The ‘great minds’ in the heading was intended as part of ‘great minds think alike’ but I realized that is precisely wrong. Great minds do not think alike: originality is their greatness.
A variation on the theme is: fools seldom differ. I’m not sure that one is true either. Consider Congress.
All this came about because after reading my article, ‘Use Yourself Up’, a reader, David, was reminded of a quote from George Bernard Shaw. I thank him for forwarding it to me.
This is the true joy in life: the being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one; the being a force of nature instead of a feverish, little clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy... I want to be thoroughly used up when I die, for the harder I work the more I live. I rejoice in life for its own sake. Life is no 'brief candle' to me. It is a splendid torch which I have got hold of for the moment, and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations.
So perhaps we are left with: great minds sometimes think alike.
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I was interviewed by Andy Schell for his podcast 59°North. The episode recently went online and can be found here if you are interested.
When Andy first emailed me I checked and saw that 59°North is the approximate latitude of Juneau, Alaska; but Andy, who is an American, has a partner who is Swedish and they spend part of their time there. The 59°North refers to the latitude not of Juneau, but Stockholm.
This is the third such podcast interview I’ve done.
That’s a lot of talking for a man who is mostly silent.
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In GERONTIUS, a novel based on an incident in the life of the English composer, Sir Edgar Elgar, in answer to the question of why people take ocean liner cruises, I read: "Get away from it all," was the stock answer people generally give who habitually take as much as they can of it with them.
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I’ve run the above photo before. I came across it while looking for something else. I like the ambiguity. Sailing into uncertainty. I think it was taken on the passage from Honolulu to Apia.
You need to have your display at full brightness and turned to the correct angle. The image is best seen enlarged by clicking on it. The sky is something from Albert Ryder.
