What you’re trying to do is be faithful to your perceptions and transmit them as faithfully as you can. I say these sentences until they sound right. There’s no objective reason why they’re right. They just sound right to me. MARTIN AMIS

None of us really changes over time; we only become more fully what we are. Anne Rice

this caterpillar still not a butterfly deep into autumn Basho

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Fi

Raima

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She effortlessly connected with everyone in the room, sharing stories and laughter that made the atmosphere feel warm and inviting.

Jack Gilbert poem

 

Jump into the colder pool. Walk instead of drive. Pick up the book instead of your phone. Take responsibility instead of hoping it goes unnoticed. In matters big and small, courage is choosing the more difficult option. Ryan Holiday

I once had to summon a demon, teach it to read, write it poems until it fell in love with me, and then slay it with a fork to get out of a gym contract. Whole process burned 666 calories. Demon said my poetry was unoriginal but efficacious. Great editor. Poor fork-dodger, though.

Barlow Adams

@BarlowAdams

Cow responds to affection

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Barlow Adams @BarlowAdams Midwest moms are Liam Neeson with Tupperware. They all have a particular set of skills that revolve around getting that MFing Tupperware back. You can move to Dubai and those ladies will pop out the sand like, “Didn’t I loan you a casserole in an 8.5 cup plastic red rectangle?”

The names of the days of the week - origin and meaning

 https://www.vikingeskibsmuseet.dk/en/professions/education/viking-age-people/the-names-of-the-weekdays

The names of the weekdays sound - in most cases - very Nordic in both Danish and English.

Read on here and get to know more about everyday history.

Cultural mix

While the origin of the weekday names is relatively straightforward in Danish, it is a real cultural mix when it comes to the English language.

Sunday and Monday are named after the celestrial bodies, Sun and Moon, but the other days are named after Norse gods; Tyrs's day, (W)odin's day, Thor's day and Frigg's day.

Saturday does not follow the same pattern, and the name actually means 'hot water day', which can be translated as 'washing day' or 'bathing day'.

The English 'Saturday' originates from the Roman god Saturn, and can be recognized from Latin, where the day is called 'Dies Saturni'.

Roman export

But in fact, the Nordic names for the weekdays are actually inspired from the Latin tradition - and thus imported from the south.

Read more about the origin of the names of the weekdays under the form:

Danish	Mandag	Tirsdag	Onsdag	Torsdag	Fredag	Lørdag	Søndag
	Månen	Tyr	Odin	Thor	Frigg	'Vaskedagen'	Solen
English	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
	The Moon	Týr	Odin	Thor	Frigg	Saturn	The Sun
Old Norse	Mánadagr	Tysdagr	Óðinsdagr	Þórsdagr	Frjádagr	Laugardagr	Sunnudagr

From the day of the Sun to the day of the Moon

Today the week starts with the day of the moon, Monday and ends with the day of the sun, Sunday. Previously, Sunday, was the first day of the week and the 'washing day' - Saturday - ended the week.

Roman gods become Nordic weekday names

The Romans named the days of the week after the Sun and the Moon and five planets, which were also the names of their gods.
The gods and planets were Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus and Saturn.

In the Nordic countries, the Sun (Sunday) and the Moon (Monday) also became the first two days of the week, and the Roman gods became four of the Nordic gods with similarities:

Mars became Tyr (Tuesday), Mercury became Odin (Wednesday), Jupiter became Thor (Thursday) and Venus became Frigg (Friday). Saturday came outside the system: The Norse form 'Saturday' means 'hot water day' - which can be translated as 'washing day' or 'washing water day'.

Sunnudagr – Sunday, the day of the Sun

Sól is a goddess in Norse mythology. 'Sol' means Sun. Over time, the day of the sun became Sunday.
In the runic alphabet, the rune-S name is Sun.

Mánadagr – Monday

The name Monday is related to the moon. The Latin name for moon is 'Luna', and in French Monday is still called 'Lundí'.
In the Nordic areas, the moon was called "Mani", and in time Mánadagr became Monday.

