I prefer the folly of enthusiasm to the indifference of wisdom.
quote by Anatole France
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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oH THE folly of Men
was it said
somewhere else
that Man's folly
is God's
wisdom?
could this be
the same as
Man's wisdom
is God's Folly?
Man is foolish
to love gold
God is wise
to love nothing.
poem by Ric S. Bastasa
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Folly
(For A. K. K.)
What distant mountains thrill and glow
Beneath our Lady Folly's tread?
Why has she left us, wise in woe,
Shrewd, practical, uncomforted?
We cannot love or dream or sing,
We are too cynical to pray,
There is no joy in anything
Since Lady Folly went away.
Many a knight and gentle maid,
Whose glory shines from years gone by,
Through ignorance was unafraid
And as a fool knew how to die.
Saint Folly rode beside Jehanne
And broke the ranks of Hell with her,
And Folly's smile shone brightly on
Christ's plaything, Brother Juniper.
Our minds are troubled and defiled
By study in a weary school.
O for the folly of the child!
The ready courage of the fool!
Lord, crush our knowledge utterly
And make us humble, simple men;
And cleansed of wisdom, let us see
Our Lady Folly's face again.
poem by Joyce Kilmer
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The Playmate
She is not Folly -- that I know.
Her steadfast eyelids tell me so
When, at the hour the lights divide,
She steals as summonsed to my side.
When, finger on the pursed lip
In secret, mirthful fellowship,
She, heralding new -- framed delights,
Breathes, "This shall be a Night of Nights!"
Then, out of Time and out of Space,
Is built an Hour and a Place
Where all an earnest, baffled Earth
Blunders and trips to make us mirth;
Whence from the trivial flux of Things,
Rise inconceived miscarryings,
Outrageous but immortal, shown,
Of Her great love, to me alone...
She is not Wisdom, but, maybe,
Wiser than all the Norns is She:
And more than Wisdom I prefer
To wait on Her, -- to wait on Her!
poem by Rudyard Kipling
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Time and Experience
I found the past in my present
I built the future on my past
I found the gift of today
When I thought about what
The future has to offer
Where is the wisdom in experience
If there is no folly in wisdom
What's the real meaning of death
If our spirits live forever
Times never change
But circumstances do
I'll let mystery play with the future
Surprises couple with the present
And experience mourn the past
Because sun always rises from the east
And each day always comes to an end
Experience is not chained to wisdom
Nor is folly tied to bad results
But to the circumstances that burden
Our past, present and future because
Time is always anxious for the future
Experience loves the present
And wisdom never divorces the past
poem by Benaiah Sondashi
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Indifference
Indifference is a blatant unkindness,
Far worse than anger and hatred.
With indifference you can get away
From victims, their anguish and miseries.
With indifference you can be well safe
From interruptions to your work and joy.
Neighbours are of no consequence
Nor are their lives meaningful.
Anger is creative; it brings changes.
Hatred is creative; it brings effects.
Indifference is not no-intrusion.
Indifference is destructive and inhuman.
06.10.2006
poem by Rm. Shanmugam Chettiar
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Possibilities
I prefer movies.
I prefer cats.
I prefer the oaks along the Warta.
I prefer Dickens to Dostoyevsky.
I prefer myself liking people
to myself loving mankind.
I prefer keeping a needle and thread on hand, just in case.
I prefer the color green.
I prefer not to maintain
that reason is to blame for everything.
I prefer exceptions.
I prefer to leave early.
I prefer talking to doctors about something else.
I prefer the old fine-lined illustrations.
I prefer the absurdity of writing poems
to the absurdity of not writing poems.
I prefer, where love's concerned, nonspecific anniversaries
that can be celebrated every day.
I prefer moralists
who promise me nothing.
I prefer cunning kindness to the over-trustful kind.
I prefer the earth in civvies.
I prefer conquered to conquering countries.
I prefer having some reservations.
I prefer the hell of chaos to the hell of order.
I prefer Grimms' fairy tales to the newspapers' front pages.
I prefer leaves without flowers to flowers without leaves.
I prefer dogs with uncropped tails.
I prefer light eyes, since mine are dark.
I prefer desk drawers.
I prefer many things that I haven't mentioned here
to many things I've also left unsaid.
