Buddha took some Autumn leaves
In his hand and asked
Ananda if these were all
The red leaves there were.
Ananda answered that it
Was autumn and leaves
Were falling all about them,
More than could ever
be numbered. So Buddha said,
"I have given you
A handful of truths. Besides
These there are many
Thousands of other truths, more
Than can ever be numbered."
From "The City of the Moon"
by Kenneth Rexroth
Quotations
from Ernest Holmes
I
AM, what more can I say? I am, it is enough.
Communion
with God brings harmony into our lives and affairs; establishes the law of
health and prosperity, and makes us a light to all who cross our pathway.
A
little light in a dark room is still a great illumination.
One
of the first things to do, is to love everybody ... with love, all things are
possible ... and the one who has learned to love all people will find plenty of
people who will return that love.
Someone
has said that the entire world is suffering from one big fear ... the fear that
God will not answer our prayers ... Love alone can overcome fear because Love
surrenders itself to the object of its adoration. The soul must make a
complete surrender of itself to the Spirit ... The will of the Spirit is peace,
clear thinking and happiness, It could have no other will.
From
The Science of Mind
"Never limit your view of life by any past
experience. The possibility of life is inherent within the capacity to
imagine what life is, backed by the power to produce this imagery, or Divine
Imagination. It is not a question of failing or succeeding. It is
simply a question of sticking to an idea until it becomes a tangible reality.
The illusion is in the way we look at things. We have looked at poverty,
degradation and misery until they have assumed gigantic proportions. Now
we must look at harmony, happiness, plenty, prosperity, peace and right action,
until they appear." [...] "During
the process, many things may happen that
appear to be destructive. We may pass through good fortune and bad, but if we
can come to the point where we are not disturbed by "things" we have
found the secret." [...] "Know your own mind. Train yourself to
think what you wish to think; be what you wish to be; feel what you wish to
feel, and place no limit on Principles!"
We
are not down trodden, depraved and miserable sinners, born in sin and conceived
in iniquity and shame, some to go to heaven and some to hell and all to the
eternal glory of God. This is a lie, it always was and always will be ...
Man is born of the Spirit of God Almighty, is pure, holy, perfect, complete and
undefiled; is at one with his eternal principle of being ... We live in Spirit
awaiting the touch of thought that believes.
Spirit never fails. Affirm this until it
is a very part of your being... failure is a false thought and has no truth in
it. It is a belief in lack and there is no lack
From
This Thing Called Life
We must become artists in living. To live
by inspiration means to sense the divine touch in everything; to enter into the
spirit of things; to enter into the joy of living.
The mind is a magnet and we attract that with
which we identify the self. In order to get the most out of life we must
learn consciously to change many of our habitual thought patterns. If you
are filled with fear, refill yourself with faith, for faith always overcomes
fear.
Miscellaneous
Collected
Inspirational
Quotations
It
is never too late to give up our prejudices. -Henry David Thoreau--
Love,
compassion, and tolerance are necessities, not luxuries. Without them,
humanity cannot survive. If you have a particular faith or religion, that
is good. But you can survive without it if you have love, compassion, and
tolerance. His Holiness the Dalai Lama, For the Love of God
"If you had a different concept of yourself, everything would be different.
You are what you are, so everything is as it is. The events which you
observe are determined by the concept you have of yourself. If
you change your concept of yourself, the events ahead of you in time are
altered, but, thus altered, they form a deterministic sequence starting from the
moment of this changed concept. You are a being with powers of
intervention, which enable you, by a change of consciousness, to alter the
course of observed events--in fact, to change your future."
Neville
“Things
don't change, only the way you look at them.” Carlos Castaneda
“Healing
does not mean going back to the way things were before, but rather allowing what
is now to move us closer to God.” Ram Dass, Still Here : Embracing
Aging, Changing, and Dying
"Whatever
you can do, or dream you can do, begin it.
Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it." -Goethe-
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
If
all my friends were to jump off a bridge I wouldn't follow, I would be at the
bottom ready to catch them when they fell. Author: Unknown
"Silence
in modesty speaks louder than bold words. The cracker cries aloud, "I am
the light," and is extinguished in a moment; the diamond, shining
constantly, never says a word about its light." Hazrat Inayat Khan
"To
be creative means not to be limited by what we've inherited from the past, but
to be something new, to be yourself, to affirm something that has never been
done in the past." -
Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan
The
purpose of the whole creation is the realization that God Himself gains by
discovering His own perfection through His manifestation. The Divine mind
becomes completed after manifestation. The creator's mind is made of His own
creation. The experience of every soul becomes the experience of the Divine
mind. Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan,
Unity of Religious Ideals
For
life means not only to live, but to ennoble oneself and reach that perfection
which is the innate yearning of the soul. The solution to the problem of the day
is the awakening of the consciousness of humanity to the divinity of man.
