God help us to live slowly: Michael Leunig More Quotes by Michael Leunig More Quotes From Michael Leunig Each day is a lifetime. In the morning we are born. The day lies before us: vast and bright and new. Michael Leunig each-day morning lying Love one another and you will be happy. It's as simple and as difficult as that Michael Leunig happiness inspirational love Sometimes I wonder if the semi-conscious agenda of the media is to get between people and their souls. It is the the soul with its myriad tiny nerve endings that notices the neglected pathos, poignancy and practicality that lies at the heart of life. It's as if the media are somehow irritated and envious that anonymous people should have the quiet brilliance of their rich and sustainable inner lives. Michael Leunig media heart lying When the heart is cut or cracked or broken Do not clutch it Let the wound lie open Let the wind from the good old sea blow in to bathe the wound with salt and let it sting. Let a stray dog lick it Let a bird fly in the hole and sing a simple song like a tiny bell and let it ring. Michael Leunig dog song lying In order to be truthful Michael Leunig truthful honesty order God bless this tiny little boat, And me who travels in it. It stays afloat for years and years, And sinks within a minute. And so the soul in which we sail, Unknown by years of thinking, Is deeply felt and understood, The minute that it’s sinking. Michael Leunig soul years thinking Wars don't happen on battlefields; they go on happening in people's hearts for generations and generations, and the ecological damage is unfathomably complex and dire. Michael Leunig heart war people Love a single an additional and you will be satisfied. It really is as easy and as challenging as that. Michael Leunig satisfied challenges easy There are only two feelings, Love and fear: Michael Leunig language feelings two If European symbols and traditions have grown tired, perfunctory and oppressively banal in Australia, or been drained of spirit and meaning by the dreary dictates of materialism and secularity, then the raw spirit truth of our native land is alive and radiant by comparison. For joy and meaning we might well turn to our natural country and witness miracles of vitality and new life, of inspiration and profound beauty; all in some humble, quiet and improbable place. Michael Leunig nature wisdom country In order to be truthful we must do more than speak the truth. We must also hear truth, receive truth, search for truth. Michael Leunig truthful speak order Ah, whimsical. It's terrible the way words get attached to you like barnacles. As is what I do is acting on a 'whim'. If only these were gifts from God when I get an idea, but everything I have done that I really love has had a lot of hard work behind it. Michael Leunig hard-work ideas art For me, spirit is the impulse towards life, the Eros in a person leaping forward, whereas soul refers to something possibly long.. suffering, where meanings are made, where there is a sense of this gathering of perceptions, that our death is not the most important thing, nor our life. Michael Leunig soul long art At the very simplest, I think as Van Gogh said and St Francis would have said, we must find nature. Just to be in the presence of nature your feelings and 'little seedlings' start to awake. So if we disassociate ourselves from God we cut nature out, too. More and more we turn nature into a commodity, into eco-tourism. But we must integrate it into the way people live every day. Michael Leunig cutting nature thinking Easter is reflecting upon suffering for one thing, but it also reflects upon Jesus and his non-compliance in the face of great authority where he holds to his truth - so there's two stories there. Michael Leunig reflecting-upon easter jesus The most joyous painting is not done for the art world, it is done for the inner world. Michael Leunig done world art Is a brazen and innocent confrontation with paternal authority an unbearably terrifying prospect to some? Are the consequences of a fathers anger and displeasure so catastrophic in the primal imagination that every semblance of it in the world both literally and metaphorically must be denounced in the strongest possible terms? It would seem so. Michael Leunig imagination father world The creative act is also in a small way a suffering act - we start out with our ego, this hope of making this thing whatever it be, but so often it eludes us and it collapses and we kind of regress into this mental suffering, we can't find what we're looking for. Michael Leunig elude-us ego creative A world view is probably an expression of self. Michael Leunig expression self views There was all this loneliness in my cartoons and people would say, "Gee, these characters are so lonely, disconnected, depressed." And I'd say, 'Yeah well, that's not me. I'm just interested in that because I think it makes a funny drawing.' But later I understood it was me in many respects; my hand was doing it ahead of the head's understanding. Michael Leunig lonely loneliness wisdom
