Saturday, July 03, 2010

"Great thoughts / do not nourish / small thoughts / as parents do children"

--- poet Kay Ryan, in the poem Great Thoughts, from Say Uncle (2000) reprinted in the new collection The Best Of It (2010)
In context:
Great thoughts
do not nourish
small thoughts
as parents do children.

Like the eucalyptus
they make the soil
beneath them barren.

Standing in a
grove of them
is hideous.

Friday, July 02, 2010

"c’est le métier qui rentre"

--- a French expression that might be translated as "the craft is entering". It has been paraphrased as "pain is the craft entering the apprentice." Larousse gives "it shows you're learning."

Here's some context from my friend Pierre-Yves Saintoyant:
We would say this, for instance, when cutting or burning your finger when trying to cook, doing some DIY, or hurting yourself in any way while trying a new craft; or suffering and complaining in learning a new process. For instance if you lose all your work because you did not do any backup, someone could tell you “c’est le métier qui rentre” ;-)  If you develop some pain (e.g. blisters) while doing some work, someone might tell you “c’est le métier qui rentre” to “comfort” you.
This expression is also used when beginners make mistakes to encourage them to continue (and hopefully improve);  someone could tell them “that’s not bad, c’est le métier qui rentre”.