Sonnet 38 by William Shakespeare

Sonnet 38

by William Shakespeare

How can my Muse want subject to invent,
While thou dost breathe, that pour'st into my verse
Thine own sweet argument, too excellent
For every vulgar paper to rehearse?
O, give thyself the thanks, if aught in me
Worthy perusal stand against thy sight;
For who's so dumb that cannot write to thee,
When thou thyself dost give invention light?
Be thou the tenth Muse, ten times more in worth
Than those old nine which rhymers invocate;
And he that calls on thee, let him bring forth
Eternal numbers to outlive long date.
If my slight Muse do please these curious days,
The pain be mine, but thine shall be the praise.

Quote

 “Pain is temporary. Quitting lasts forever.” - Lance Armstrong -

Quote

 “Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.” - Winston Churchill -

Quote

“Failures are finger posts on the road to achievement.” - C.S. Lewis -

Quote

“There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: the fear of failure.” - Paulo Coelho -

Macbeth

Title: Macbeth

Author: William Shakespeare

Rating: ★★☆☆☆

Age Category: Young Adult/Adult

    One of Shakespeare's most well-known tragedies, Macbeth is an interesting play depicting a ruthless Scottish Thane and the risks he's willing to take to become king.

Quote

“I'd rather be partly great than entirely useless.” - Neal Shusterman -

Sonnet 42 by William Shakespeare

Sonnet 42

by William Shakespeare

That thou hast her, it is not all my grief,
And yet it may be said I loved her dearly;
That she hath thee, is of my wailing chief,
A loss in love that touches me more nearly.
Loving offenders, thus I will excuse ye:
Thou dost love her, because thou knowst I love her;
And for my sake even so doth she abuse me,
Suffering my friend for my sake to approve her.
If I lose thee, my loss is my love's gain,
And losing her, my friend hath found that loss;
Both find each other, and I lose both twain,
And both for my sake lay on me this cross:
But here's the joy; my friend and I are one;
Sweet flattery! then she loves but me alone.

Quote

“Success is stumbling from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm.” - Winston Churchill -

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“We are all failures - at least the best of us are.” - J.M. Barrie -

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“The only real mistake is the one from which we learn nothing.” - Henry Ford -

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"I listened more than I studied... thus, little by little my knowledge and ability were developed." - Franz Joseph Haydn -

Adventures of Little Bear

Title: Adventures of Little Bear

Author: Else Holmelund Minarik

Illustrator: Maurice Sendak

Rating: ★★★★★

Age Category: Children's Literature

    Back Cover Synopsis: 

    Wanted: One Little Bear for hours of cozy reading!

    "Little Bear has endeared himself as a character with irresistible, childlike charm." - The Horn Book

Julius Caesar

Title: Julius Caesar

Author: William Shakespeare

Rating: ★⯪☆☆☆

Age Category: Young Adult/Adult

    A dramatic retelling of history, Shakespeare puts a new spin on the story of the death of Caesar and the end of the Roman Republic.

Quote

"Music... can name the unnameable and communicate the unknowable." - Leonard Bernstein -

Sonnet 47 by William Shakespeare

Sonnet 47

by William Shakespeare

Betwixt mine eye and heart a league is took,
And each doth good turns now unto the other:
When that mine eye is famish'd for a look,
Or heart in love with sighs himself doth smother,
With my love's picture then my eye doth feast
And to the painted banquet bids my heart;
Another time mine eye is my heart's guest
And in his thoughts of love doth share a part:
So, either by thy picture or my love,
Thyself away art resent still with me;
For thou not farther than my thoughts canst move,
And I am still with them and they with thee;
Or, if they sleep, thy picture in my sight
Awakes my heart to heart's and eye's delight.

Quote

"To send light into the darkness of men's hearts - such is the duty of the artist." - Robert Schumann -

Quote

"Such sweet compulsion doth in music lie,

To lull the daughters of Necessity, 

And keep unsteady Nature to her law,

And the low world in measured motion draw

After the heavenly tune."

