Monday, December 22, 2014

Samuel

Dear Valeria,

Ever tried. Ever failed. 
No matter. 
Try Again. Fail again. Fail better.

Big hug,

Samuel Beckett

Saturday, December 20, 2014

Carl

Dear Valeria,

Science is not only compatible with spirituality; it is a profound source of spirituality. When we recognize our place in an immensity of light-years and in the passage of ages, when we grasp the intricacy, beauty, and subtlety of life, then that soaring feeling, that sense of elation and humility combined, is surely spiritual.

If you want to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe,

Carl Sagan

Wednesday, December 17, 2014

Dorothy

Dear Valeria,

In reaction against the age-old slogan, "woman is the weaker vessel," or the still more offensive, "woman is a divine creature," we have, I think, allowed ourselves to drift into asserting that "a woman is as good as a man," without always pausing to think what exactly we mean by that. What, I feel, we ought to mean is something so obvious that it is apt to escape attention altogether, viz: (...) that a woman is just as much an ordinary human being as a man, with the same individual preferences, and with just as much right to the tastes and preferences of an individual. What is repugnant to every human being is to be reckoned always as a member of a class and not as an individual person.

yours,

Dorothy L. Sayers

Saturday, December 13, 2014

Frances

Dear Valeria,

I dare say you marvel sometimes at my independent way of walking through the world just as if nature had made me of your sex instead of poor Eve's. Trust me, my beloved friend, the mind has no sex but what habit and education give it, and I who was thrown in infancy upon the world like a wreck upon the waters have learned, as well to struggle with the elements as any male child of Adam.

Yours faithfully,

Frances Wright

Tuesday, December 9, 2014

Sōseki

Valeria San,

Nobody can be angry and write a Hokku at the same time. Likewise, if you are crying, express your tears in seventeen syllables and you feel happy. No sooner are your thoughts down on paper, than all connection between you and the pain which caused you to cry is severed, and your only feeling is one of happiness that you are a man capable of shedding tears.

sincerely,

Natsume Sōseki

Friday, December 5, 2014

Wolfgang Amadeus

Dear Valeria,

All I insist on, and nothing else, is that you should show the whole world that you are not afraid. Be silent, if you choose; but when it is necessary, speak—and speak in such a way that people will remember it.

Yours,


Tuesday, December 2, 2014

Edmond

Dear Valeria,

My heart always timidly hides itself behind my mind. I set out to bring down stars from the sky, then, for fear of ridicule, I stop and pick little flowers of eloquence.

Yours faithfully,

Edmond Rostand