the first book of jazz
written by langston hughes
illustrated by cliff roberts
music by david martin
published in 1954, it was the first children’s book to review american music.
Sometimes I feel like I should lower my expectations.
Maybe if I lower my expectations then someone might actually meet them. I’m not talking about standards. I realize that I really hate disappointing people, but I also hate people disappointing me. Maybe I shouldn’t expect anything from anyone at all. Maybe then I’ll be able to avoid this feeling.
The thing that is really hard, and really amazing, is giving up on being perfect and beginning the work of becoming yourself.
“
| — | Anna Quindlen (via girlwithoutwings) |
Beethoven, he learned, was a proud man who believed absolutely in his own abilities and never bothered to flatter the nobility. Believing that art itself, and the proper expression of emotions, was the most sublime thing in the world, he thought political power and wealth served only one purpose: to make art possible.
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| — | Haruki Murakami | Kafka on the Shore (via blogut) |
Buy a blank notebook. Draw a huge heart on the cover. Don’t write anything negative in here. If you need another outlet, make a separate notebook. This one is all about love, personal growth, and getting back up. Fill it with beautiful images, reaffirming thoughts, and quotes. Write in it every day, and each day write one thing you’re grateful for in your life.
“
| — | Kim: Advice from a Mermaid in a Manhole (via julie911) |
We mistake sex for romance. Guys are taught that pushing a girl up against a wall is romance. Sex is easy; you can do it with anyone, yourself, with batteries. Romance is when someone you like walks into a room and they take your breath away. Romance is when two people are dancing and they fit together perfectly. Romance is when two people are walking next to each other and all of a sudden they find themselves holding hands, and they don’t know how that happened.
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| — | John C. Moffi (via implicities) |
I don’t want to hurt you, but I don’t think I like you anymore. Something inside me ruins all my relationships. Because whenever I get too close to someone, the feelings always disappear. And after they leave, the feelings always come back.
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| — | (via wordsandlyrics) |
Maybe chance is a pretty common thing after all. Those kinds of coincidences are happening all around us, all the time, but most of them don’t attract our attention and we just let them go by. It’s like fireworks in the daytime. You might hear a faint sound, but even if you look up at the sky you can’t see a thing. But if we’re really hoping something may come true it may become visible, like a message rising to the surface. Then we’re able to make it out clearly, decipher what it means. And seeing it before us we’re surprised and wonder at how strange things like this can happen. Even though there’s nothing strange about it.
“
| — | Haruki Murakami |
