Good morning, Galway!

La danse de Zorba, Dalida

Irish Fairy Tales I, James Stephens

"The light blinded me, the heat tormented me, the dry air made me shrivel and gasp; and, as he lay on the grass, the great salmon whirled his desperate nose once more to the river, and leaped, leaped, leaped, even under the mountain of air. He could leap upwards, but not forwards, and yet he leaped, for in each rise he could see the twinkling waves, the rippling and curling waters."

"We get wise by asking questions, and even if these are not answered we get wise, for a well-packed question carries its answer on its back as a snail carries its shell."

"..he delighted in dogs, and he knew everything about them from the setting of the first little white tooth to the rocking of the last long yellow one. He knew the affections and antipathies which are proper in a dog; the degree of obedience to which dogs may be trained without losing their honourable qualities or becoming servile and suspicious; he knew the hopes that animate them, the apprehensions which tingle in their blood, and all that is to be demanded from, or forgiven in, a paw, an ear, a nose, an eye, or a tooth; and he understood these things because he loved dogs, for it is by love alone that we understand anything."

On beauty, Umberto Eco

"..in these matters practice is better than theory, thus I shall not bother to explain my knowledge in detail: 'a word is enough to the wise'." 

De arte illuminandi, Unknown author, fourteenth century 

"Those who give themselves over to learning and pondering over difficult things will have little trouble with simpler tasks. For nothing is ever so difficult that it may not be gained through study and application."

On painting, Leon Battista Alberti, 1435 

"Parisian ladies organised salons and took part, in no secondary role, in the debates that were carried on therein, foreshadowing the Revolutionary Clubs but also following a fashion that already begun in the previous century, with the conversations in the salons of the nature of love. ..through these discussions the conviction began to gain ground - and this is the contribution of women to modern philosophy - that sentiments are not merely a perturbation of the mind, but express, together with reason and sensibility, a third faculty of humankind."

"Dandyism is first and foremost a burning desire to create an original look, on the edge of society's conventional limits. It is sort of cult for oneself, which can do without the pursuit of that happiness one finds in others, in women, for example: a cult that can do without all that we call illusions. It is the pleasure to be had in causing others to marvel, and the satisfaction to be had in never marvelling at anything oneself." 

The painter of modern life, Charles Baudelaire, 1869

Michael Torke's 'July', Amstel Quartet

La France, Camille

L'injustice, Garou