darwi odrade quotes

Our household god is this thing we carry forward generation after generation:
our message for humankind if it matures. The closest thing we have to a
household goddess is a failed Reverend Mother -- Chenoeh there in her niche.

-Darwi Odrade

Making workable choices occurs in a crucible of informative mistakes. Thus
Intelligence accepts fallibility. And when absolute (infallible) choices are
not known, Intelligence takes chances with limited data in an arena where
mistakes are not only possible but also necessary.

-Darwi Odrade

Confine yourself to observing and you always miss the point of your own life.
The object can be stated this way: Live the best life you can. Life is a game
whose rules you learn if you leap into it and play it to the hilt. Otherwise,
you are caught off balance, continually surprised by the shifting play.
Non-players often whine and complain that luck always passes them by. They
refuse to see that they can create some of their own luck.

-Darwi Odrade

The best art imitates life in a compelling way. If it imitates a dream, it
must be a dream of life. Otherwise, there is no place where we can connect.
Our plugs don't fit.

-Darwi Odrade

Concealed behind strong barriers the heart becomes ice.

-Darwi Odrade, Argument in Council

Give me the judgment of balanced minds in preference to laws every time. Codes
and manuals create patterned behavior. All patterned behavior tends to go
unquestioned, gathering destructive momentum.

-Darwi Odrade

Major flaws in government arise from a fear of making radical internal changes
even though a need is clearly seen.

-Darwi Odrade

They say Mother Superior can disregard nothing -- a meaningless aphorism until
you grasp its other significance: I am the servant of all my Sisters. They
watch their servant with critical eyes. I cannot spend too much time on
generalities nor on trivia. Mother Superior must display insightful action
else a sense of disquiet penetrates to the farthest corners of our order.

-Darwi Odrade

When you think to take determination of your fate into your own hands, that is
the moment you can be crushed. Be cautious. Allow for surprises. When we
create, there are always other forces at work.

-Darwi Odrade

We witness a passing phase of eternity. Important things happen but some
people never notice. Accidents intervene. You are not present at episodes.
You depend on reports. And people shutter their minds. What good are reports?
History in a news account? Preselected at an editorial conference, digested
and excreted by prejudice? Accounts you need seldom come from those who make
history. Diaries, memoirs and autobiographies are subjective forms of special
pleading. Archives are crammed with such suspect stuff.

-Darwi Odrade

There's no secret to balance. You just have to feel the waves.

-Darwi Odrade