the only mending is to come home

When you have gone too far, as I think he did, the only mending is to come home. Whether he is equal to it or not, this is his chance.

From Hannah Coulter by Wendell Berry (184).

be polite and sincere to everyone

On the journey I said to myself, ‘I am going into the world of men. I don’t know much, perhaps, but a new life has begun for me.’ I made up my mind to be honest, and steadfast in accomplishing my task. Perhaps I shall meet with troubles and many disappointments, but I have made up my mind to be polite and sincere to everyone; more cannot be asked of me. People may consider me a child if they like. I am often called an idiot, and at one time I certainly was so ill that I was nearly as bad as an idiot; but I am not an idiot now. How can I possibly be so when I know myself that I am considered one?

From The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoyevsky.

the one that sings

It may be that when we no longer know what to do
we have come to our real work,

and that when we no longer know which way to go
we have come to our real journey.

The mind that is not baffled is not employed.

The impeded stream is the one that sings.

“The Real Work” by Wendell Berry from Standing by Words, 1983. Online here.

infinitely pleasant

Medwyn, Taran saw, had gardens of both flowers and vegetables behind his cottage. To his surprise, Taran found himself yearning to work with Coll in his own vegetable plot. The weeding and hoeing he had so despised at Caer Dallben now seemed, as he thought of his past journey and the journey yet to come, infinitely pleasant.

From the Book of Three by Lloyd Alexander in “The Hidden Valley” (118).