Hazrat Inayat Khan
"What
good is knowledge if it doesn't lift you above yourself?" – Rumi
“We
are not human beings on a spiritual journey. We are spiritual beings on a human
journey.” Stephen Covey
“We
do not believe in ourselves until someone reveals that deep inside us is
valuable, worth listening to, worthy of our trust, sacred to our touch. Once we
believe in ourselves we can risk curiosity, wonder, spontaneous delight or any
experience that reveals the human spirit.”- e.e. cummings
"If
you cannot find peace within yourself, you will never find it anywhere else."
Marvin Gaye
Forgiveness
is the economy of the heart...Forgiveness saves the expense of anger, the cost
of hatred, the waste of spirits. Hannah More
Inward
spiritual practices such as meditation, breathing techniques and self-analysis
generate insights and enhance abilities, but none are so useful as learning to
live harmoniously in a committed relationship, being a skillful parent, or
juggling the demands of daily life. Dan
Millman
"The outer conditions of a person's
life will always be found to reflect their inner beliefs." James Allen
“Children
are likely to live up to what you believe of them.” Lady Bird Johnson
People
travel to wonder at the height of the mountains, at the huge waves of the seas,
at the long course of the rivers, at the vast compass of the ocean, at the
circular motion of the stars, and yet they pass by themselves without
wondering.- St. Augustine
"If
you want to be successful, it's just this simple. Know what you are doing. Love
what you are doing. And believe in what you are doing." -Will Rogers
(1879-1935)--
"You
can learn from people, and educate others, but the only one you can change is
yourself." -Dan D. Limon-
"One
word frees us of all the weight and pain of life; that word is love." -Sophocles--
"I
think we dream so we don't have to be apart so long. If we are in each
others dream, we can be together all the time." –Hobbes (Calvin and
Hobbes)
"Being
challenged in life is inevitable, being defeated is optional." -Roger
Crawford--
"We
have probed the earth, excavated it, burned it, ripped things from it, buried
things in it . . . That does not fit my definition of a good tenant. If we
were here on a month-to-month basis, we would have been evicted long
ago." -Rose Elizabeth Bird--
"A
friend is someone who knows all about you and loves you just the same." -Elbert
Hubbard-
"Success
has a great tendency to conceal and throw a veil over the evil deeds of
men." –Demosthenes (B.C. 384-322)—
“Since
you alone are responsible for your thoughts, only you can change them.
You will want to change them when you realize that each thought creates
according to its own nature. Remember
that the law works at all times and that you are always demonstrating according
to the kind of thoughts you habitually entertain. Therefore, start now to think
only those thoughts that will bring you health and happiness.” -Paramahansa
Yogananda
“You
must not let your life run in the ordinary way; do something that nobody else
has done, something that will dazzle the world. Show that God's creative
principle works in you.” Paramahansa Yogananda
To
welcome whatever arises in this moment is the ultimate spiritual practice. If
you practice just this one thing, you won't need to read any more books or learn
any other meditation techniques. Welcoming
whatever arises in this moment, outside or inside of you, brings freedom.
The conditioned mind will tell you not to do this, for it believes that by
resisting, it will become free. The opposite is true. By resisting, you become
even more stuck. When you no longer believe what the mind is saying, you realize
that the quickest way for transformation to happen is to welcome what is. In
that moment, life is free to move through you. The conditioned mind is no longer
obstructing life. Eckhart Tolle, The Power of Now
"All
progress has resulted from people who took unpopular positions." -Adlai
E. Stevenson (1900-1965)--
"Don’t
let the good interfere with the better and don’t let the better interfere with
the best. I am not all I could be, and I am not all that I want to be, but thank
God I am not what I used to be. How many times I have thanked God that I am not
what I used to be." Rev. Jack Boland
“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
“In
the midst of winter, I finally learned that there was in me an invicible
summer.” Albert Camus
”Having a son is the greatest accomplishment of my young life, not realizing
that sooner has to be, without doubt, my greatest shame.” Ron Jon Finley
”Humility does not mean you think less of yourself. It means you think of
yourself less.” Ken Blanchard
”I have learned that success is to be measured not so much by the position
that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome while
trying to succeed.” Booker T. Washington
”I will permit no man to narrow and degrade my soul by making me hate him.”
