First You Have to Row a Little Boat

First You Have to Row a Little Boat: Reflections on Life & Living by Richard Bode. Published by Warner Books in 1993.

"Stop daydreaming!......... It was poor advice, as impossible to follow now as it was then (for the daydreaming boy is father to the daydreaming man). Longfellow was right: "A boy's will is the wind's will/And the thoughts of youth are long, long thoughts," and there is no admonition severe enough to dislodge the daydreams that fill a child's head. Rather than suppress those dreams, he should be ordered to obey them, for they are the true harbingers of his future self. They tell him who he is and what he wants and in which direction he should tend."

This inspiring little book, found in The Laundry Library, is full of sailing analogies as a guide for life's journey.