Sadly apt given the topic of the previous post…
Se puede matar al soñador, pero no al sueño.
Civil Rights activist and associate of Martin Luther King, Ralph David Abernathy, did not live to see a black man in the white house but he was obviously in no doubt about the power of believing in and fighting for a dream.
Go ‘Bama!
While I am as hopeful as the next person that Obama may somehow stop this out-of-control train and let us all off, I wonder if the man is on a hiding to nothing. I believe that he is a good man and will do his best but it seems the whole world is waiting with bated breath for him to solve all problems, stop all wars, feed all the hungry and then tuck us all in and read us a bedtime story.
Obama is known as a fabulous communicator so probably does not need any advice from a dusty old poet. Nevertheless Pedro Lopez de Ayala spent many years immersed in the treacheries of Castillian court life in the late 1300’s so he obviously knew a thing or two about tact and diplomacy.
” Debe considerar el buen predicador
Qual es la qualidad de su escuchador,
E segunt aquella forma sea rasonador;
A resios como a resios, e á flacos con amor.”
Ayala. Rimado da Palacio, 1157.
Perhaps his general ill health was to blame but there is no doubt that Giacomo Taldegardo Francesco di Sales Saverio Pietro Leopardi had a rather bleak outlook on life.
Described by Schopenhauer as being entirely imbued and penetrated with misery, the Italian poet’s pessimistic frame of mind can be seen in quotation after quotation. A few examples in English would be:
In all climates, under all skies, man’s happiness is always somewhere else.
And…
You can be happy indeed if you have breathing space from pain.
His contribution to the Sugar Sachet Spanish series is in the same vein…
El odio a nuestros semejantes es mayor con los más allegados.
But Leopardi was more than just an old misery guts. He came out with one of the most positive and true statements ever made:
Enjoy every minute. There’s plenty of time to be dead.
A quotation from one who should know this morning:
Los politicos son iguales en todas partes: prometan construir un puente incluso donde no hay rio
Thank you, Nikita Kruschev.
Salvador Dali, famed for his surrealist painting of dripping clocks (which were apparently inspired by runny camembert and were a nod in the direction of Einstein’s theory of relativity) 
was not so famous for his humility. He once said, “Each morning when I awake, I experience again a supreme pleasure – that of being Salvador Dali”.
In 1958, a Catalan confectioner needed a logo for their new ‘bonbon on a stick’ and if you’ve ever bought your child a lollipop in Tenerife then you’ve seen the result.
Dali died of heart failure at the ripe old age of 84 but not before having a dig at those who don’t make it that far:
Muchas personas no cumplen los ochenta porque intentan durante demasiado tiempo quedarse en los cuarenta.
The sales in Tenerife officially started on January 7th. Given that my kids are currently growing out of their clothes every five minutes, this is my chance to stock the cupboard for the next few months. I swear, the little guy goes to bed at night and wakes up with legs an inch and a half longer every morning. He’s got welly-welts across the calves from last month’s long trousers.
Even so, I expect a lot of moaning and groaning from the spousal department when he sees how much I am going to have to spend on kid’s clothes so I am memorising the following:
A él que tiene su bolsillo
A obscuras, no le da luz
Una acha de seis pavilos
So said Gasper Závala y Zamora in his three act comedy El Buen y el Mal Amigo.
Today I have a double dose for you. A similar phrase with a single change, attributed to two different authors.
Dádivas ablandan peñas
So sayeth Don Carlos de Arellano in his comedy El Socorro de los Mantos which was published by J. y T. de Orga in 1776
Dádivas quebrantan peñas
This appeared in Don Quixote II by Cervantes which was published in 1615.
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