Booker T. Washington
”Few are those who see with their own eyes and feel with their own hearts.” Albert
Einstein
”Destiny is not a matter of chance, it is a matter of choice. It is not a
thing to be waited for, it is a thing to be achieved.” William Jennings
Bryant
”How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to
improve the world.” Anne Frank
“We
are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” Aristole
"If
you concentrate on finding whatever is good in every situation,
you will discover that your life will suddenly be filled with gratitude, a
feeling that nurtures the soul." -Rabbi Harold Kushner-
"Be
more concerned with your character than your reputation, because your character
is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you
are." -John Wooden-
"Yesterday
is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. And today? Today is a gift. That's why we
call it the present." -Babatunde Olatunji--
"Seven
days without laughter make one weak." -Joel Goodman--
"A
truth that's told with bad intent, beats all the lies you can invent."
-William Blake (1757-1828)
"Purchase
not friends by gifts; when thou ceasest to give, such will cease to love." -Thomas
Fuller (1608-1661)--
"A
sense of humor can help you over look the unattractive, tolerate the unpleasant,
cope with the unexpected, and smile through the unbearable." -Moshe
Waldoks--
"My
policy is to learn from the past, focus on the present, and dream about the
future. I'm a firm believer in learning from adversity. Often the worst of times
can turn to your advantage - my life is a study of that." -Donald Trump-
"The
greatest power is often simple patience." -E. Joseph Cossman-
"We
live in a wonderful world that is full of beauty, charm and adventure. There is
no end to the adventures that we can have if only we seek them with our eyes
open." -Jawaharlal Nehru-
Everything
you want is out there waiting for you to ask. Everything you want also wants
you. But you have to take action to get it. - Jack Canfield-
"Great
things are not done by impulse, but by a series of small things brought
together." -Vincent Van Gogh (1853-1890)--
"A
great pleasure in life is doing what people say you cannot do."
-Walter Bagehot (1826-1977)-
"Whatever
failures I have known, whatever errors I have committed, whatever follies I have
witnessed in private and public life have been the consequence of action without
thought." -Bernard M. Baruch(1870-1965)--
"First,
arouse in the other person an eager want. He who can do this has the whole world
with him. He who cannot walks a lonely way." -Harry A. Overstreet-
"If
there is any one secret of success, it lies in the ability to get the other
person's point of view and see things from that person's angle as well as from
your own." -Henry Ford-
"I
have no right to say or do anything that diminishes a man in his own eyes. What
matters is not what I think of him, but what he thinks of himself. Hurting a man
in his dignity is a crime." -Antoine de Saint-Exupery-
"The
only place where your dream becomes impossible is in your own thinking." -Robert
H. Schuller-
There
are two kinds of people, those who do the work and those who take the credit.
Try to be in the first group; there is less competition there.
Indira Gandhi
"A
musician must make music, an artist must paint, a poet must write, if he is to
be ultimately at peace with himself." - Abraham Maslow-
"You may live in an imperfect world but the frontiers are not closed and
the doors are not all shut." -Maxwell
Maltz-
The
sea is dangerous and the storms terrible. But these obstacles have never been
sufficient reason to remain ashore...intrepid spirits seek victory over those
things that seem impossible...it is with an iron will that they embark on the
most daring of all endeavors...to meet the shadowy future without fear and
conquer the unknown. Ferdinand Magellan
The
miracle, or the power, that elevates the few, is to be found in their
industry,application, and perseverance under the promptings of a brave,
determined spirit. Mark Twain
"You
and I are not separate. It's just an illusion wrought by the magical lens of
perception." -Michael Jackson-
"If
you want enemies, excel your friends; but if you want friends, let your friends
excel you." -Francois LaRochefoucauld (1613-1680)--
"All
people have fears, but the brave put down their fears and go forward, sometimes
to death, but always to victory." -motto of the King's Guard in ancient
Greece-
"We
make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give. Right
livelihood is making a life, and finding our true vocation -- not just making a
living." Lama Surya Das
“Each
time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or
strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and these
ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression
and resistance.” –
Robert
F. Kennedy, South Africa; June 6, 1966
"The
poorest man would not part with health for money, but the richest would gladly
part with all their money for health." -Colton (1780-1832)--
"In
the middle of difficulty lies opportunity." -Albert Einstein
(1879-1955)--
"No
one can make you feel inferior without your consent." -Eleanor Roosevelt
(1884-1962)--
"Those
who have not distinguished themselves at school need not on that account be
