"Kindness is more important than wisdom, and the recognition of

this is the beginning of wisdom".

-Theodore Isaac Rubin

"Happiness cannot be traveled to, owned, earned, worn or consumed. Happiness is the spiritual experience of living every minute with love, grace and gratitude".

Denis Waitley

"A new idea is delicate. It can be killed by a sneer or a yawn; it can be stabbed to death by a joke or worried to death by a frown on the right person's brow".

Charles Browe

 

"I am enough of an artist to draw freely upon my imagination. Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world".

-- Albert Einstein

"Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: The last of his freedoms -- to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way".
  -- Viktor E. Frankl, from Man's Search for Meaning

"Desire is the key to motivation, but it's the determination and commitment to an unrelenting pursuit of your goal - a commitment to excellence - that will enable you to attain the success you seek". Mario Andretti

"Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure . . . than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in a grey twilight that knows not victory nor defeat".
Theodore Roosevelt

"Forget past mistakes. Forget failures. Forget about everything except what you're going to do now - and do"

William Durant

"Fortunately, somewhere between chance and mystery lies imagination, the only thing that protects our freedom, despite the fact that people keep trying to reduce it or kill it off altogether' Luis Bunuel.

"Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path

and leave a trail".

 

Ralph Waldo Emerson

 

"We live in deeds, not years: In thoughts not breaths; In feelings, not in figures on a dial. We should count time by heart throbs. He most lives Who thinks most, feels the noblest, acts the best." David Bailey

"You're alive. Do something. The directive in life, the moral imperative was so uncomplicated. It could be expressed in single words, not complete sentences. It sounded like this: Look. Listen. Choose. Act".

Barbara Hall

"If one woman sees another woman as successful, that woman will never fail, never feel alone.................." Florence Scovel Shinn

"Consult not your fears but your hopes and your dreams. Think not about your frustrations, but about your unfulfilled potential. Concern yourself not with what you tried and failed in, but with what it is still possible for you to do."  Pope John XX111

"Finish each day / And be done with it / You have done what you could / Some blunders and / Absurdities have crept in / Forget them as soon as you can / Tomorrow is a new day / You shall begin it serenely / And with too high a spirit / To be encumbered by / Your old nonsense."   Ralph Waldo Emerson

"A human being is part of a whole, called by us the 'Universe,' a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings, as something separated from the rest--a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circles of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty."  Albert Einstein

"Never allow anyone to rain on your parade and thus cast a pall of gloom and defeat on the entire day. Remember that no talent, no self-denial, no brains, no character, are required to set up in the fault-finding business. Nothing external can have any power over you unless you permit it. Your time is too precious to be sacrificed in wasted days combating the menial forces of hate, jealously, and envy. Guard your fragile life carefully. Only God can shape a flower, but any foolish child can pull it to pieces".
Og Mandino

What if you slept? And what if, in your sleep, you dreamed?
And what if, in your dream, you went to heaven
and there plucked an strange and beautiful flower?
And what if, when you awoke, you had the flower in your hand?
Ah, what then?

Samuel Taylor Coleridge

"Oh the comfort, the inexpressible comfort of feeling safe with a person, having neither to weigh thoughts nor measure words, but pouring them all right out, just as they are -- chaff and grain together -- certain that a faithful hand will take and sift them, keep what is worth keeping, and with the breath of kindness blow the rest away.…"
Dinah Mulock

"Affirmations are like prescriptions for certain aspects of yourself you want to change".

Jerry Frankhauser

"Often people attempt to live their lives backwards; they try
to have more things, or more money, in order to do more of
what they want, so they will be happier. The way it actually works is the reverse.
You must first be who you really are, then do what you need to do, in order to have what you want".
~Margaret Young

"Often we can achieve an even better result when we stumble yet are willing to start over, when we don't give up after a mistake, when something doesn't come easily but we throw ourselves into trying, when we're not afraid to appear less than perfectly polished". Sharon Salzberg

"You're alive. Do something. The directive in life, the moral imperative was so uncomplicated. It could be expressed in single words, not complete sentences. It sounded like this: Look. Listen. Choose. Act". Barbara Hall

"Energy is the essence of life. Every day you decide how you're going to use it by knowing what you want and what it takes to reach that goal, and by maintaining focus". Oprah Winfrey

"Slow down and enjoy life. It's not only the scenery you miss by going too fast - you also miss the sense of where you are going and why". Eddie Cantor

"Change has a considerable psychological impact on the human mind. To the fearful it is threatening because it means that things may get worse. To the hopeful it is encouraging because things may get better. To the confident it is inspiring because the challenge

exists to make things better". King Whitney Jr.

