Quote of the Week - H is for Hawk

QUOTE OF THE WEEK:

...in her brilliant  novel, H is for Hawk, Helen MacDonald writes about the author, T.H.White:

"...White had learned that going back in time was a way of fixing things; uncovering past traumas, revisiting them and defusing their power". 

 It is why people write memoirs.

http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/aug/01/helen-macdonald-interview-hawk-grief

Two Feet the memoirs

What's in a quote?

The home of Mabuza

+Paulo Coelho (dare I have the gumption to mention the master on this site!) often, if not always, writes about a person's journey -- be it spiritual or physical. One of his preferred quotes is:

"...on your journey to your dream, be ready to face oasis and deserts. In both cases, don't stop."

For those few avid followers of this Blog, you will have noted the occasional quote by and reference to Mabuza, the warrior from the novella Two Feet.(Random thoughts,Random travels). Certainly not in the same vein as Coelho, but Mabuza rambles on about life's journey and the road we all travel. So who is this Mabuza? Well, we ALL have a Mabuza I think, we all knew and maybe still know a Mabuza. He's that inner voice, that childhood imaginary advisor that we silently listened to. Or wished we had listened to! In the case of Two Feet he was solid and present, perhaps not as proficient, but no matter how he voiced it, it made sense.

Mabuza never wore shoes and I doubt he ever had. The soles of his feet were broad and flat. The heels of his feet were criss-crossed with minuscule, dust-congealed ravines that were a memento to the roads and paths he had journeyed.

Mabuza wore a pair of grey, white man’s shorts that hung below his knees and an old man’s short-sleeved vest. Around his waist, he’d tied a braided, leather rimpie (thong) and attached to this belt was a small, cheap, clasp knife and a handmade leather tobacco pouch in which he kept his little tin of snuff tobacco.

Mabuza’s teeth were as yellow as a newborn chick, but the whites of his eyes were as clear as recently ground maize.

Mabuza was a tall, stringy man, whose peppercorn hair was beginning to show speckles of grey, his nostrils were flared, and his belly was showing signs of too much maize beer.

Mabuza would always squat over the ground for fear of the wiggly-bastard worm, and he could do this for a very long time without shifting a muscle, even when he inhaled the snuff tobacco off his extended finger, or ate from his plate of maize porridge with bent fingers.

*****

Mabuza once told me that if the spoor of the man ahead of you is heavy and fat, you are following a sullen man.

*****

Mabuza once told me that if the spoor of the man ahead of you is light and thin, you are following a happy man.

*****

...and as we are in quote mode here today, here are a few quotable links:

http://thinkexist.com/quotations/journey/

http://matadornetwork.com/bnt/30-funny-travel-quotes-to-make-you-smile/