discouraged. The greatest minds do not necessarily ripen the quickest." -Lubbock
(1834-1913)--
"We
are no longer happy as soon as we wish to be happier." -Landor
(1775-1864)--
"Lying
to ourselves is more deeply ingrained than lying to others." -Fyodor
Dostoevski (1821-1881)--
"My
mother was the most beautiful woman I ever saw. All I am I owe to my mother. I
attribute all my success in life to the moral, intellectual and physical
education I received from her." -George Washington (1732-1799)--
“Live
a balanced life -- learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and
dance and play and work every day some.” - Robert Fulghum
"People
say 'I want peace'. If you remove I {ego}, and your want {desire}, you are left
with peace." -Satya Sai Baba-
"The
first thing I do in the morning is to make my bed and while I am making up my
bed I am making up my mind as to what kind of a day I am going to have." -Robert
Frost (1874-1963)--
"There
is great beauty in going through life without anxiety or fear. Half our fears
are baseless, and the other half discreditable." -Bovee (1820-1904)--
"To
accuse others for one's misfortunes is a sign of want of education. To accuse
oneself shows that one's education has begun. To accuse neither oneself nor
others shows one's education is complete." -Epictetus-
"The
less you open your heart to others, the more your heart suffers." -Deepak
Chopra-
"The
sole meaning of life is to serve humanity." -Leo Tolstoy-
"They
may forget what you said, but they will never forget how you made them
feel." -Carl W. Buechner-
“Most
of us are in touch with our intuition whether we know it or not, but we're
usually in the habit of doubting or contradicting it so automatically that we
don't even know it has spoken. The first step is to pay more attention to what
you feel inside, to the inner dialogue that goes on within you.” Shakti
Gawain, Living in the Light
“Gratitude
helps you to grow and expand; gratitude brings joy and laughter into your life
and into the lives of all those around you.” - Eileen Cady
Gratitude
is one of the sweet shortcuts to finding peace of mind and happiness inside.
No matter what's going on outside of us, there's always something we could be
grateful for. - Barry Neil Kaufman
Something
wonderful is happening to me right now. It is this thing called life.
Life is in my mind. Life is in my body. Life is in my affairs.
I receive it-I share it-I am it and I accept it. Just the
way that it is and just the way that it is not. Thank you, life.
Amen. – Rev. Peggy Bassett
"He
who lives by fighting with an enemy has an interest in the preservation of the
enemy's life." -Friedrich Nietzsche-
"Miracles
are not contrary to nature; only to what we know about nature." -St.
Augustine-
"The
only thing worse than suffering an injustice is committing an injustice." -Plato
(B.C. 427?-347?)--
"It
is an eternal obligation toward the human being not to let him suffer from
hunger when one has a chance of coming to his assistance." -Simone Weil
(1910-1943)--
"People
who treat other people as less than human must not be surprised when the bread
they have cast on the waters comes floating back to them, poisoned." -James
Baldwin (1924-1987)--
"You've
no idea what a poor opinion I have of myself - and how little I deserve
it." -William Gilbert (1836-1911)--
"There's
always a rainbow at the end of every rain." -Prince (1958-1993)--
"Forgiveness
is the fragrance the violet sheds on the heel that has crushed it." -Mark
Twain (1835-1910)--
"Travel
is fatal to prejudice, bigotry and narrow-mindedness - all foes to real
understanding. Likewise, tolerance or broad, wholesome charitable views of men
and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in our little corner of the earth
all one's lifetime." -Mark Twain (1835-1910)--
"All
human wisdom is summed up in two words - wait and hope." -Alexandre
Dumas (1802-1870)--
"As
long as you keep a person down, some part of you has to be down there to hold
him down, so it means you cannot soar as you otherwise might."-Marian
Anderson-
"To
avoid criticism, do nothing, say nothing, be nothing." -Elbert Hubbard
(1859-1915)--
"Nothing
can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing
on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude." -Thomas
Jefferson-
"It
is better to die on your feet than to live on your knees." -Delores
Ibarruri (1895-1989)--
"Catch
on fire with enthusiasm and people will come for miles to watch you burn." -John
Wesley (1703-1791)--
"Beauty
of whatever kind, in its supreme development, invariably excites the sensitive
soul to tears." -Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1845)--
"Homosexuality
is assuredly no advantage, but it is nothing to be ashamed of, no vice, no
degradation; it cannot be classified as an illness; we consider it to be a
variation of the sexual function, produced by a certain arrest of sexual
development. Many highly respectable individuals of ancient and modern times
have been homosexuals, several of the greatest men among them (Plato,
Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, etc.). It is a great injustice to persecute
homosexuality as a crime-and a cruelty, too. If you do not believe me, read the
books of Havelock Ellis." -Sigmund Freud (1856-1939)--
"Drunkenness
. . . is temporary suicide." -Bertrand Russell (1872-1970)--