 

"Imagination is the beginning of creation. You imagine what you desire, you will what you imagine and at last you create what you will". George Bernard Shaw

“When you engage in systematic, purposeful action, using and stretching your abilities to the maximum, you cannot help but feel positive and confident about yourself.” – Brian Tracy

“The starting point of all achievement is desire. Keep this constantly in mind. Weak desires bring weak results, just as a small amount of fire makes a small amount of heat.” - Napoleon Hill

"There is only one admirable form of the imagination: the imagination that is so intense that it creates a new reality, that it makes things happen". Sean O'Faolain

"The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, but wiser people so full of doubts". Bertrand Russell

"To go against the dominant thinking of your friends, of most of the people you see every day, is perhaps the most difficult act of heroism you can perform." - Theodore White

"Guard well within yourself that treasure, kindness. Know how to give without hesitation, how to lose without regret, how to acquire without meanness". George Sand

"I cannot believe that the inscrutable universe turns on an axis of suffering; surely the strange beauty of the world must somewhere rest on pure joy!" Louise Bogan

"Our lives improve only when we take chances - and the first and most difficult risk we can take is to be honest with ourselves". Walter Anderson

"Do what you feel in your heart to be right - for you'll be criticized anyway. You'll be damned if you do, and damned if you don't". Eleanor Roosevelt

"It is difficult to say what is impossible, for the dream of yesterday is the hope of today and the reality of tomorrow". Robert H. Goddard

"You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, 'I have lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.' You must do the thing you think you cannot do". Eleanor Roosevelt

"The best thing to give to your enemy is forgiveness; to an opponent, tolerance; to a friend, your heart; to your child, a good example; to a father, deference; to your mother, conduct that will make her proud of you; to yourself, respect; to all men, charity". Francis Maitland Balfour

"We should be taught not to wait for inspiration to start a thing. Action always generates inspiration. Inspiration seldom generates action". Frank Tibolt

"The truth is that there is nothing noble in being superior to somebody else. The only real nobility is in being superior to your former self". Whitney Young

"A human being is only interesting if he's in contact with himself. I learned you have to trust yourself, be what you are, and do what you ought to do the way you should do it. You have got to discover you, what you do, and trust it". Barbra Streisand

"When you make a mistake, don't look back at it long. Take the reason of the thing into your mind and then look forward. Mistakes are lessons of wisdom. The past cannot be changed. The future is yet in your power". Hugh White

"The third-rate mind is only happy when it is thinking with the majority. The second-rate mind is only happy when it is thinking with the minority. The first-rate mind is only happy when it is thinking".

A. A. Milne

"Go confidently in the direction of your dreams! Live the life you've imagined. As you simplify your life, the laws of the universe will be simpler". Henry David Thoreau

"What a man accomplishes in a day depends upon the way in which he approaches his tasks. When we accept tough jobs as a challenge...and wade into them with joy and enthusiasm, miracles can happen. When we do our work with a dynamic conquering spirit, we get things done".

Arland Gilbert

"If you limit your choices only to what seems possible or reasonable, you disconnect yourself from what you truly want, and all that is left is a compromise". Robert Fritz

"Life is either a daring adventure or nothing. Security does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than exposure".

Helen Keller

" It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it". —Aristotle

"Be fit for more than the thing you are now doing. Let everyone know that you have a reserve in yourself; that you have more power than you are now using. If you are not too large for the place you occupy,you are too small for it". James A. Garfield

"If men would consider not so much wherein they differ, as wherein they agree, there would be far less of uncharitableness and angry feeling". Joseph Addison

"Change has a considerable psychological impact on the human mind. To the fearful it is threatening because it means that things may get worse. To the hopeful it is encouraging because things may get better. To the confident it is inspiring because the challenge exists to make things better". King Whitney Jr.