In Norse mythology, a distinction is made between two different meanings of the name 'Maní', meaning moon.
One is the cosmic phenomenon 'the moon', and in the other sense it referes to a mythical person. Monday was the day of the moon, and is named after the mythical person 'Maní'.

Tysdagr - Tuesday

Mars is a god of war, and so is the Nordic god 'Tyr' or 'Tír'.
It is Týr who has given his name to Tuesday.
In Norse mythology, Týr is one of the Aesir. He is primarily known as the god of justice and war, but is also described as wise and brave.
The T-rune was associated with Tyr.

Óðinsdagr – Wednesday

Odin can be compared to the Roman god Mercury, so in the Nordic tradition Odin (also known as 'Woden') gave his name to Wednesday.

Odin is the most prominent god in traditional Norse mythology.
He is particularly associated with war luck, royal power, rune power and wisdom.

Odin is the most powerful and eldest of the Æsir. He rules all things, and is mightier than the other gods, they all serve him as children obey a father. Frigg is his wife, and she knows all the fates of men, though she speaks no prophecy.
Odin is called All father because he is father of all the gods. He is also called father of the Slain, because all those that fall in battle are the sons of his adopt on, for them he appoints Valhal.

Þórsdagr - Thursday

Thor is reminiscent of Jupiter, as they both deal with lightning and thunder. So this day of the week became Thursday.
Thor is in Nordic mythology Sif's husband and was the god of thunder.
The name Þórr (Thor) is related to the word 'thunder'.
Thor controlled the weather, and fought the enemies of civilization, who at that time were giants and trolls.
He is associated with strength, aggression and reliability.

Thor is strongest of all the gods and men. He has his realm in the place called Thrúdvangar, and his hall is called Bilskirnir, in that hall are five hundred rooms and forty.
Thor has two he-goats, that are called Tooth-Gnasher and Tooth-Gritter, and a chariot draen by the he-goats.

Frjádagr - Friday

Venus is the goddess of love, and so is Frigg (and maybe also Freya, as they may have originally been the same goddess).
Frígg gave the name to Friday. 
Frigg is Odin's wife in Norse mythology. She was perceived as the goddess of marriage.
She was also a protector and helper in traditional women's work, such as weaving, sewing and cooking.
Frigg has a farmstead called Fensalir, and it is most glorious.

Laugardagr (sunnunótt) – Saturday

Most inexplicable among the Old Norse day-names is laugardagr.

'Laug' mean bath or hot water and 'dagr' means day. So you can translate the Nordic word for Saturday into 'the day of the hot water' or 'bathing dag'

Saturday was also known as Sunnunótt - the night before Sunday and can be recognized - in some parts of Germany - often used words for Saturday: 'Sonnabend'

In Latin the day was named after Saturn (Saturni), and we can recognize it in the English language; Saturday.

Ryan Holiday @RyanHoliday Focus on effort, not outcomes. It’s insane to tie your wellbeing to things outside of your control, Marcus Aurelius said. If you did your best, if you gave it your all, if you acted with your best judgment—that's a win…regardless of whether it’s a good or bad outcome.

How to Teach Beginners English

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Having your book turned into a movie is like seeing your oxen turned into bouillon cubes.― John le Carré

“A desk is a dangerous place from which to watch the world.”
― John le Carré, The Honourable Schoolboy

 

“Home's where you go when you run out of homes.”
― John le Carré, The Honourable Schoolboy

“The more identities a man has, the more they express the person they conceal.”
― John le Carré, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy

“Do you know what love is? I'll tell you: it is whatever you can still betray.”
― John le Carré, The Looking Glass War

“Coming home from very lonely places, all of us go a little mad: whether from great personal success, or just an all-night drive, we are the sole survivors of a world no one else has ever seen.”
― John Le Carre

“Sometimes we have to do a thing in order to find out the reason for it. Sometimes our actions are questions, not answers.”
― John le Carré, A Perfect Spy

“The fact that you can only do a little is no excuse for doing nothing.”
― John le Carré, A Most Wanted Man