"Beauty
is one of the rare things that do not lead to doubt of God." -Jean
Anouilh (1910-87)--
"Speak
clearly, if you speak at all; Carve every word before you let it fall." -Oliver
Wendell Holmes, Sr. (1809-94)--
"I
am always doing things I can't do, that's how I get to do them." -Pablo
Picasso (1881-1973)--
"We
are one, after all, you and I; together we suffer, together exist, and forever
will recreate each other." -Pierre Teilhard de Chardin-
"I
shall pass through this life but once. Any good, therefore, that I can do or any
kindness I can show to any fellow creature, let me do it now. Let me not defer
or neglect it. For I shall never pass this way again." -Etienne de
Grellet-
"Sin
has many tools, but a lie is the handle which fits them all." -Oliver
Wendell Holmes (1809-1894)--
"If
you want happiness for an hour - take a nap. If you want happiness for a day -
go fishing. If you want happiness for a month -get married. If you want
happiness for a year - inherit a fortune. If you want happiness for a lifetime -
help someone else." -Chinese Proverb-
"Sympathy
is your pain in my heart." -Adlai A. Esteb-
"Seek
spiritual riches within. What you are is much greater than anyone or anything
else you have ever yearned for." -Paramahansa Yogananda-
"Despise
no man and consider nothing impossible, for there is no man who does not have
his hour and there is no thing that does not have its place." -The
Talmud (B.C. 500?-400? A.D.)--
"When
we think of failure; Failure will be ours. If we remain undecided; Nothing will
ever change. All we need to do is want to achieve something great and then
simply to do it. Never think of failure For what we think, will come
about." -Maharishi Mahesh Yogi-
"He
that falls in love with himself will have no rivals." -Franklin
(1706-1790)--
"If
you ever feel you can't go on, rest assured that you are not alone and that fast
changes are arriving." -Seal-
"Be
good, be kind, be humane, and charitable; love your fellows; console the
afflicted; pardon those who have done you wrong." -Zoroaster (B.C.
628?-551?)--
"Few
cross the river of time and are able to reach non-being. Most of them run up and
down only on this side of the river. But those who when they know the law follow
the path of the law, they shall reach the other shore and go beyond the realm of
death." -The Dhammapada (c. B.C. 300)--
"To
be wronged is nothing unless you continue to remember it." -Confucius
(B.C. 551-479)--
"To
know what is right and not to do it is the worst cowardice." -Confucius
(B.C. 551-479)--
"Our
greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall." -Confucius
(B.C. 551-479)--
"To
dream anything that you want to dream, that is the beauty of the human mind. To
do anything that you want to do, that is the strength of the human will. To
trust yourself, to test your limits, that is the courage to succeed." -Bernard
Edmonds-
"A
thousand words will not leave so deep an impression as one deed." -Henrik
Ibsen (1828-1906)--
"The
only way to discover the limits of the possible is to go beyond them into the
impossible." -Arthur C. Clarke-
"Some
people see things as they are and say why. I dream things that never were and
say why not?" -Robert F. Kennedy-
"A
mind not to be chang'd by place or time. The mind is its own place, and in
itself can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven." -John Milton-
"I
can honestly say that I was never affected by the question of the success of an
undertaking. If I felt it was the right thing to do, I was for it regardless of
the possible outcome." -Golda Meir-
"One
cannot and must not try to erase the past merely because it does not fit the
present." -Golda Meir-
"Money
can help you to get medicines but not health. Money can help you to get soft
pillows, but not sound sleep. Money can help you to get material comforts, but
not eternal bliss. Money can help you to get ornaments, but not beauty. Money
will help you to get an electric earphone, but not natural hearing. Attain the
supreme wealth, wisdom; you will have everything." -Sivananda-
"Don't
be afraid your life will end; be afraid that it will never begin." -Grace
Hansen-
"The
truth is always the strongest argument." -Sophocles (496-406 B.C.)--
"A
lie never lives to be old." -Sophocles (496-406 B.C.)-
"It
is better not to live at all than to live disgraced." -Sophocles
(496-406 B.C.)--
"I
will permit no man to narrow and degrade my soul by making me hate him." -Booker
T. Washington-
"Her
death takes place in the shadow of new life, she's not really dead if we find a
way to remember her." -Star Trek-
"I
want to describe myself, not be described by others." -Johnnie Cochran-
"I
wept not, so to stone within I grew." -Dante Alighieri-
"Our
most intimate friend is not he to whom we show the worst, but the best of our
nature." -Nathaniel Hawthorne-
"I
Am The Victor, Not The Victim." -Sean Howell-
"Begin
doing what you want to do now. We are not living in eternity. We have only this
moment, sparkling like a star in our hand - and melting like a snowflake." -
-Marie Beyon Ray-
"It
takes courage to push yourself to places that you have never been before... to
test your limits... to break through barriers. And the day came when the risk it
took to remain tight inside the bud was more painful than the risk it took to
blossom."
