In certain parts of the world, today is recognized as a celebration of love. To continue with this theme, today’s Monday Morning Quote comes in the form of sappy poetry:

Understand, I’ll slip quietly away from the noisy crowd when I see the pale stars rising, blooming, over the oaks. I’ll pursue solitary pathways through the pale twilit meadows, with only this one dream: You come too. - Rainer Maria Rilke Poet and supporter of clandestine, midnight rendezvous

Born in Prague, Bohemia (today considered the Czech Republic), Rainer Maria Rilke is recognized for emphasizing physical imagery within his poems.

In his early years, his mother, still mourning the lost of her firstborn daughter, would dress Rilke up in girl’s clothing and refer to him as Sophia until he was five years old. He experienced his parents’ divorce when he was nine, and in 1891, he was discharged from military school due to lifelong health problems. Nonetheless, he would later become one of the greatest lyrically-rich poets of the German language.

Today’s Monday Morning Quote is by the world-renowned artist who was officially baptized as Pablo Diego Jose Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno Maria de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santisima Trinidad Martyr Patricio Clito Ruiz y Picasso, more widely known as Pablo Picasso.

Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up. - Pablo Picasso Artist and Purchaser of Stolen Goods

Throughout the span of his 91 years, Picasso produced numerous works of art and is recognized as being one of the creators (along with George Braque) and great influencers of Cubism. Picasso’s father was also an artist and professor of drawing, but after recognizing his son’s natural talent, he soon resigned from ever painting again.

Another week at our fingertips and there’s nothing like a little insight into the life of a child prodigy to inspire productivity. For today’s Monday Morning Quote:

I have made this letter longer than usual because I lack the time to make it shorter. - Blaise Pascal Inventor, Mathematician, and Wearer of Wristwatches

Born in the 17^th century and living only 39 years, Frenchman Blaise Pascal started his life as a child prodigy and grew up to become a well-known mathematician, physicist, writer, and inventor, while also contributing written works to both theology and philosophy.

In honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, today’s Monday Morning Quote is from the man himself—the man with a dream that spearheaded the forward movement of civil rights in America, an activist, clergyman and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

A man can’t ride your back unless it’s bent. - Martin Luther King, Jr. Civil Rights Activist and Renowned Orator

Heavily influenced by the philosophy of Mohandas Gandhi and other advocates of nonviolent resistance, Martin Luther King, Jr. employed mass civil disobedience to bring racial discrimination and segregation to the forefront of American politics during the ‘50s and ‘60s.

It’s already the second week of the New Year. Have you managed to stick to your resolutions so far? Here at CSOFT, we’re trying our best to do just that, which means that it’s time again for a Monday Morning Quote—on time and prettily adorned for your reading pleasure. Today’s quote is by the best-selling novelist of all time, Dame Agatha Christie, who is especially remembered for her quirky if not meddlesome literary sleuths, Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple.

I don’t think necessity is the mother of invention. Invention, in my opinion, arises directly from idleness, possibly also from laziness—to save oneself trouble. - Agatha Christie The Queen of Crime

A bit of background information on Christie’s affinity for laziness: in her autobiography, Christie herself talks about how her father was a lazy man, having grown up in a time of what she refers to as “independent incomes” in Great Britain. Essentially, her father was a well-to-do American stockbroker who was more suited to playing whist at the club than strapping on the ol’ work boots. This idleness among upper-middle class people is a recurring, almost romanticized theme in a number of her crime novels.

In celebration of her 56th birthday, today’s Monday Morning Quote is from Sandra Cisneros, a prominent, award-winning author of Chicana Literature (or literature written by Mexican-American women) in America.

I was silent as a child, and silenced as a young woman; I am taking my lumps and bumps for being a big mouth, now, but usually from those whose opinion I don’t respect. - Sandra Cisneros Author, Poet, Teacher

Sandra Cisneros’ work typically deals with the trials and tribulations, as well as social position of Latina women in America. The themes in her work focus on self-worth and challenging the identity that is forced on Mexican-American women who are often torn between cultures, the patriarchal standards of both Mexican and American society, and the deeply-rooted Madonna-whore incongruities to which female sexuality is often reduced in today’s world.

As a bilingual author, Cisneros artfully combines Spanish and English in her writing, articulating culturally specific concepts in Spanish in a way that is contextually clear to monoglot English readers. If you’re interested in checking out some of her work, try starting with some of her more well-known books, The House on Mango Street and Woman Hollering Creek and Other Stories. They’re both excellent reads!

