Merlin To a Young Arthur
“You may grow old and trembling in your anatomies,
you may lie awake at night listening to the disorder of your veins,
you may miss your only love,
you may see the world about you devastated by evil lunatics,
or know your honour trampled in the sewers of baser minds.
There is only one thing for it then—to learn.
That is the only thing which the mind can never exhaust, never alienate, never be tortured by, never fear or disgust, and never dream of regretting.”
From T.H. White’s novel, The Once and Future King.
Take that to your memory banks, aspiring folk journalists!
Stare. It is the way to educate your eye, and more. Stare; pry; listen; eavesdrop. Die knowing something. You are not here long.
Walker Evans, 20th century photographer
For more on T.H. White: http://www.biography.com/people/th-white-40062