Portland Vase/life Story

Famous quotes containing the words portland, vase, life and/or story:

    It is said that a carpenter building a summer hotel here ... declared that one very clear day he picked out a ship coming into Portland Harbor and could distinctly see that its cargo was West Indian rum. A county historian avers that it was probably an optical delusion, the result of looking so often through a glass in common use in those days.
    —For the State of New Hampshire, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)

    We must rest here, for this is where the teacher comes.
    On his desk stands a vase of tears.
    John Ashbery (b. 1927)

    One of the sad realities of being a parent is that the same stuff you know is exciting, educational, and enriching in your child’s life is often messy, smelly and exhausting to deal with.
    Joyce Maynard (20th century)

    Civilization is a stream with banks. The stream is sometimes filled with blood from people killing, stealing, shouting and doing the things historians usually record, while on the banks, unnoticed, people build homes, make love, raise children, sing songs, write poetry and even whittle statues. The story of civilization is the story of what happened on the banks. Historians are pessimists because they ignore the banks for the river.
    Will Durant (1885–1981)