Writing on the Wall

I'm a sucker for short, meaningful statements. No Reader's Digest is safe from my attentions as I rummage through for all those little pithy bits they use to fill in the spaces.

Sometimes they're great: sometimes not so great.

Yesterday, I was working Somewhere in Yorkshire and it had little sentences on the walls, like pictures. Rather boringly presented, I must say, but nonetheless interesting.


These two had John Ruskin and Walt Disney next to each other: an unlikely pairing, on the face of it.

I'll come back to these two. A bit further along, I found:

You must be the change you wish to see in the world. - Mahatma Gandhi

It is what we think we know already that often prevents us from learning. - Claude Bernard

Well, I've heard of Gandhi, of course, and I've even seen Richard Attenborough's excellent film. And I liked the quotation - good point, Mr Gandhi.

Claude Bernard was a famous French scientist and I knew nothing about him, though I know a bit more now I've Googled him. I think old Claude is right, though: I think that's true of many of us - it certainly is of me. And I have always remembered this frank exchange of views from when I was teaching:

Daphne: "There's another r in February. You've put Febuary."

Adolescent girl: "That's right, Miss."

Daphne: "No, you need another r. It's February, not Febuary."

Adolescent girl: (dismissively) "Well, I always spells it like that, Miss."

And back to Walt Disney, above:

All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them - Walt Disney

Well, Walt, I wish it were true, but it just isn't. Two seconds of thinking and you know it sounds good but it's trite nonsense.

"Please may I be an astronaut?" - - - No, Daphne, you may not.

"But why not? It's what I've always wanted!"- - - Well, Daphne, you get seasick on a flat calm sea, for starters. And there are a few other reasons, too.

That kind of thinking is what leads tone-deaf contestants on The X-Factor to shout at Simon Cowell "But I've always wanted to be a singer!"

On to John Ruskin - a bit of a hero of mine, and not just because he lived in an ugly house with a stunning view of Coniston in the Lake District. He could paint and write and think - Tolstoy described him as "one of those rare men who think with their hearts" - and he was an all-round Good Egg and if he was still alive and in charge of Everything then Britain would be a better place.

Here's what he said:

When love and skill come together, expect a masterpiece.

Simple; and spot-on, Mr Ruskin.