Tuesday, July 01, 2008

If I have even just a little sense,

I will walk on the main road


and my only fear will be of straying from it.


Keeping to the main road is easy,


But people love to be sidetracked.


Lao Tzu

====================================

In Russia, France and England,

coffeehouses were the arenas where

political revolutions were planned

and nurtured.

16 comments:

dennis said...

Dennis wonders did Russians drink coffee out of a glass? or crystal cups?

mouse (aka kimy) said...

I guess I don't have much sense as I'm always wandering off the main roads....

the theme has been chosen....drumroll please.....it is SHOES!

Bobby D. said...

Coffee,
I'm wondering if Zola ever wrote about a coffeehouse?
I've read a dozen of his novels, and while he does mention coffee a lot ...I'm not sure...

While trying to find out I stumbled across Felix Salten--a man who wrote a famous obit of Zola.
Salten --an uneducated boy, hung out in coffeehouses, particularly the Café Grienstedl. The coffeehouse culture of Vienna helped him become a writer. He wrote a famous obit for Zola, and he also wrote the coming of age story Bambi.

Merle Sneed said...

Lao Tzu's words remind me how different the Chinese societal attitude is from the Western one.

Kurt said...

I don't understand Lao today.

tony said...

My Brother Always Reads-up on a new place before he visits it.
I always arrive with no prior knowledge.
Get totally Lost.
Then Maybe read about where I have been afterwards!
I wonder who gets to know it better?

Coffee Messiah said...

dennis: I'd guess crystal.

mouse: The main road is "not" what we take either. Shoes eh?

ched: That's interesting, about both men. From what I'm seeing in the book s from the 1800s and earlier even, there is always a mention of coffee throughout them.....Coffeehouses seem to have been the great meeting place and area to sit and contemplate, visit and write.

merle: I certainly tend to sit on their fence of thought, rather than ours most times, in philosophy anyway.

kurt: The is the most perplexing quote I've seen but do find that straying off the main path is certainly and has been way more interesting than the "main" road.

tony: I always look for off the main road books when traveling and often meet people at the destination to point our where the locals go myself.

Squirrel said...

OK, if you're on the Appalachian trail, and you wander off--you could be in a lot of trouble. (like the little girl in the Stephen King Book)

I just stopped by this morning, I usually drink coffee while reading your blog, but this morning I have a visiting blogger (Ms. Tut Tut) and we're going out for coffee. Yesterday I gave her a tour o' Nyack.

Not sure which Coffee Shop/bakery to take her to. So spoiled.

Squirrel said...

Spoiled for choice in Nyack, I mean...

cbb said...

Viva la revolucion!

Wait a minute - there IS going to be one, isn't there? After listening to Seymour Hersh on NPR a couple of days ago talking about how the Executive office has been systematically throwing out the Constitution I thought surely it would happen. And Vincent Bugliosi's new book suggests that the President could be tried for murder.

Talk about side-tracked. I think the media must not be frequenting the right coffee houses.

DivaJood said...

I've tapped you for an Arte Y Pico award. See my blog for details.

Mariamariacuchita said...

nice quote...Lao is full of wisdom and there are so many choices on the road.

Bobby D. said...

in germinal, the main character cannot imagine a house without coffee and bread, and he worries about it all the while he works underground since the family is broke and coffee-less. But when he arrives home, his family is sipping fresh brewed coffee that a visitor has provided.

Enemy of the Republic said...

Lao Tzu hadn't read Robert Frost's The Road Less Traveled. Or perhaps he anticipated it. Off to visit Dennis!

Wanderer said...

in Cousin Pons by Balzac, madame cibot tells her hubby to run to The Turk's Head to get special coffee to impress Pons

Coffee Messiah said...

squirrel: Lucky you of course and hello to your visitor!

cbb: Uh, the media probably drinks soda and remember, who they are owned by. ; ( And sadly, it seems most government officials are afraid of this president, otherwise he wouldn't have eluded all the scrutiny about all that has occurred. And with all things spiraling out of control, why?

diva: Thanks, I think. Will check out later.

maria: Makes more sense than most to me.

ched: I'll have to add that book to my list of to read. Thanks for sharing the quote, I like it.

enemy: I believe the interpretation is an open one, otherwise, it doesn't quite sound like him.

lib: You all have read more books than I could ever imagine. Thanks for the quote!