"The problem is never how to get new, innovative thoughts into your mind, but how to get old ones out. Every mind is a building filled with archaic furniture. Clean out a corner of your mind and

creativity will instantly fill it."Dee Hock

"Holding on to anger, resentment and hurt only gives you tense muscles, a headache and a sore jaw from clenching your teeth. Forgiveness gives you back the laughter and the lightness in your life." Joan Lunden

"The reason most people never reach their goals is that they don't define them, or ever seriously consider them as believable or achievable. Winners can tell you where they are going, what they plan to do along the way, and who will be sharing the adventure with them." Denis Watley

"To use fear as the friend it is, we must retrain and reprogram ourselves...We must persistently and convincingly tell ourselves that the fear is here--with its gift of energy and heightened awareness--so we can do our best and learn the most in the new situation." Peter McWilliams

"Don't be too timid and squeamish about your actions. All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better." Ralph Waldo Emerson

"One of the illusions of life is that the present hour is not the critical, decisive hour. Write it on your heart that every day is the best day of the year. He only is rich who owns the day, and no one owns the day who allows it to be invaded with worry, fret and anxiety. Finish every day, and be done with it. You have done what you could" Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Seize the moment of excited curiosity on any subject to solve your doubts; for if you let it pass, the desire may never return, and you may remain in ignorance." William Wirt

"It seems to me that people have vast potential. Most people can do extraordinary things if they have the confidence or take the risks. Yet most people don't. They sit in front of the telly and treat life as if it goes on forever." Philip Adams

"Great spirits have always found violent opposition from mediocrities. The latter cannot understand it when a man does not thoughtlessly submit to hereditary prejudices, but honestly and courageously uses his intelligence and fulfills the duty to express the results of his thought in clear form." Albert Einstein

"You have to recognize when the right place and the right time fuse and take advantage of that opportunity. There are plenty of opportunities out there. You can't sit back and wait." Ellen Metcalf

"Perhaps the most valuable result of all education is the ability to make yourself do the thing you have to do, when it ought to be done, whether you like it or not; it is the first lesson that ought to be learned; and however early a man's training begins, it is probably the last lesson that he learns thoroughly." Thomas H. Huxley

"Ideals are like stars: you will not succeed in touching them with your hands, but like the seafaring man on the ocean desert of waters, you choose them as your guides, and following them, you reach your destiny." Carl Schurz

 

"The moment we begin to fear the opinions of others and hesitate to tell the truth that is in us, and from motives of policy are silent when we should speak, the divine floods of light and life no longer flow into our souls." Elizabeth Cady Stanton

"The idea of perfect closes your mind to new standards.. When you drive hard toward one ideal, you miss opportunities and paths, not to mention hurting your confidence. Believe in your potential and then go out and explore it; don’t limit it." John Eliot, Ph.D.

"Accept everything about yourself I mean everything, you are you and that is the beginning and the end no apologies, no regrets." Clark Moustakas

“You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, ‘I have lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.’ You must do the thing you think you cannot do.” Eleanor Roosevelt

Pride sullies the noblest character. Claudianus "When dealing with people, let us remember we are not dealing with creatures of logic. We are dealing with creatures of emotion, creatures bustling with prejudices and motivated by pride and vanity."

Dale Carnegie

"I said to myself, I have things in my head that are not like what anyone has taught me - shapes and ideas so near to me - so natural to my way of being and thinking that it hasn't occurred to me to put them down. I decided to start anew, to strip away what I had been taught." Georgia O'Keeffe

"Courage and perseverance have a magical talisman, before which difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish into air." John Quincy Adams

"I've come to believe that each of us has a personal calling that's as unique as a fingerprint - and that the best way to succeed is to discover what you love and then find a way to offer it to others in the form of service, working hard, and also allowing the energy of the universe to lead you."Oprah Winfrey

"Every time you suppress some part of yourself or allow others to play you small, you are in essence ignoring the owner's manual your creator gave you and destroying your design." Oprah Winfrey

"Those who never retract their opinions love themselves more than they love the truth." -Joseph Joubert

"Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful." Albert Schweitzer

"Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs even though checkered by failure, than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much because they live in the gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat" Theodore Roosevelt

"If we were to wake up some morning and find that everyone was the same race, creed and color, we would find some other cause for prejudice by noon." George Aiken

"I expect to pass through this world but once; any good thing therefore that I can do, or any kindness that I can show to any fellow creature, let me do it now; let me not defer or neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again." Ettiene De Grellet