And with that, we hope you have a great Monday. Feel free to join us in a resounding feliz cumpleaños for Miss Sandra Cisneros!

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During the long, cold weekend in Beijing, I was curled up on the couch reading through an old copy of The Hobbit when I came across a perfect Monday Morning Quote to help you cleverly stave off all the good mornings from your colleagues before that first cup of oh-so-welcome coffee. Straight from the mouth of Gandalf the Grey in response to the morning salutations of his friend Bilbo Baggins:

‘What do you mean,’ he said. ‘Do you wish me a good morning, or mean that it is a good morning whether I want it or not; or that you feel good this morning; or that it is a morning to be good on?’ - J.R.R. Tolkien via Gandalf in The Hobbit

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We hope you had a great weekend, folks, and welcome back for yet another Monday Morning Quote. Today’s quote is by the famous French author and philosopher, Voltaire, who wrote about reason, religion and liberty during the Age of Enlightenment. At the time, he was a frequenter of coffeehouses, which in their caffeine-loaded glory are noted by some historians to have been the impetus behind this new movement in higher thinking. In fact, Voltaire himself is said to have enjoyed anywhere from 50-70 cups a day (no wonder the guy was a bit of a nut).

Anything that is too stupid to be spoken is sung. - Voltaire Eighteenth Century Caffeine Addict

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In honor of his birthday this past Saturday (Nov. 27th), we thought it would be cool to share with you a Monday Morning Quote from the master of lightning fists himself, both actor, teacher, and philosopher—the indomitable Bruce Lee (李小龍). Contrary to popular belief (especially in China), Bruce Lee was actually a full-blooded American, having been born in China Town, San Francisco, only to move to Hong Kong with his family at three months of age.

Empty your mind, be formless. Shapeless, like water. If you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle and it becomes the bottle. You put it in a teapot it becomes the teapot. Now, water can flow or it can crash. Be water, my friend.

Interestingly enough (for someone who grew to become an international icon for martial machismo), Bruce Lee’s nickname growing up was Sai Fon (细鳳), which according to Lee’s online biography is a girl’s name meaning “Little Peacock” in Cantonese. This is because, after losing their first son within a few month’s after his birth, Lee’s parents felt that males born into their family were cursed with bad luck. So the female nickname given to Bruce was an attempt to trick any malignant ghosts that may have otherwise brought disaster on their newborn baby boy.

In spite of his cutesy beginnings, a little peacock Bruce Lee was not. For one, in his role as a celebrated martial arts instructor, Bruce Lee helped Chuck Norris become the human killing machine later known as Walker, Texas Ranger. In addition to having trained some of the world’s best known martial artists, Bruce Lee’s many skills also included performing one-hand pushups with only his thumb and forefinger, sending people flying across the room with his one-inch punches, and being an award-winning Cha-Cha dancer (betcha’ didn’t know that one!).

For those of you who grew up throwing air punches and kicks, who dreamt about learning the legendary dim mak touch of death on a secluded, arboreous mountain in China, be sure to dedicate a boisterous WAAAATAAAAAAAAH!! today to our friend and kung fu master, Mr. Bruce Lee.

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With the weather having taken a turn for the worse, it seems like half the office came down with a cold over the weekend. In between hacks and nose-blowings, we decided that a little bit of (perhaps misguided) health advice wouldn’t go amiss for this week’s Monday Morning Quote. So without further ado, today’s quote is by the delightfully snarky American satirist and man of letters, Samuel Langhorne Clemens.

Be careful about reading health books. You may die of a misprint. - Samuel Langhorne Clemens a.k.a. Mark Twain, the American novelist

Clemens, who is better known by his nom de plume, Mark Twain, is the author of several important works in the American literary canon, including The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court. Throughout his life, Clemens worked as a typesetter, a steamboat pilot (woot-woot!), a miner, a travel writer and, of course, a novelist.

Largely self-educated in public libraries, both Clemens’ life and his writing are marked by an incisive wit, which is clearly evident in a number of his famous quotes and public insults. He was also quite the eccentric, having correctly predicted his own death to coincide with the arrival of Halley’s Comet in April of 1910. Interestingly enough, Clemens was born shortly after the arrival of Halley’s Comet 75 years prior. Spooky, eh? But then again, we’ve come to expect nothing less from someone with such an awesome mustache.

And on that note, have a great Monday!

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