Ernest Hemingway in Paris
The oasis in the life of many Europeans is the local café…a place to unwind with a café au lait and engage in conversation with friends, colleagues and family. It is part of the daily regimen, like taking a walk in the park or riding the Metro to work.
These simple acts of everyday life in two major European cities – Paris and Brussels – were abruptly stopped in 2015 and now in 2016 through brutal terrorist attacks. In both cases, the world stood in solidarity with France and Belgium.
Many of the world’s most creative minds in literature, art, poetry, photography, theatre, music, philosophy and politics have met at intimate European cafés, in cities like Paris and Brussels, to exchange news of the day, opinions and world views.
What words of wisdom would these luminaries share, to console the world in its grief? Their timeless quotes represent the strength of the human spirit.
“The world breaks everyone, and afterward, some are strong at the broken places.” Ernest Hemingway
“One must think like a hero to behave like a merely decent human being.” May Sarton
“Only divine love bestows the keys of knowledge.”
Arthur Rimbaud
“Love is the greatest refreshment in life.” Pablo Picasso
“Total war is no longer war waged by all members of one national community against all those of another. It is total…because it may well involve the whole world.”
Jean-Paul Sartre
“Art evokes the mystery without which the world would not exist.” René Magritte
“Defending the truth is not something one does out of a sense of duty or to allay guilt complexes, but is a reward in itself.” Simone de Beauvoir
“If you ask me what I came into this life to do, I will tell you: I came to live out loud.” Emile Zola
“What is love? It is the morning and the evening star.” Sinclair Lewis
“When a work appears to be ahead of its time, it is only the time that is behind the work.” Jean Cocteau
“Art is not what you see, but what you make others see.” Edgar Degas
“Vitality shows in not only the ability to persist but the ability to start over.” F. Scott Fitzgerald
“Those who weep recover more quickly than those who smile.” Jean Giraudoux
“The depth and strength of a human character are defined by its moral reserves. People reveal themselves completely only when they are thrown out of the customary conditions of their life, for only then do they have to fall back on their reserves.” Leon Trotsky
“Genius…is the capacity to see ten things where the ordinary man sees one.” Ezra Pound
“Action and reaction are equal and opposite.”
Gertrude Stein
Don’t sit in isolation. Join the world in conversation. Search for and find compassion, humility, joy, beauty, and happiness. Pablo Picasso said, “The purpose of art is washing the dust of daily life off our souls.” Art in any form provides an oasis to us. Visit a favorite café or discover a new one, sit in silence admiring a Monet or Magritte painting at a museum, or engage in spirited dialogue with friends or strangers. Engaging, thoughtful conversation activates the healing process.