"Forgiveness does not always lead to a healed relationship. Some people are not capable of love, and it might be wise to let them go along with your anger. Wish them well, and let them go their way." Real Live Preacher

"We should be taught not to wait for inspiration to start a thing. Action always generates inspiration. Inspiration seldom generates action." Frank Tibolt

"Do the one thing you think you cannot do. Fail at it. Try again. Do better the second time. The only people who never tumble are those who never mount the high wire. This is your moment. Own it." Oprah Winfrey

"First it is necessary to stand on your own two feet. But the minute a man finds himself in that position, the next thing he should do is reach out his arms." Kristin Hunter

"If you do not express your own original ideas, if you do not listen to your own being, you will have betrayed yourself. The opposite of courage in our society is not cowardice, it is conformity" Rollo May

"Live neither in the past nor in the future, but let each day's work absorb your entire energies, and satisfy your widest ambition." Sir William Osler

"If we fight against the waves that pass over us in life, we are overpowered. If we move with the waves in life as they roll over us, the wave passes on." Pesikta Zutarti

"If you are looking for a friend who has no faults, you will have no friends" Hasidic Folk Saying

“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” Maya Angelou

“The most valuable things in life are not measured in monetary terms. The really important things are not houses, lands, stocks and bonds, cars and real estate, but friendships, trust, confidence, empathy, mercy, love and faith" Bertrand Russell Delong

"Remember, life is not what happens to you but what you make of what happens to you. Everyone dies, but not everyone fully lives. Too many people are having 'near-life experiences'" Anonymous

"When an emotional injury takes place, the body begins a process as natural as the healing of a physical wound. Let the process happen. Trust that nature will do the healing. Know that the pain will pass and, when it passes, you will be stronger, happier, more sensitive and aware." Melba Colgrove

"Never fear spoiling children by making them too happy. Happiness is the atmosphere in which all good affections grow" Ann Eliza Bray

"The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the past, nor to worry about the future, but to live the present moment wisely and earnestly." Budda

"To those who need encouragement, remember this: Beware of quitting too soon. Dr. Seuss' first children's book was rejected by 23 publishers. The 24th publisher sold 6 million copies" Ann Landers

"Beginning today, treat everyone you meet as if they were going to be dead by midnight. Extend to them all the care, kindness and understanding you can muster, and do with no thought of any reward. Your life will never be the same again." Og Mandino

"In the long run you will receive more from life doing the job you enjoy than you will ever earn in money from a job you loathe." Terry Mayfield

"Worry a little every day and in a lifetime you will lose a couple of years. If something is wrong fix it if you can. But train yourself not to worry. Worry never fixes anything." Mary Hemingway

"Life is no brief candle to me. It is a sort of splendid torch which I've got hold of for the moment and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to the future generations."George Bernard Shaw

"Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs even though checkered by failures, than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy or suffer much because they live in the gray twilight that knows neither victory or defeat." Theodore Roosevelt

"One of the things I learned the hard way was that it doesn't pay to get discouraged. Keeping busy and making optimism a way of life can restore your faith in yourself" Lucille Ball

"Do not anticipate trouble, or worry about what may never happen. Keep in the sunlight". Benjamin Franklin

"Go confidently in the direction of your dreams! Live the life you've imagined. As you simplify your life, the laws of the universe will be simpler". Henry David Thoreau

"Great minds discuss ideas. Average minds discuss events. Small minds discuss people". Eleanor Roosevelt

"When you hold resentment toward another, you are bound to that person or condition by an emotional link that is stronger than steel. Forgiveness is the only way to dissolve that link and get free." Catherine Ponder

"We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." US Declaration of Independence

"The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing. One cannot help but be in awe when he contemplates the mysteries of eternity, of life, of the marvelous structure of reality. It is enough if one tries merely to comprehend a little of this mystery every day. Never lose a holy curiosity". Albert Einstein

"Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds." Albert Einstein

"Never continue in a job you don't enjoy. If you're happy in what you're doing, you'll like yourself, you'll have inner peace. And if you have that, along with physical health, you will have had more success than you could possibly have imagined." Johnny Carson

"The most important work you and I will ever do will be within the walls of our own homes". Harold B. Lee

"Humor is the great thing, the saving thing. The minute it crops up, all our irritations and resentments slip away and a sunny spirit takes their place". Mark Twain

