Quotations – Graham Chastney

‘The book might have given you an idea, but it didn’t change your lives.’ – Raynor Winn

A short extract from Landlines by Raynor Winn:

From nowhere a couple flop down in the heather next to us.

‘Well, hello there. We’re walking the Pennine Way, going north just a few days at a time. But you, I know you’ve walked a long way.’

I look down at my clothes, muddy, ripped, smelling of dried bog-water. ‘I know, we do look a bit of a mess.’

‘No, you can’t get away with it like that. I know who you are. Your book changed our lives – it changed the way we live our lives. We would never have given ourselves the time to just walk, not before we read your book.’

I look at the couple, heading towards middle age, but glowing from the wind, sun and enthusiasm. ‘The book might have given you an idea, but it didn’t change your lives.’

‘How do you know that?’

‘Because books don’t change lives. They can change how you think, but it’s you that changed your life. You allowed the book to influence you, then you chose to change how you live. The power was always in you, the book just opened the door.’

‘Ooh, you make me feel quite powerful, quite in control.’

‘I think we all are, if we allow ourselves to be. Do you want a jelly baby?’
Raynor Winn, Landlines

Header Image: This is Castlerigg Stone circle looking out over St. Johns in the Vale and towards Helvellyn on a strange August day of showers and a little sun. These stones have stood here for several thousand years, and a bit of precipitation isn’t going to make much difference to that. Why did someone put them here, there are lots of theories, but no one really knows.

QUOTE: “There are two circumstances we should always keep simultaneously in mind…”

There are two circumstances we should always keep simultaneously in mind. First, if the new generations had not continually revolted against inherited tradition, we would still be living in caves. Second, if revolt against inherited tradition should become universal, we would soon be back in caves.
Leszek Kołakowski

A little bit of a caveat here. I only found one second-hand source for this quote, which normally makes me a bit nervous of the authenticity of it. All the same, such an interesting insight.

Header Image: Such a beautiful river, flowing down a beautiful valley in the Lake District. If you know me, you can probably guess where it is.

QUOTE: “Every decision that impacts our lives will be made by…”

“Every decision that impacts our lives will be made by the person who has the power to make that decision – not the ‘right’ person, or the ‘smartest’ person, or the ‘best’ person. Make peace with this fact.“
Marshall Goldsmith

Header Image: A local cornfield on a gorgeous even after a swim in the river.

QUOTE: “Thinking is generally thought of as doing nothing in a production-oriented society, and doing nothing is…

“Thinking is generally thought of as doing nothing in a production-oriented society, and doing nothing is hard to do. It’s best done by disguising it as doing something, and the something closest to doing nothing is walking.”
Rebecca Solnit, Wanderlust: A History of Walking

Header Image: The receding tide on Lindisfarne, Holy Island. In the background is the castle.

Quote: “Leave the door open to the unknown, that’s where…

Leave the door open for the unknown, that’s where the important things come from… for, to acknowledge the unknown is part of knowledge.
Rebecca Solnit, A Field Guide to Getting Lost

Header Image: This is some of the local Blackthorn blossom. It explodes into this wonderful white for a few days and then is gone. It’s leaving is often hastened by a spring storm, but not this year, so it has been glorious.

Quote: “The difficulty lies not so much in developing new ideas as in…”

The difficulty lies not so much in developing new ideas as in escaping from old ones.
John Maynard Keynes

Header Image: This is Haweswater. It’s a reservoir with a history. Below these still waters lie the remains of the village of Mardale which were flooded to provide water to the growing city of Manchester via a 56 mile long aqueduct.

You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something…

You never change things by fighting the existing reality.
To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.
Buckminster Fuller

Header Image: We’ve had some wonderful spring mornings recently. This is one from today’s morning walk.

“In the universe, there are things that are known, and things that are unknown, and…

“In the universe, there are things that are known, and things that are unknown, and in between, there are doors.”
William Blake

Header Image: This is a view from near Jenny Brown’s point in Silverdale, not far from Walduck’s Wall. It seemed an appropriate picture for the quote, this area always feels like a place if discovery to me.