Portrait of Count Alexey G. Bobrinsky as a child – by Fyodor S. Rokotov – c.mid-1760s. Count Alexey G. Bobrinsky (1762-1813) was the illegitimate son of Catherine II (the Great) and Count Grigory G. Orlov. I praise loudly. I blame softly. The more a man knows, the more he forgives. Power without a nation's confidence is nothing. In politics a capable ruler must be guided by circumstances, conjectures and conjunctions. A great wind is blowing, and that gives you either imagination or a headache. I beg you take courage; the brave soul can mend even disaster. I shall be an autocrat, that's my trade; and the good Lord will forgive me, that's his. I may be kindly, I am...
'And can all the flowers talk?'
'As well as you can,' said the tiger-lily.
'And a great deal louder.'
from Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking Glass (1871)
Still Life with Flowers in a Glass Vase, Jan Davidsz. de Heem, 1650 - 1683
I can't help but drink in the beauty. Narcissus, caterpillars, droplets of water, a butterfly, a poppy, roses, peas, carnations, morning glory, tulips and the painted reflection of a distorted window with blue sky and clouds in the glass vase. Truly exquisite!
Nobel Lecture December 7, 1993 Listen to an audio recording of Toni Morrison’s Nobel Lecture “Once upon a time there was an old woman. Blind but wise.” Or was it an old man? A guru, perhaps. Or a griot soothing restless children. I have heard this story, or one exactly like it, in the lore of several cultures. “Once upon a time there was an old woman. Blind. Wise.” In the version I know the woman is the daughter of slaves, black, American, and lives alone in a small house outside of town. Her reputation for wisdom is without peer and without question. Among her people she is both the law and its transgression. The honor she is paid and...
