L'âme en Fleur - Victor Hugo

Victor Hugo (1802-1885)

L'âme en Fleur

Chanson (L'âme en Fleur) ---------- /// ---------- Si vous n'avez rien à me dire, Pourquoi venir auprès de moi? Pourquoi me faire ce sourire Qui tournerait la tête au roi? Si vous n'avez rien à me dire, Pourquoi venir auprès de moi? Si vous n'avez rien à m'apprendre, Pourquoi me pressez-vous la main? Sur le rêve angélique et tendre, Auquel vous songez en chemin, Si vous n'avez rien à m'apprendre, Pourquoi me pressez-vous la main? Si vous voulez que je m'en aille, Pourquoi passez-vous par ici? Lorsque je vous vois, je tressaille : C'est ma joie et c'est mon souci. Si vous voulez que je m'en aille, Pourquoi passez-vous par ici?

Song (The Soul in Flower) ---------- /// ---------- If you have nothing to say to me, why did you come to me? Why give me this smile that would turn a king's head? If you have nothing to say to me, why come to me? If you have nothing to tell me, why press my hand? On angelic and tender dreams, that you dream along the way, if you have nothing to teach me, why press my hand? If you want me to go, why are you passing this way? When I see you, I tremble: It is my joy and it is my concern. If you want me to go, why are you passing this way?

Essentials for Knowledge - James Mangan

Excerpted from "You Can Do Anything!", by James Mangan

READ What you read is important, but not all important. How you read is the main consideration. For if you know how to read, there’s a world of education even in the newspapers, the magazines, on a single billboard or a stray advertising dodger. The secret of good reading is this: read critically! Believe nothing till it’s understood, till it’s clearly proven.

WRITE To know it — write it! If you’re writing to explain, you’re explaining it to yourself! If you’re writing to inspire, you’re inspiring yourself! If you’re writing to record, you’re recording it on your own memory.

LISTEN You have a pair of ears — use them! When the other man talks, give him a chance. Pay attention. If you listen you may hear something useful to you. If you listen you may receive a warning that is worth following. If you listen, you may earn the respect of those whose respect you prize.

OBSERVE Keep your eyes open. There are things happening, all around you, all the time. There are only two kinds of experience: the experience of ourselves and the experience of others. Our own experience is slow, labored, costly, and often hard to bear. The experience of others is a ready-made set of directions on knowledge and life. Observe! Especially the good man, the valorous deed. Observe the winner that you yourself may strive to follow that winning example and learn the scores of different means and devices that make success possible. Observe! Observe the loser that you may escape his mistakes, avoid the pitfalls that dragged him down. Observe the listless, indifferent, neutral people who do nothing, know nothing, are nothing. Observe them and then differ from them.

* Source: Brain Pickings ... http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/page/15/