Spike Carlsen > Quotes

“This awesome world isn't just a spectator sport. It's symbiotic; it influences us, and we influence it." from A Walk Around the Block (Harper One)”
― Spike carlsen, A Walk Around the Block: Stoplight Secrets, Mischievous Squirrels, Manhole Mysteries & Other Stuff You See Every Day

“We find ourselves in the wake of a global pandemic. COVID-19 has opened my eyes to many things; the least of which is how many more people are now walking around the block for exercise, mental health, and, at least some kind of, social interaction. But the pandemic has magnified, and helped me see more clearly, other ideas found on these pages: That we’re all in this together – locally, nationally, and globally. That lots of people doing little things – social distancing, wearing masks, taking care of one another – can bend the curve of history in a positive direction.”
― Spike Carlsen, A Walk Around the Block: Stoplight Secrets, Mischievous Squirrels, Manhole Mysteries & Other Stuff You See Every Day

“Mensch tracht, Gott lacht. (Man plans, God laughs.) —Yiddish proverb”
― Spike Carlsen, Cabin Lessons: A Nail-by-Nail Tale: Building Our Dream Cottage from 2x4s, Blisters, and Love

“Mistakes are the dues you pay for living a full life. — Sophia Loren”
― Spike Carlsen, Cabin Lessons: A Nail-by-Nail Tale: Building Our Dream Cottage from 2x4s, Blisters, and Love

“One of the beauties of carpentry is the way pure theoretical math and the savagery of a swinging hammer merge. You”
― Spike Carlsen, Cabin Lessons: A Nail-by-Nail Tale: Building Our Dream Cottage from 2x4s, Blisters, and Love

“No cabin is complete without a woodburning stove or fireplace, even if that cabin is in Death Valley. Gas”
― Spike Carlsen, Cabin Lessons: A Nail-by-Nail Tale: Building Our Dream Cottage from 2x4s, Blisters, and Love

“When the last piece of drywall is hung, you won’t even be able to tell this skeleton is there. But it’s what makes a cabin, a cabin; so essential that when God started fiddling around with his second human being he didn’t start with a heart, muscle, or brain. He started with a part of the skeleton: the rib.”
― Spike Carlsen, Cabin Lessons: A Nail-by-Nail Tale: Building Our Dream Cottage from 2x4s, Blisters, and Love

“We should be better craftsmen of our own lives.”
― Spike Carlsen, Cabin Lessons: A Nail-by-Nail Tale: Building Our Dream Cottage from 2x4s, Blisters, and Love

“I better put on my tool belt so I can think,” and”
― Spike Carlsen, Cabin Lessons: A Nail-by-Nail Tale: Building Our Dream Cottage from 2x4s, Blisters, and Love

“When you marry, you marry the whole person — not just the parts above the waterline. You get both the silk sails and the barnacles.”
― Spike Carlsen, Cabin Lessons: A Nail-by-Nail Tale: Building Our Dream Cottage from 2x4s, Blisters, and Love

“Carpentry is a young person’s sport. It builds you up physically for the first few years, then starts tearing you down.”
― Spike Carlsen, Cabin Lessons: A Nail-by-Nail Tale: Building Our Dream Cottage from 2x4s, Blisters, and Love

“I reflect on Bicycle Bob Silverman, who prodded and pushed Montreal into being one of the best biking cities in the world. I think about Dan Buettner and the Blue Zones gang, who’ve shown entire cities of people how to live healthier and longer lives. I think about Bea Johnson, who through her passion and pint jar of trash has changed the way thousands of us view our garbage. I think about Dr. June McCarroll in California and Dadarao Bilhore in India – on their hands and knees – painting center lines and filling potholes, one by one, to make our roads safe.

These are people so passionate about changing some sliver of the world that they just rolled up their sleeves and dug in. They forged ahead without job title, majority vote, business card, salary, office, or political affiliation. Writer Thomas Friedman refers to these people as “leaders without authority.” Where do we find more?

Well, we can start by taking a selfie.
And listening to a pair of voices from the past.

Alexis de Tocqueville – a man absolutely smitten by democracy in America – reminds us that one of the beauties of living in a democracy is that policies aren’t decreed from on high by “church and state” but from the bottom up, by “village and congregation.”

And anthropologist Margaret Mead expounds, “never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”
― spike carlsen, A Walk Around the Block: Stoplight Secrets, Mischievous Squirrels, Manhole Mysteries & Other Stuff You See Every Day

“I see nothing but strength. Sisu, the Finns call it.”
― Spike Carlsen, Cabin Lessons: A Nail-by-Nail Tale: Building Our Dream Cottage from 2x4s, Blisters, and Love

“To fill the jugs we kneel on jagged rock and force them underwater, using the muscle mechanics you’d use drowning a hippo. We”
― Spike Carlsen, Cabin Lessons: A Nail-by-Nail Tale: Building Our Dream Cottage from 2x4s, Blisters, and Love

“Gloves dried by the fire feel warmer, bread risen by the fire tastes better, tea made from water heated in a kettle over the fire makes you cozier.”
― Spike Carlsen, Cabin Lessons: A Nail-by-Nail Tale: Building Our Dream Cottage from 2x4s, Blisters, and Love

“The quandary with life is you’re halfway through before you realize it’s a do-it-yourself project.”
― Spike Carlsen, Cabin Lessons: A Nail-by-Nail Tale: Building Our Dream Cottage from 2x4s, Blisters, and Love

“When you lash two boats together, you don’t just join ropes, but sails and anchors as well. When”
― Spike Carlsen, Cabin Lessons: A Nail-by-Nail Tale: Building Our Dream Cottage from 2x4s, Blisters, and Love

“Different woods excel at different things, depending on their personalities. Windsor chair makers use a variety of woods: hickory for spindles because of its strength; ash for the hooped back because of its bendability; basswood for the contoured seat because of its availability in thick, wide planks; and maple for the legs because its fine grain is easy to work with on the lathe. You can flip-flop the roles of these woods, but a true craftsman understands the strengths and weaknesses of his woods and uses them wisely. He”
― Spike Carlsen, Cabin Lessons: A Nail-by-Nail Tale: Building Our Dream Cottage from 2x4s, Blisters, and Love

“When you dig a hole, be smarter than the shovel.”
― Spike Carlsen, Cabin Lessons: A Nail-by-Nail Tale: Building Our Dream Cottage from 2x4s, Blisters, and Love

“He is a woodworker; I’m a carpenter. We both work wood, but the way we approach it, and the tools we use, differ greatly.”
― Spike Carlsen, Cabin Lessons: A Nail-by-Nail Tale: Building Our Dream Cottage from 2x4s, Blisters, and Love