1951
A long life at 91, J.D. Salinger passed
The ephemeral veil this day.
I lift my glass to the man who lived
The way he wanted to, and wrote down
His mysteries which people continue to ponder. I wish him a safe journey
To the next stop on his creative journeyHere are a few quotes of his
That I like and to which I relate
Without any cuss words... ;)“An artist's only concern is to shoot for some kind of perfection, and on his own terms, not anyone else's.”
“Among other things, you'll find that you're not the first person who was ever confused and frightened and even sickened by human behaviour. You're by no means alone on that score, you'll be excited and stimulated to know. Many, many men have been just as troubled morally and spiritually as you are right now. Happily, some of them kept records of their troubles. You'll learn from them—if you want to. Just as some day, if you have something to offer, someone will learn something from you. It's a beautiful reciprocal arrangement. And it isn't education. It's history. It's poetry.”“'Anyway, I keep picturing all these little kids playing some game in this big field of rye and all. Thousands of little kids, and nobody's around - nobody big, I mean - except me. And I'm standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff - I mean if they're running and they don't look where they're going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them. That's all I'd do all day. I'd just be the catcher in the rye and all.”
A moment of silence
A moment of stillness
A moment of reclusion.
Fare thee well...