I prefer zeroes on the loose
to those lined up behind a cipher.
I prefer the time of insects to the time of stars.
I prefer to knock on wood.
I prefer not to ask how much longer and when.
I prefer keeping in mind even the possibility
that existence has its own reason for being.
poem by Wislawa Szymborska
Submitted by Veronica Serbanoiu
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Insecurities Not Faced
I am not into the hide and seek business.
No...
Not me.
I prefer to be confronted,
By those with wisdom...
And an experienced maturity.
Insecurities not faced,
And protected to defend...
Will not become my reason to feel,
I need to walk softly on eggshells...
Around those with emotions,
Hidden like children to prevent their tantrums.
I am not into the hide and seek business.
No...
Not me.
I prefer to be confronted,
By those with wisdom...
And an experienced maturity.
I try to stay away,
From those who thrive on delusions...
As a means to keep realities defeated.
I'd rather be around those who tell it like it is.
Than to hear from those who gossip about...
Who said what to someone else,
That offended and left them in tears.
It has been many aging years since I had been a kid!
poem by Lawrence S. Pertillar
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The opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference. The opposite of beauty is not ugliness, it's indifference. The opposite of faith is not heresy, it's indifference. And the opposite of life is not death, but indifference between life and death.
quote by Elie Wiesel
Submitted by Simona Enache
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Indifference Is More Painful
indifference is more painful
you are there
unseen by the subject of your affections
you are nothing but an empty space
an air
that cannot even sway a stem of the flower
i prefer being hated
at least, my existence is confirmed
by your angry words
your violence.
poem by Ric S. Bastasa
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Choices
i prefer smooth peanut butter
to crunchy
mind you
crunchy is all right
but i prefer smooth.
i prefer strawberry jam
to raspberry
mind you
raspberry is tasty
but it's got all those seeds
and i prefer strawberry.
i prefer mustard
to mayonaisse
mind you mayonaisse has it's place
amongst condiments
but is likely to go bad
if left out to long
and poison everyone
so on the whole i prefer mustard.
i prefer cooked meat
to raw meat
for much the same reason
as i prefer mustard to mayonaisse
although it also has to do
with the fact that i don't
like my meat to bleat
or moo or make chicken noises (BAGOCK!)
when i eat
so i tend to avoid the raw
though mind you
the meat that i prefer
may at some time have been raw.
i prefer not to say
why i think so
but i do
and i suppose it's all
just a matter of taste
so if you'd prefer to think so
then crunchy is better
than smooth
even if it does interfere
with the texture of the
peanut butter
and jelly (strawberry) sandwich
which ought to be somewhat
devoid of substance
merely a sticky sweet something
to fill your stomach
put mayonaisse on it
if you like
i'd prefer not to think about it.
poem by Laura Sewell
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No Memo From You Did I Receive
What would 'you' prefer?
That I pretend I am not a writer,
With an interest that is expressed.
Or would you prefer I stay within boundaries,
Your mind has restricted to your limitedness?
Or would you prefer,
I reflect more of what you suspect I should be?
And would your suspicions have their development,
Centered from your perceptions?
Either way,
No memo from you did I receive.
And I admit,
Guessing is not what I do best.
And the only tests I 'prefer' to pass,
Are my own.
poem by Lawrence S. Pertillar
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Enthusiasm is followed by disappointment and even depression, and then by renewed enthusiasm.
quote by Murray Gell Mann
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Much of the wisdom of one age, is the folly of the next.
quote by Charles Simmons
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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The Lower Room
How soft the lamplight falls
On pictures, books,
And pleasant coloured walls
And curtains drawn!
How happily one looks
On glowing flame and ember;
Ah, why should one remember
Dew and dawn!
Here age and wisdom sit
Calm and discreet,
Life and the fruit of it
Are here in truth,
Whose gathering once was sweet--
Wisdom and age! Well met!
Yet neither can forget
Folly and youth!
poem by Edith Nesbit
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The whole mystery of temptation is to have sins suggested to us, and to be swept after them by a sudden enthusiasm, which sometimes feels as strong as the Spirit of God ever made in us the enthusiasm for virtue.
quote by George A. Smith
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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To keep your secret is wisdom; but to expect others to keep it is folly.
quote by Samuel Johnson
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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