-Anais
Nin-
"Love
never dies a natural death. It dies because we don't know how to replenish its
source. It dies of blindness and errors and betrayals. It dies of illness and
wounds; it dies of weariness, of withering, of tarnishing." -Anais Nin-
"The
perfect human being is all human beings put together, it is a collective, it is
all of us together that make perfection." -Socrates-
"To
love means loving the unlovable. To forgive means pardoning the unpardonable.
Faith means believing the unbelievable. Hope means hoping when everything seems
hopeless." -Gilbert Keith "G.K." Chesterton (1874-1936)--
"The
angels fly, because they take themselves lightly." -Gilbert Keith "G.K."
Chesterton (1874-1936)--
"Character
cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experiences of trial and
suffering can the soul be strengthened, vision cleared, ambition inspired and
success achieved." -Helen Keller-
"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 that has been opened for us." -Helen
Keller-
"We
must interpret a bad temper as a sign of inferiority." -Alfred Adler
(1870-1937)--
"It
is the individual who is not interested in his fellow men who has the greatest
difficulties in life and provides the greatest injury to others. It is from
among such individuals that all human failures spring." -Alfred Adler
(1870-1937)--
"Let
us not be content to wait and see what will happen, but give us the
determination to make the right things happen." -Peter Marshall-
"Things
don't go wrong and break your heart so you can become bitter and give up. They
happen to break you down and build you up so you can be all that you were
intended to be." -Charlie "Tremendous" Jones-
"Happiness
is good health and a bad memory." -Ingrid Bergman-
"I
have no regrets. I wouldn't have lived my life the way I did if I was going to
worry about what people were going to say." -Ingrid Bergman-
"He
that wrestles with us strengthens our nerves, and sharpens our skill. Our
antagonist is our helper." -Burke(1729-1797)--
"You
must go after your wish. As soon as you start to pursue a dream, your life wakes
up and everything has meaning." -Barbara Sher-
"Don't
walk behind me, I may not lead. Don't walk in front of me, I may not follow.
Just walk beside me and be my friend." -Albert Camus-
"Hold
your head high, stick your chest out. You can make it. It gets dark sometimes,
but morning comes. Keep hope alive." -Jesse Jackson-
Source
Unknown / Anonymous:
"Overlook
the faults of others and overcome your own."
"One
reason we should love our enemies is that we made them ourselves. Another reason
is that they keep us on our toes, a third reason is that we should make them our
friends."
"What
comes from the heart reaches the heart."
"No
one can make us angry. People can say and do things to us but it is still up to
us as individuals to do what we want with our emotions in response to those
things."
"It
isn't where you've come from, its where you're going."
"Take
a quiet walk, now and again, with the real you, who lives beneath all the
everyday distractions. Find strength, courage and insight in the beautiful
person you are."
"Happiness
should be a way to travel, not a destination."
"Fill
your heart with goodness and there will be no place for evil. Fill the world
with beauty, and there will be no room for darkness. Fill your moments with joy,
and there will be no room for regret."
"We
are each burdened with prejudice; against the poor or the rich, the smart or the
slow, the gaunt or the obese. It is natural to develop prejudice. It is noble to
rise above them."
"Never
be afraid to be wrong or you will never be right."
"It's
hard to face tomorrow, but it's easier than facing no tomorrow."
"Glance
at what you might have to lose, but focus on what you want to achieve."
Buddha
(B.C. 568-488):
“We
are shaped by our thoughts. We become what we think.”
