Do you surf like Agatha Christie? Or run on the beach with your dog like Kurt Vonnegut? However you celebrate the summer days, I hope you are having fun!
George Bernard Shaw:
“We don’t stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.” (quotation also attributed to Benjamin Franklin and others)
via surfingheritage.org
Jack London:
“Go strip off your clothes that are a nuisance in this mellow clime. Get in and wrestle with the sea; wing your heels with the skill and power that reside in you, hit the sea’s breakers, master them, and ride upon their backs as a king should.” (from his memoir The Cruise of the Snark)
Agatha Christie:
“Surfing is like that. You are either vigorously cursing or else you are idiotically pleased with yourself.” (from her memoir The Grand Tour: Around the World with the Queen of Mystery)
via the guardian.com
Kurt Vonnegut (with his Lhasa Apso, Pumpkin)
“I urge you to please notice when you are happy, and exclaim or murmur or think at some point, ‘If this isn’t nice, I don’t know what is.’” ( from “Knowing What’s Nice,” an essay from In These Times)
Photography by his wife, Jill Krementz via nytimes.com
Joan Didion:
‘I’m not telling you to make the world better, because I don’t think that progress is necessarily part of the package. I’m just telling you to live in it. Not just to endure it, not just to suffer it, not just to pass through it, but to live in it. To look at it. To try to get the picture. To live recklessly. To take chances. To make your own work and take pride in it.’
(from the Commencement address at the University of California, Riverside, 1975)
photo by her daughter Quintana Roo Dunne for Vogue
reading interrupted. 
I love this post and these quotes,Letizia, especially Didion’s (how wise she is!). Here’s another for you: “I shall wear white flannel trousers, and walk upon the beach.” – T S Eliot, The Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock 😀
The Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock is one of my favourite poems, Liz! And the more I discover Didion’s work, the more I am in awe. There’s a bold simplicity to her work, or perhaps, honesty, is the better word.
So glad to have hit the Eliot spot! And yes, you put it so well re Didion – I could not agree more.
I love the Vonnegut quote: “I urge you to please notice when you are happy, and exclaim or murmur or think at some point, ‘If this isn’t nice, I don’t know what is.’” Advice we could all take!
Isn’t it wonderful? Let’s take in each happy moment, Audrey!
Run on the beach with my dog, yes, I do. 😉
Oh, that is just delightful! Anything done with one’s dog by one’s side is a delight.
Absolutely!😉 Letz
“I urge you to please notice when you are happy, and exclaim or murmur or think at some point, ‘If this isn’t nice, I don’t know what is.” That’s exactly what I did when reading this post. 🙂
What a lovely thing to say! You’ve made me smile from ear to ear 🙂
I would like to surf like Agatha Christie …! I should try… I love summer!!!
I can just imagine you surfing!
Wonderful post, Letizia. I love the ocean and adventure. Living on a small island in the Pacific for 2 years put sea water in my blood. Every time I’m on or in the water I feel a calmness come over me
I’m more of a mountain and lake person but I can appreciate the ocean and beach and understand how others are drawn to it. Hope you’re having a great summer my friend and thank you for the tweet!
‘Oh Oysters come and walk with us’
The Walrus did beseech
‘A pleasant walk, a pleasant talk
Along the briny beach’
A shame I didn’t find any images of Carroll at the beach!
I love these quotes, Letizia! And the beach is my favourite place on earth 😀
It was fun searching for quotations and photos for this post. To see these famous writers, not as icons, but as friends on holiday. I hope you’ve been well!
Vonnegut is always a go to for great quotes, Didion on also had me nodding along. Those old surfboards look great, they should be fashion accessory of 2017 methinks. Your posts always make me smile.
Oh thank you! I agree, Vonnegut and Didion have wonderful, quotable lines. I love those old surfboards too. Makes me want to learn to surf.
Surfing YouTube for videos of surfers allows us to vicariously and lazily live that lifestyle. Learning is addictive though.
Wonderful selection. Did Agatha Christie really surf?!
I know, it’s funny to think of her as surfing as we always imagine her older and, well, having tea, I suppose!
Thank you for stopping by and commenting.
Exactly!!!
Agatha Christie’s quote is a hoot! Thank you for sharing Letizia 🙂
eden
I love that quotation too – it works for a lot of hobbies when we first learn!
Oh Letizia – how wonderful to have the joy of living. A beach is the quintessential embodiment of summer. To breathe the sea air, to feel sand between our toes, to hear the solitary cry of a seagull far in the distance, to squint into sunshine, to feel the warmth of belonging to a world that defines our existence. May we embrace every moment with gratitude. A marvelous post that reminds us to live brilliantly.