"Risk! Risk anything! Care no more for the opinions of others, for those voices. Do the hardest thing on earth for you. Act for yourself. Face the truth." Katherine Mansfield

I've come to believe that each of us has a personal calling that's as unique as a fingerprint - and that the best way to succeed is to discover what you love and then find a way to offer it to others in the form of service, working hard, and also allowing the energy of the universe to lead you". Oprah Winfrey

"Chance is always powerful. Let your hook be always cast; in the pool where you least expect it,there will be a fish". Ovid

"The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, but wiser people so full of doubts." Bertrand Russell

"Imagination is the beginning of creation. You imagine what you desire, you will what you imagine and at last you create what you will." George Bernard Shaw

"Seize the moment of excited curiosity on any subject to solve your doubts; for if you let it pass, the desire may never return, and you may remain in ignorance." William Wirt

"Sometime things which at the moment may be perceived as obstacles - and actually be obstacles, difficulties, or drawbacks - can in the long run result in some good end which would not have occurred if it had not been for the obstacle". Steve Allen

"Stress is the resistance to what's happening right now. As we allow oursleves to open to this moment fully, there is absolutely no stress". Stephan Rechtschaffen

"The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts". Marcus Antonius

"Every day you may make progress. Every step may be fruitful. Yet there will stretch out before you an ever-lengthening, ever-ascending, ever-improving path. You know you will never get to the end of the journey. But this, so far from discouraging, only adds to the joy and glory of the climb." Sir Winston Churchill

"Learn the art of patience. Apply discipline to your thoughts when they become anxious over the outcome of a goal. Impatience breeds anxiety, fear, discouragement and failure. Patience creates confidence, decisiveness, and a rational outlook, which eventually leads to success". Brian Adams

"Because you are in control of your life. Don't ever forget that. You are what you are because of the conscious and subconscious choices you have made". Barbara Hall

"They envy the distinction I have won; let them therefore, envy my toils, my honesty, and the methods by which I gained it". Sallust

Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs even though checkered by failure, than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much because they live in the gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat". Theodore Roosevel

t"The grand essentials to hapiness in this life are something to do, something to love, and something to hope for". Joseph Addison

"Our greatest glory is not in never failing, but in rising up every time we fail". Ralph Waldo Emerson

"The great pleasure in life is doing what people say you cannot do". Walter Bagehot

"The simple truth is that happy people generally don't get sick" Bernie Siegel

"You can have big plans, but it's the small choices that have the greatest power. They draw us toward the future we want to create". Robert Cooper

"Do not waste time bothering whether you 'love' your neighbor; act as if you did. As soon as we do this we find one of the great secrets. When you are behaving as if you loved someone you will presently come to love him." C.S. Lewis

"The world is my country, all mankind are my brethren, and to do good is my religion". Thomas Paine

"Aim for success, not perfection. Never give up your right to be wrong, because then you will lose the ability to learn new things and move forward with your life". Dr. David M. Burns

"A new idea is delicate. It can be killed by a sneer or a yawn; it can be stabbed to death by a joke or worried to death by a frown on the right person's brow". -- Charles Brower

"If you feel safe in the world and know that your thoughts create your reality, you can allow others to be the way they are. Others do not determine your safety or your good." Layne and Paul Cutright, Secrets and Strategies For Successful Relationships

"Have patience with all things, but chiefly have patience with yourself. Do not lose courage in considering your own imperfections but instantly set about remedying them -- every day begin the task anew." Saint Francis de Sales

" Action is the foundational key to all success". Pablo Picasso

"Like an ability or a muscle, hearing your inner wisdom is strengthened by doing it". Robbie Gass

"If we did all the things that we are capable of doing, we would literally astound ourselves". Thomas Edison

"God gave you a gift of 86,400 seconds today. Have you used one to say "thank you?" ~William A. Ward

"Start by doing what's necessary; then do what's possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible." ~ St. Francis of Assisi

" I made no resolutions for the New Year. The habit of making plans, of criticizing, sanctioning and molding my life, is too much of a daily event for me". Anais Nin

"Learn the art of patience. Apply discipline to your thoughts when they become anxious over the outcome of a goal. Impatience breeds anxiety, fear, discouragement and failure. Patience creates confidence, decisiveness, and a rational outlook, which eventually leads to success". Brian Adams

