December 4, 2011

• I recently finished reading Agatha Christie's autobiography.  It's not so much a narrative of her life as the rambling memories of an old woman, but I like her more after having read it:

  I think sometimes we do not appreciate that second virtue which we mention so seldom in the trilogy -- faith, hope and love.  ...  We are ready to despair too soon, we are ready to say, "What's the good of doing anything?"

  ...Why should one give up any hope until one is dead?...

  It reminds me of the story that my American godmother used to tell me years and years ago about two frogs who fell into a pail of milk. One said, "Ooh, I'm drowning!  I'm drowning!"
  The other frog said, "I'm not going to drown."
  "How can you stop drowning?" asked the other frog.
  "Why I'm going to hustle around, and hustle around, and hustle around like mad," said the second frog.
  Next morning the first frog had given up and drowned, and the second frog, having hustled around all night, was sitting there in the pail, right on top of a pat of butter.

  • 8:15 pm
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