Valleys, Routes, and Crossings
Quotations
Note. None of the following were used in edition 1.
Note that Winnie-the-pooh copyright is held by C R Milne.
"It is easy for a person to find courage, when he has law and assistance at his back, but be alone and beyond assistance, near the camp of savages, you will find how fleeting courage is."
"I returned to my camp, on the 14th being 4 days without provisions, except, what I obtained, by thinning the ranks of a numerous, and destructive little animals, and to modify the name, I must call them Māori Rabbits."
"on the 6th April came to the Nokomai to take a considerable spell after carrying a swag for three months, through some of the most difficult country, that can be imagined. The hardship endured from the rugged nature of the country, was not equal to that felt for the want of provisions."
"After supplying ourselves with a pack-horse and a set of carpentry tools for the purpose of boat-building, we started for Te Anau early in May." [Makes planning a trip today seem a breeze!]
"Our cooking utensils consisted of two billy cans and a frying pan. Our baking was done on the ground, a hollow was made and over it a scrub fire was kindled, the ashes raked back, the dough was then placed in it and covered over with the hot ashes to bake - the result called damper was not very sightly, but it passed for good bread when there was nothing better. A baking of damper would sometimes last three weeks, so that in such a case, one's digestion was not impaired by eating newly baked bread."
[This reminds me, Merv, of the tale from Hector's trip up the Matukituki, where they had prepared sun-dried jerky from sheep they had driven many miles, then killed and smoked. "And it was remarkable how little of it sufficed to satisfy a man!"]
"'When I use a word', Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, 'it means just what I choose it to mean – neither more nor less.'"
"I've been able to see farther than other men because I've been able to stand on the shoulders of giants."
"Someone unfamiliar with the mountains and forests cannot advance [the team].
One who does not employ local guides cannot gain the advantage."
"With sufficient planning, you can almost eliminate adventure from an expedition."
"I don't think we are in Kansas anymore"
"And what is the use of a book" thought Alice "without pictures or conversations?"
"Serve God daily.
"Love one another.
"Preserve your victuals.
"Beware of fire.
"Keep good companie.
"Will you walk a little faster?" said a whiting to a snail"
"It's the fresh air that does it,' said the Rose: "wonderfully fine air it is, out here"
"In one moment I've seen what has hitherto been
Enveloped in absolute mystery,
And without extra charge I will give you at large
A Lesson in Natural History.
"If you're not getting injured, you're not playing hard enough"
"Learn to smile a lot – Humour is the process by which we accommodate discomfort."
"There are three certainties in life - Death and Taxes and Change. And the greatest of these is change"
"In an extremis situation, any decision will prove better than no decision."
"You don't go that way - it is much too rocky. Come this way with me."
"Chaos Theory is the branch of math/science in which it is proposed that a butterfly flapping its wings in China, will cause a beautiful day in the Tararua. We need more butterflies."
"Be nice to people – Newton tells us that for each action there is an equal and opposite reaction."
posit 1. If the world doesn't react to your presence, you're not there.
posit 2. You're only in this park for a short time,
- – leave it in better condition than you found it.
"Once upon a time there were four wise men. One of them knew of a shortcut ..."
"There are old mountaineers,
and there are bold mountaineers,
but there aren't many old and bold mountaineers.
"The first question of course was, how to get dry again: they had a consultation about this, and after a few minutes it seemed quite natural to Alice to find herself talking familiarly with them, as if she had known them all her life."
"... and as she was getting quite chilly with sitting still so long, she got up and walked on."
‘But wait a bit,’ the Oysters cried,
For some of us are out of breath,
‘No hurry!’ said the Carpenter.
Beneath the setting sun.
"How funny it'll seem to come out among the people
that walk with their heads downwards! The Antipathies, I think –
..."but I shall have to ask them what the name of the country is, you know.
Please Ma'am, is this New Zealand or Australia?"
"Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?" Alice went on.
"That depends a good deal on where you want to go," said the Cat.
"I don't much care where –" said Alice
"Then it doesn't matter which way you go," said the Cat.
" – so long as I get somewhere," Alice added as an explanation.
"Oh, you're sure to do that," said the Cat, "if you only walk long enough."
"Begin at the beginning," the King said gravely, "and go on till you come to the end : then stop."
"and still the Queen kept crying "Faster, faster!" but Alice felt she could not go faster, though she had no breath left to say so."
"I'm afraid that he'll catch cold with lying on the damp grass," said Alice who was a very thoughtful little girl."
"... the Queen said. "The rule is, jam to-morrow and jam yesterday– but never jam to-day."
"I wish I could manage to be glad!" the Queen said. "Only I can never remember the rule. You must be very happy, living in this wood, and being glad whenever you like!"
‘IS there frost on my hair, comrade?
’Tis the rime of the midnight wind that chills
’Twill be gone with the morning light, comrade,
Live life at the full ;
blend dream with the deed ;
drink deep of the draught.
The men who moved before us,
the mountain maids who bore us,
dared the roar of the pool,
raced from the hills of speed,
hunted the high winds, and laughed
as they drove their sea-freight home
slant to the fall of foam.
I hold the life of man.
There is a hill that stands for me
Where stars of slumber kindle on its crest,
What if I live no more those kingly days ?
I dream of feet upon the starry ways ;
I may not grudge the little left undone ;
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