 

- John Milton -

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"[Music is] an agreeable harmony for the honor of God and the permissible delights of the soul. - Johann Sebastian Bach -

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"Without craftsmanship, inspiration is a mere reed shaken in the wind." - Johannes Brahms -

The Goose Girl

Title: The Goose Girl

Author: Shannon Hale

Rating: ★★★★★

Age Category: Young Adult

    Back Cover Synopsis: 

      Some people are born with the first word of a language resting on their tongue, though it may take some time before they can taste it.

    Anidori-Kiladra Talianna Isilee, Crown Princess of Kildenree, spends the first years of her life listening to her aunt's stories and learning the language of birds, especially swans. As she grows up, Anid evelops the skill of animal speech, but she never feels quite comfortable speaking with people. 

    So when Ani's mother sends her away to be married in a foreign land, she finds herself at the mercy of her silver-tongued lady in waiting, who leads a mutiny that leaves her alone, destitute, and fleeing for her life. To survive, Ani takes on work as a royal goose girl, hiding in plain sight while she develops her forbidden talents and works to discover her own true, powerful voice. 

Quote

"A Quality

 Which music sometimes has, being the Art

 Which is most nigh to tears and memory." 

 - Oscar Wilde -

Sonnet 10 by William Shakespeare

Sonnet 10

by William Shakespeare

For shame! deny that thou bear'st love to any,

Who for thyself art so unprovident.

Grant, if thou wilt, thou art beloved of many,

But that thou none lovest is most evident;

For thou art so possess'd with murderous hate

That 'gainst thyself thou stick'st not to conspire.

Seeking that beauteous roof to ruinate

Which to repair should be thy chief desire.

O, change thy thought, that I may change my mind!

Shall hate be fairer lodged than gentle love?

Be, as thy presence is, gracious and kind,

Or to thyself at least kind-hearted prove:

Make thee another self, for love of me,

That beauty still may live in thine or thee.

Quote

“The best road to progress is freedom’s road.” – John F. Kennedy – 

Quote

 "The rotation of the universe and the motion of the planets could neither begin nor continue without music... for everything is ordered... according to the laws of harmony." - Attributed to Plutarch -

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"Nothing exists without music; for the universe itself is said to have been framed by a kind of harmony of sounds, and the heaven itself revolves under the tones of that harmony." - Isidore of Seville -

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“We do not enjoy a story fully at the first reading. Not till the curiosity, the sheer narrative lust, has been given its sop and laid asleep, are we at leisure to savour the real beauties. Till then, it is like wasting great wine on a ravenous natural thirst which merely wants cold wetness.” – C.S. Lewis – 

Our Lady of Guadalupe

Title: Our Lady of Guadalupe

Author: Carmen T. Bernier-Grand

Illustrator: Tonya Engel

Rating: ★★★★★

Age Category: Children's Books

    A lovely retelling of Juan Diego and what happened at Guadalupe almost 500 years ago.

Quote

 "Most people use music as a couch; they want to be pillowed on it, relaxed and consoled for the stress of daily living. But serious music was never meant to be soporific." - Aaron Copland -

Sonnet 40 by William Shakespeare

Sonnet 40

by William Shakespeare

Take all my loves, my love, yea, take them all;
What hast thou then more than thou hadst before?
No love, my love, that thou mayst true love call;
All mine was thine before thou hadst this more.
Then if for my love thou my love receivest,
I cannot blame thee for my love thou usest;
But yet be blamed, if thou thyself deceivest
By wilful taste of what thyself refusest.
I do forgive thy robbery, gentle thief,
Although thou steal thee all my poverty;
And yet, love knows, it is a greater grief
To bear love's wrong than hate's known injury.
Lascivious grace, in whom all ill well shows,
Kill me with spites; yet we must not be foes.

Quote

 "I used to think that music was like lace up on a garment, nice to have but not necessary. I have come to believe that music is absolutely essential to our community life." - George Eastman - 

Quote

"If I were not a physicist, I would probably be a musician. I often think in music. I live my daydreams in music. I see my life in terms of music. - Albert Einstein -