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream". Discover. Mark Twain

"The supreme prayer of my heart is not to be learned, rich, famous, powerful, or "good", but simply to be radiant. I desire to radiate health, cheerfulness, calm courage, and good will. I wish to live without hate, whim, jealousy, envy, fear. I wish to be simple, honest, frank, natural, clean in mind and clean in body, unaffected - as ready to say "I do not know", if it be so, and to meet all men on an absolute equality - to face any obstacle and meet every difficulty unabashed and unafraid. I wish others to live their lives, too - up to their highest, fullest, and best. To that end I pray that I may never meddle, interfere, dictate, give advice that is not wanted, or assist when my services are not needed. If I can help people, I'll do it by giving them a chance to help themselves; and if I can uplift or inspire, let it be by example, inference, and suggestion, rather than by injunction and dictation. That is to say, I desire to be radiant - to radiate life". -Elbert Hubbard

Love, Life & Work; Roycroft Press

"Never allow anyone to rain on your parade and thus cast a pall of gloom and defeat on the entire day. Remember that no talent, no self-denial, no brains, no character, are required to set up in the fault-finding business. Nothing external can have any power over you unless you permit it. Your time is too precious to be sacrificed in wasted days combating the menial forces of hate, jealously, and envy. Guard your fragile life carefully. Only God can shape a flower, but any foolish child can pull it to pieces".-Og Mandino

"The trouble with so many of us is that we underestimate the power of simplicity. We have a tendency it seems to over complicate our lives and forget what's important and what's not. We tend to mistake movement for achievement. We tend to focus on activities instead of results. And as the pace of life continues to race along in the outside world, we forget that we have the power to control our lives regardless of what's going on outside".

Robert Stuberg

"When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has opened for us." -Helen Keller

"My angel, - his name is Freedom, Choose him to be your king; He shall cut pathways east and west. And fend you with his wing". -Ralph Waldo Emerson

" Live. And Live Well. BREATHE. Breathe in and Breathe deeply. Be PRESENT. Do not be past. Do not be future. Be now. On a crystal clear, breezy 70 degree day, roll down the windows and FEEL the wind against your skin. Feel the warmth of the sun. If you run, then allow those first few breaths on a cool Autumn day to FREEZE your lungs and do not just be alarmed, be ALIVE. Get knee-deep in a novel and LOSE track of time. If you bike, pedal HARD… and if you crash then crash well. Feel the SATISFACTION of a job well done-a paper well-written, a project thoroughly completed, a play well-performed. If you must wipe the snot from your 3-year old's nose, don't be disgusted if the Kleenex didn't catch it all… because soon he'll be wiping his own. If you've recently experienced loss, then GRIEVE. And Grieve well. At the table with friends and family, LAUGH. If you're eating and laughing at the same time, then might as well laugh until you puke. And if you eat, then SMELL. The aromas are not impediments to your day. Steak on the grill, coffee beans freshly ground, cookies in the oven. And TASTE. Taste every ounce of flavor. Taste every ounce of friendship. Taste every ounce of Life. Because-it-is-most-definitely-a-Gift."

-Kyle Lake, Sermon

"Prepare your mind to receive the best that life has to offer." Ernest Holmes

 

"Everybody prays whether [you think] of it as praying or not. The odd silence you fall into when something very beautiful is happening or something very good or very bad. The ah-h-h-h! that sometimes floats up out of you as out of a Fourth of July crowd when the sky-rocket bursts over the water. The stammer of pain at somebody else's pain. The stammer of joy at somebody else's joy. Whatever words or sounds you use for sighing with over your own life. These are all prayers in their way. These are all spoken not just to yourself but to something even more familiar than yourself and even more strange than the world". -Frederick Buechner

"We all have the means to bestow on others the most lavish gifts; love, joy, peace, hope, kindness, acceptance, encouragement, laughter, forgiveness, time. There is not enough money to buy them and not too little money to give them. The more you spend, the wealthier you become; yet nothing will cost you more than what you freely possess to give". -Eden Eliot

"Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail".Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Our minds have the need to “know.” When we don’t know, we make assumptions - they make us feel safer than not knowing. And we are pretty much always making assumptions. We assume that we know how someone is going to react to us. We assume that our efforts will or will not be successful. And not only do we believe our assumptions about what other people are thinking, but then we end up taking those assumptions personally and even end up resenting the person. To avoid assumptions, ask questions. It takes courage to trust the present moment, to allow other people to be exactly who they are, and to let life unfold according to its own plan… and it avoids a great deal of suffering". -Don Miguel Ruiz, The Four Agreements