"He insulted me, he cheated me, he beat
me, he robbed me' -- those who are free of resentful thoughts surely find
peace."
"Hatred
is never ended by hatred but by love."
"Do
not dwell in the past. Do not dream of the future. Concentrate the mind on the
present moment."
"Thousands
of candles can be lighted from a single candle, and the life of the candle will
not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared."
"It
is a man's own mind - not his enemy or his foe that lures him into evil
ways."
"A
good friend who points out mistakes and imperfections and rebukes evil is to be
respected as if he reveals a secret of hidden treasure."
Wayne
W. Dyer:
"You
cannot be lonely if you like the person you're alone with."
"You
are never going to get it all, you are it all already"
"Notice
the acts of kindness other people do, rather than their wrongdoing."
"Everything
you need you already have. You are complete right now, you are a whole, total
person, not an apprentice person on the way to someplace else. Your completeness
must be understood by you and experienced in your thoughts as your own personal
reality."
"One
of the first steps along your path is learning tolerance by practicing seeing
the world as it is rather than as you demand it to be."
"When
tempted to judge others, remind yourself that they are part of the same divine
creation as you are."
"You'll
seldom experience regret for anything that you've done. It is what you haven't
done that will torment you. The message, therefore, is clear. Do it! Develop an
appreciation for the present moment. Seize every second of your life and savor
it. Value your present moments. Using them up in any self-defeating ways means
you've lost them forever."
"If
you shift your attention to the present moment, you automatically let go of
stress about the past or future."
"Judgments
prevent us from seeing the good that lies beyond appearances."
"All
of the judgment concerning appearances is simply a tool for upgrading oneself by
comparison to another."
"The
habit of noticing so-called deficiencies is a tool that your ego uses to
convince you that you are better than the people you are criticizing."
"There
are no failed relationships. Every person who enters and exits your life does so
in a mutual sharing of life's divine lessons. Some have longer roles to play
than others, but ultimately, you will return to your relationship to the
absolute."
"Instead
of saying, "Why is this happening to me? Isn't this awful, Poor me,"
begin to say, "What do I have to learn from this?"
"You get
treated in life the way you teach people to treat you."
"Everything in
your life that you ‘have to have’ owns you!"
Kahlil
Gibran (1883-1931):
"You
may give them your love but not your thoughts. For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls, for their souls dwell in the
house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams."
"When
we turn to one another for counsel we reduce the number of our enemies."
"Friendship
is always a sweet responsibility, never an opportunity."
Mohandas
Gandhi
"If
I had no sense of humor, I would long ago have committed suicide."
“You
must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drop of the
ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty.”
"There
is more to life than increasing its speed."
“Happiness
is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.”
“Honest
differences are often a healthy sign of progress.”
“My
life is my message.”
“We
must become the change we want to see.”
"As
human beings, our greatness lies not so much in being able to remake the world
-- that is the myth of the atomic age -- as in being
able to remake ourselves."
It's
the action, not the fruit of the action,
that's important. You have to do the right thing.
It may not be in your power, may not be in your time,
that there'll be any fruit.
But that doesn't mean you stop doing the right thing.
You may never know what results come from you action.
But if you do nothing, there will be no result.
Martin
Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968):
"Like
the ever-flowing waters of a river, life has its moments of drought and its
moments of flood."
"Race
prejudice is based on groundless fears, suspicions and misunderstandings."
"I
judge people by their own principles, not by my own."
"The
ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and
convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and
controversy." "Our lives begin to end the day we become
silent about things that matter."
“Darkness
cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate;
only love can do that.”
“Not
everybody can be famous, but everybody can be great because greatness is
determined by service.”
“If
a man is called to be a streetsweeper, he should sweep streets as Michelangelo
painted, or Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should
sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say,
here lived a great streetsweeper who did his job well.”
“The
ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and
convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.”
Sri
Nisargadatta Maharaj (1897-1981):
"In
my world, nothing ever goes wrong."
"You
do not have any problems, only your body has problems...In your world, nothing
stays, in mine nothing changes."
"My
stand is clear: produce to distribute, feed before you eat, give before you
take, think of others, before you think of yourself. Only a selfless society
based on sharing can be stable and happy. This is the only practical solution.
If you do not want it - fight."
"Absolute
perfection is here and now, not in some future, near or far. The secret is in
action - here and now. It is your behavior that blinds you to yourself.
Disregard whatever you think yourself to be and act as if you were absolutely
perfect - whatever your idea of perfection may be. All you need is
courage."
