Thursday, August 16, 2007

The Fur

Be soft. Do not let the world make you hard. Do not let the pain make you hate. Do not let the bitterness steal your sweetness. Take pride that even though the rest of the world may disagree, you still believe it to be a beautiful place.

34 comments:

TheHyrax said...

i love this one so much.

Anonymous said...

I fear being hard, wish I was as soft as a kitten.

Anonymous said...

This is wonderful... your blog is a treasure trove!

Anonymous said...

I left my mark, scratching my feelings onto bark. They were not meant to hurt bark or heart, but they did. Sometimes it's hard to stay soft and inward without feeling vulnerable.

TheisZone said...

I try but I get angry too easily.
It is the only way.

Me said...

Thank you for your kind words and thoughts.

KLinh said...

I found your blog today, it makes me surprised and happy to read your posts. You're very creative and smart.
I love this one. In the middle of sadness and confusion, I think I'm encouraged to keep on believing and never give up.
It might be funny but just like a lot of others, I'm really curious about you ;)
Good luck!

klara said...

Could be my life philosophy.

The Lack of Eloquence said...

I smile when I think of how popular this quote has become. Spreading love and optimism over hate and intolerance, even in a small way, is a great feat.

Me said...

I have few favorites in my own work but this is one of them, thank you.

Anonymous said...

Is this where this quote originated? It's the earliest instance of it that I can find online but it's usually attributed to Kurt Vonnegut for some reason.

Me said...

It's an honour to have something I wrote attributed to Kurt Vonnegut. I don't mind.

Miss Philosophy said...

I won't let the bitterness steal my sweetness. Lazy like a cat.

Sabine said...

so this isn't a quote by kurt vonnegut? whew, i was about to quote "him", LOL Good thing I did my research. I'm still going to use the quote, but attributing it to its rightful author, you! :)

Andrew W. Douglass said...

You are humble but I'll try to give Google a hint: Quote misattributed to Vonnegut. Not Vonnegut. Quote misattributed to Vonnegut. Not Vonnegut. Quote misattributed to Vonnegut. Not Vonnegut. Quote misattributed to Vonnegut. Not Vonnegut. Quote misattributed to Vonnegut. Not Vonnegut. Quote misattributed to Vonnegut. Not Vonnegut.

Anonymous said...

This is beautiful...I'm sharing it with people, I guess I will give credit to a blogger who wishes to remain anonymous and goes by the tag of "The Fur"...?

Rakhi said...

lain, I really still believe it to be beautiful. I still want to believe that there are plenty of reasons for me to live. But it's becoming increasingly difficult to believe. Hold on for me. Even if I can't.

Anonymous said...

Not trying to hate but this is a quote by Kurt Vonnegut is it not?

Susan Wilson said...

Love this quote, and no, it is not Kurt Vonnegut's; I had also first seen it attributed to him, and thought he's too harsh an author to have written it; after researching a little, I found the "misattributed" statement in Wikiquotes, on the Kurt Vonnegut page, with the rightful author and link to the page.

alainsane said...

I'll disagree that Vonnegut was "too harsh an author" to have written this. It was because of a censorship letter he wrote to a school board and a letter he wrote to another school's students that I believed this quote could have been his. Here are some excerpts from those letters:

Censorship letter
"[my books] are not sexy, and do not argue in favor of wildness of any kind. They beg that people be kinder and more responsible than they often are. It is true that some of the characters speak coarsely. That is because people speak coarsely in real life. Especially soldiers and hardworking men speak coarsely, and even our most sheltered children know that. And we all know, too, that those words really don’t damage children much. They didn’t damage us when we were young. It was evil deeds and lying that hurt us."

and...

"Practice any art, music, singing, dancing, acting, drawing, painting, sculpting, poetry, fiction, essays, reportage, no matter how well or badly, not to get money and fame, but to experience becoming, to find out what's inside you, to make your soul grow."

Regardless of the incorrect attribution and the reasonableness of believing it, it's a beautiful quote, and my wife and I are glad to have been reminded of these simple truths.

Unknown said...

My favorite <3

Unknown said...

My favorite <3

Unknown said...

Thank You.

Vera said...

I saw this quote for the first time this morning but it was attributed to Vonnegut. I'm glad I did my homework before creating an image and misattributing it to Vonnegut.
Love your blog I'll peruse it often :)

Anonymous said...

This is a quote from Vonnegut: "Those who write on Heaven’s walls
should mold their shit in little balls.
And those who read these lines of wit
Should eat these little balls of shit."
This surely sounds like something Vonnegut would write. He would deffinitely appreciate the irony

kevin said...

Love this quote. Thank you!

Anonymous said...

Still one of my favourite after all these years.

Leonard Dixon said...

A couple of knowledgeable sources say this quote is by Iain Thomas.

Me said...

It is, I know mainly because I am Iain Thomas and this is my blog.

Leonard Dixon said...

Ah - excellent - thanks! Some friends on Facebook had been posting your quote as being by KV, and I've been giving your name as the true author.
I will explore your blog...

Anonymous said...

Thank you, Iain. My morning mantra...

Unknown said...

Wonderful!
Thank You so much for writing this. Appeared like a magic in my life, just when I needed to hear it :)

Sending you Love xxx

Angel said...

Thank you for this.

suzzieburke said...

Really needed this today.