Monday Morning Quote
Quotes
Monday Morning Quotes
Monday Morning Quotes
www.mondaymorningquote.com ~ www.mondaymorningquotes.com
MMQs on facebook /// @MonMornQuote on
Substack
Since 1998 I've been sending out these reflections first thing each
week--one or more quotes plus my thoughts about the intersections and
contradictions. They're archived here back to 2002, and a new one is
posted every Monday morning. Dialogue is still welcome . . .
RSS / 
View Quotes
Quote #1258 - #ErraticFall
05 Oct, 2026
ERRATIC FALL
"A moral character is attached to autumnal scenes; the leaves falling like our years, the flowers fading like our hours, the clouds fleeting like our illusions, the light diminishing like our intelligence, the sun growing colder like our affections, the rivers becoming frozen like our lives--all bear secret relations to our destinies."
François-René de Chateaubriand
MEMOIRES D'OUTRE-TOMBE
"Autumn is the hardest season. The leaves are all falling, and they're falling like
they're falling in love with the ground."
Andrea Gibson
"Fall has always been my favorite season. The time when everything bursts with its last beauty, as if nature had been saving up all year for the grand finale."
Lauren DeStefano
WITHER
Crisp days, steamy days.
Calm hours, blustery hours.
Sane moments, chaotic moments.
I can't keep track of what is
no less what's coming.
Is fall this erratic right now because
our world is, our lives are?
Maybe in the larger sense
but not specifically
in this moment
in time.
Fall is always erratic.
But, yes, the vicissitudes may feel particularly harsh
the curves particularly sharp
because so much damage is being done and
so much is unknowable of
what's still to come.
But isn't that always true?
Whether mack trucks or windfalls;
old friends endlessly entwined, betrayed,
or renewed
or a new face that lights up the room;
fair play or scheming
done by you or to you,
from greed or kicks or desperation;
letters in the mail (amid the junk)
an unknown phone call
(does anyone pick up for any call these days
no less an unknown phone call?
and yet, the possibilities ...)
We can speculate all we want,
question everyone, tabulate polls,
analyze, reflect,
make metaphors,
make historical connections,
and still,
still
The future is unknowable until it arrives,
and not even completely then--
you know: butterfly wings, ripples
in the river,
unintended consequences,
and all.
That doesn't mean we have no effect,
only that we may never know
how much we had to do with the outcome,
or just what was
the full effect
we had.
Shellen Lubin
October 5, 2026
 |
 |
 |
|
||
 |
|
 |
|
||
This website was created by