"The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing. One cannot help but be in awe when he contemplates the mysteries of eternity, of life, of the marvelous structure of reality". -Edmund Burke

"While we are focusing on fear, worry, or hate, it is not possible for us to be experiencing happiness, enthusiasm or love". -Bo Bennett

"Nothing is as real as a dream. The world can change around you, but your dream will not. Responsibilities need not erase it. Duties need not obscure it. Because the dream is within you, no one can take it away". -Tom Clancy

"Continuous excellent effort, not maximum strength or superior IQ, is thekey to unlocking your potential as an achiever". -Greg Werner

"Never forget that you are one of a kind. Never forget that if there weren't any need for you in all your uniqueness to be on this earth, you wouldn't be here in the first place. And never forget, no matter how overwhelming life's challenges and problems seem to be, that one person can make a difference in the world. In fact, it is always because of one person that all the changes that matter in the world come about. So be that one person". Richard Buckminster Fuller

"Our job is to love others without stopping to inquire whether or not they are worthy. That is not our business and, in fact, it is nobody's business. What we are asked to do is to love, and this love itself will render both ourselves and our neighbors worthy if anything can". -Thomas Merton

"Live out of your imagination, not your history." Stephen Covey

"You will find as you look back upon your life that the moments when you have truly lived are the moments when you have done things in the spirit of love." Henry Drummond

"The person with a fixed goal, a clear picture of his desire, or an ideal always before him, causes it, through repetition, to be buried deeply in his subconscious mind and is thus enabled, thanks to its generative and sustaining power, to realize his goal in a minimum of time and with a minimum of physical effort. Just pursue the thought unceasingly. Step by step you will achieve realization, for all your faculties and powers become directed to that end". Claude M. Bristol

"Unease, anxiety, tension, stress, worry — all forms of fear — are cause by too much future, and not enough presence. Guilt, regret, resentment, grievances, sadness, bitterness, and all forms of nonforgiveness are caused by too much past, and not enough presence". Eckhart Tolle

But Oh! The blessing it is to have a friend to whom one can speak fearless on any subject; with whom one's deepest as well as one's most foolish thoughts come out simply and safely. Oh, the comfort - the inexpressible comfort of feeling safe with a person - having neither to weigh thoughts nor measure words, but pouring them all right out, just as they are, chaff and grain together; certain that a faithful hand will take and sift them, keep what is worth keeping, and then with the breath of kindness blow the rest away." Dinah Maria Mulock Craik, A Life for a Life, 1866

"The two most powerful weapons are courage and persistence. Nothing can stop a person armed with both". Scott Sorrell

"Life is known only by those who have found a way to be comfortable with change and the unknown. Given the nature of life, there may be no security, but only adventure". Rachel Naomi Remen

"It is said an eastern monarch once charged his wise men to invent a sentence, to be ever in view, and which should be true and appropriate in all times and situations. They presented him with the words, 'And this, too, shall pass away.' How much it expresses! How chastening in the hour of pride! How consoling in the depths of affliction! Abraham Lincoln

"Work joyfully and peacefully, knowing that right thoughts and right efforts inevitably bring about right results." -James Allen

"Happiness is like a butterfly; the more you chase it, the more it will elude you, but if you turn your attention to other things, it will come and sit softly on your shoulder.."Henry David Thoreau

"Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could; some blunders and absurdities have crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; you shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense." Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Joy is one of nature's greatest medicines. Joy is always healthy. A pleasant state of mind tends to bring abnormal conditions back to normal" Catherine Ponder

"Every man is a hero and oracle to somebody, and to that person, whatever he says has an enhanced value". Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Joy exists only in self-acceptance. Seek perfect acceptance, not a perfect life" Anon

"The only way to discover the limits of the possible is to go beyond them, to the impossible". Arthur C Clarke

"Courage and perseverance have a magical talisman, before which difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish into air". John Quincy Adams

"Every day is irreplaceable, so don't ruin yours by allowing the negative moods of others to pull you into their frame of mind". Anon

"Remember, life is not what happens to you but what you make of what happens to you. Everyone dies, but not everyone fully lives. Too many people are having 'near-life experiences'." Anon