Oh you are so right! I feel so lucky to live where I experience seasons. I love the heat of the summer, the autumn leaves, the cold winter, the gentle sun of the Spring!
So very very well said…
Well now, I’m just tickled.
hehe, hope you’re having a good summer, Ross!
Vonnegut’s quote is the best hands down. He has a knack for coming up with great one liners.
He really does, I agree. There were so many to choose from!
Love it, hon! Love me some Vonnegut, but I have to say that Joan killed it at the end. Your post made me want to be reading on the beach instead of sitting on my couch!
Luckily, I got to put my feet in some sand yesterday evening when we drove out to Sauvie Island on a whim to go swimming. Hard to beat sticking your toes in the warm sand, isn’t it? xo
I love that Didion line too! Oregon beaches are so beautiful, my favorite in the US I think. Lucky you to b me able to enjoy them! Thanks for the tweet and hope you have a fantastic weekend 🙂
It sure looks like Vonnegut’s dog, Pumpkin, is having a blast! Dogs always know how to appreciate when things are nice. 🙂
You are so right, they do! Sorry I didn’t respond earlier – my puppy just got spayed and is keeping me busy as I try to keep her from jumping (another example of dogs enjoying life despite adversity haha!).
If my surfing skills are anything like my skiing skills, I’m better off sitting on the sand with a tropical drink!
Great quotes–almost enough to make me try surfing. Almost. 🙂
These quotes almost tempt me to try surfing too, hehe!
Fabulous quotes that remind us to sometimes get out of our writing chair and smell the roses…and the surf and the newly mown grass. I love summer even with the heat and humidity. Maybe I love it BECAUSE of the heat and the humidity and the draw toward the ocean and the sand-scrubbed surf. I’m taking off for the shore in a few days. Yay! 🙂
I will imaging you on the beach with your surfboard and old fashioned bathing suit, just like Agatha Christie, haha! Enjoy your vacation!
BATHING SUIT?! WHAT bathing suit? 🙂 Agatha and I prefer sensible shorts and a t-shirt while soaking in those rays. 🙂
haha!
Fantastic images and wonderful quotes. Thank you!
So glad you enjoyed them; I had fun finding them! Sorry for the late reply, I only just saw your comment – thanks for visiting and enjoy the rest of the summer!
Leticia loving all these Black and whites something so cool about them. I love to walk and collect shells on the beach, look for whales out at sea and generally day dream it is my calming place. I feel balanced again when I visit the ocean. Also the best place to read as well.
There is something very peaceful about the ocean, the rhythm of the waves perhaps. And I love the black and white photos too, we should take them more often!
Your post reminds me of the fun days as a beach that I’ve had! Here’s another quote: “After a visit to the beach, it’s hard to believe that we live in a material world.” ~Pam Shaw 🙂
I love that quotation! Thanks for sharing it – hope you’ve been having a wonderful summer 🙂
And thanks for appreciating the quote too, Letizia! Yes, the summer is going well, including taking salsa lessons. I hope your summer is nice too 🙂
Salsa lessons, how fun! Yes, I’m having a good summer, thanks. Training my puppy which is lots of work but also a lot of fun 🙂
Oh, I love this! Some of my favorite authors and their surfboards. Thank you for posting. Fabulous photos. I love the Agatha Christie and Vonnegut quotes.
I saw on your blog that you are a surfer yourself so it must be especially interesting to you to see the old surfboards! Thanks for dropping by 🙂
Absolutely! I am also a former high school English teacher, so I love the literary quotes. Agatha Christie with a surfboard? #Epic!
Thanks for all these quotes and photos! Especially love Joan Didion’s, poignant indeed as I remember reading her memoirs about how sad it was when both her husband and Quintana had died merely months apart.
I loved reading Didion’s memoirs as well, so touching and well written.
I noticed I was happy contemplating Agatha Cristie’s knees. 🙂
haha, that’s funny! Her knees are not an image we often see 🙂
Makes her seem human, like me. I saw Seiji Ozawa conduct once. Sublime.
How lucky to have seen him!
Yes, he is truly gifted.
These are some awesome quotes. My favorite would have to be the very first one about getting old and playing.
I think thats my favourite too. Thanks for dropping by and hope you’re having a playful week!
Your welcome! Hope your having a fantastic week too.
Excellent post, lovely text and gorgeous old photos. Thank You.