritual love, or material, or physical love?’, don’t ask yourself this question. Discrimination leads to discrimination. Love doesn’t need any name, category or definition. Love is a world itself. Either you are in, at the centre, or you are out, yearning.”

Shams Tabrizi (1185 – 1248)

“You ask why I make my home in the mountain forest,
and I smile, and am silent,
and even my soul remains quiet:
it lives in the other world
which no one owns.
The peach trees blossom.
The water flows.”

Li Po (701 – 762)

“Among the scenes which are deeply impressed on my mind, none exceed in sublimity the primeval [tropical] forests… temples filled with the varied productions of the God of Nature. No one can stand in these solitudes unmoved, and not feel that there is more in man than the mere breath of his body.”

Charles Darwin (1809 – 1882), born on this day

“As I walked out of the door towards the gate that would lead to my freedom, I knew if I didn’t leave my bitterness and hatred behind, I’d still be in prison.”

Nelson Mandela (1918 – 2013), released from prison on this day in 1990 after 27 years in gaol

“The space within us reaches out, translates each thing.
For the essence of a tree to be real for you,
cast inner space around it, out of the space
that exists in you. Encircle it with restraint.
It has no borders. Only in the realm
of your renouncing can it, as tree, be known.”

Rainer Maria Rilke (1875 – 1926)