“There are moments which are made up of too much stuff for them to be lived at the time they occur.”
― John le Carré, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy

“By repetition, each lie becomes an irreversible fact upon which other lies are constructed.”
― John Le Carre

“The monsters of our childhood do not fade away, neither are they ever wholly monstrous”
― John le Carré

“The cat sat on the mat is not a story. The cat sat on the other cat’s mat is a story.”
― John le Carré

“Survival...is an infinite capacity for suspicion.”
― John le Carré, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy

“I have a theory which I suspect is rather immoral,' Smiley went on, more lightly. 'Each of us has only a quantum of compassion. That if we lavish our concern on every stray cat, we never get to the centre of things.”
― John Le Carré, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy

“It's the oldest question of all, George. Who can spy on the spies?”
― John le Carré, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy

“Our power knows no limits, yet we cannot find food for a starving child, or a home for a refugee. Our knowledge is without measure and we build the weapons that will destroy us. We live on the edge of ourselves, terrified of the darkness within. We have harmed, corrupted and ruined, we have made mistakes and deceived.”
― John le Carré

“Unfortunately it is the weak who destroy the strong.”
― John le Carré

“All men are born free: just not for long.”
― John le Carré, A Murder of Quality

“To possess another language, Charlemagne tells us, is to possess another soul. German is such a language. Once you have it in your head, you can go there anytime, you can close the door, you have a refuge.”
― John Le Carre

“After all, if you make your enemy look like a fool, you lose the justification for engaging him.”
― John LeCarre

“It is also the pardonable vanity of lonely people everywhere to assume that they have no counterparts.”
― John le Carré, The Honourable Schoolboy

“...in the hands of politicians grand designs achieve nothing but new forms of the old misery...”
― John le Carré, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy

“You should have died when I killed you.”
― John le Carré

“An artist is a bloke who can hold two fundamentally opposing views and still function:”
― John le Carré, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy

“Ideologies have no heart of their own. They're the whores and angels of our striving selves.”
― John le Carré

“This is a war," Lemas replied. "It's graphic and unpleasant because it's fought on a tiny scale, at close range; fought with a wastage of innocent life sometimes, I admit. But it's nothing, nothing at all besides other wars - the last or the next.”
― John le Carré, The Spy Who Came In from the Cold

“There was nothing dishonourable in not being blown about by every little modern wind. Better to have worth, to entrench, to be an oak of one's own generation.”
― John le Carré, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy

“We have to live without sympathy, don't we? That's impossible of course. We act it to one another, all this hardness; but we aren't like that really, I mean...one can't be out in the cold all the time; one has to come in from the cold...d'you see what I mean?”
― John le Carré, The Spy Who Came In from the Cold

“Everyone who is not happy must be shot.”
― John le Carré, The Little Drummer Girl

“Tessa distinguished absolutely between pain observed and pain shared. Pain observed is journalistic pain. It’s diplomatic pain. It’s television pain, over as soon as you switch off your beastly set. Those who watch suffering and do nothing about it, in her book, were little better than those who inflicted it. They were the bad Samaritans.”
― John le Carré, The Constant Gardener

Alfred Hitchcock & John le Carré

 My policy is to begin a story as late as possible, using flashback. But if you can open with, “He reached out for Steve’s throat,” and then pull back for the dispute, about why we were arguing. Hitchcock said, “You put the bomb under the bed.” You know that story?

“Mr. Hitchcock, how long do you hold a kiss on the screen?” some idiot student asked him a question at a film school. Hitchcock said, “Oh, I would say twenty, twenty-five minutes.”

“That’s a helluva long kiss, Mr. Hitchcock.”

“Yes, but first of all I would put a bomb under the bed.”

JOHN le CARRÉ

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What sunlight does to water, stillness does to us. Laura Foley from her poem What Stillness

 Laura Foley is the author of It's This, Fernwood Press, 2023.

Ryan Holiday: Nobody is thinking about you. They're too busy thinking of themselves.