"Whenever
love is withheld and suffering allowed to spread, war becomes inevitable. Our
indifference to our neighbor's sorrow brings suffering to our door."
"For
me the moment of death will be a moment of jubilation, not of fear. I cried when
I was born and I shall die laughing."
"Perfection
is a state of the mind, when it is pure. I am beyond the mind, whatever its
state, pure or impure. Awareness is my nature; ultimately I am beyond being and
non-being."
"The
greatest guru is your inner self. Truly he is the supreme teacher. He alone can
take you to your goal and he alone meets you at the end of the road. Confide in
him and you need no outer guru."
"You
cannot transcend what you do not know. To go beyond yourself, you must know
yourself."
"You
will receive everything you need when you stop asking for what you do not
need."
"Yes,
I appear to hear and see and talk and act, but to me it just happens as to you
digestion or perspiration happens. The body-mind machine looks after it,
but leaves me out of it. Just as you do not need to worry about growing
hair, so I need not worry about words and actions. They just happen and
leave me unconcerned, for in my world nothing ever goes wrong."
"The
very search for pleasure is the cause of pain."
"A
man who moves with the earth will necessarily experience days and nights. He who
stays with the sun will know no darkness."
"You
are all drenched for it is raining hard. In my world it is always fine
weather. There is no night or day, no heat or cold. No worries beset me
there, nor regrets. My mind is free of thoughts, for there are no desires to
slave for."
"Give
up the desire for pleasure and you will not even know what is pain."
"The
world is the adobe of desires and fears. You cannot find peace in it. For
peace you must go beyond the world. The root cause of the world is
self-love. Because of it we seek pleasure and avoid pain."
"By
all means be selfish; the right way. Wish yourself well, labor at what is
good for you. Destroy all that stands between you and happiness. Be
all; love all; be happy; make happy. No happiness is greater."
"Fear
and greed cause the misuse of the mind. The right use of mind is in the
service of love, of life, of truth, of beauty."
"The
problem is not yours. It is your minds only. Begin by disassociating
yourself from your mind.
Resolutely remind yourself that you are not the
mind and that its problems are not yours."
"If
you imagine yourself as separate from the world, the world will appear as
separate from you and you will experience desire and fear. I do not see
the world as separate from me and so there is nothing for me to desire, or
fear."
"Were
I very rich, what difference would it make? I am what I am. What else can
I be? I am neither rich nor poor, I am myself.
"Knowledge
gives power. In practice it is very simple. To control yourself,
know yourself."
"There
is no chaos in the world, except the chaos which your mind creates."
Lucius
Annaeus Seneca (5 BC-65 AD):
"Drunkenness
is nothing but voluntary madness."
"If
you wished to be loved, love."
"He
who has great power should use it lightly."
"I
do not distinguish by the eye, but with the mind, which is the proper judgment
of man."
"There
is no great genius without a tincture of madness."
"One
should count each day a separate life."
"We
should every night call ourselves to an account: What infirmity have I mastered
today? what passions opposed? what temptation resisted? what virtue acquired?
Our vices will abate of themselves if they be brought every day to the
shrift."
"If
we could trace our descendants, we should find all slaves to come from princes,
and all princes from slaves."
"The
mind that is anxious about the future is miserable."
"Wherever
there is a human being, there is an opportunity for kindness."
"Anger,
if not restrained, is frequently more hurtful to us than the injury that
provokes it."
Publilius
Syrus:
"Reprove
your friends in secret, praise them openly."
"We
are interested in others when they are interested in us."
"Patience
is the remedy for every sorrow."
"In
quarreling the truth is always lost."
"Many
receive advice, only the wise profit from it."
"Take
care that no one hates you justly."
Ralph
Waldo Emerson:
"Nothing
great was ever accomplished without enthusiasm."
"Spiritual
force is stronger than material force;
thoughts rule the world."
To
laugh often and much,
To win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children,
To earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends,
To appreciate beauty,
To find the best in others,
To leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch
or a redeemed social condition,
To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived.
This is to have succeeded.
Whatever
games are played with us, we must play no games with ourselves.
It
is one of the most beautiful compensations of this life that no man can
sincerely try to help another without helping himself.
Prayer
is the contemplation of the facts of life from the highest point of view.
“Self-Reliance”
Though
you may travel the world to find the beautiful, you must have it within you or
you will find it not.
Do
not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a
trail.
Thought
is the blossom; language the bud; action the fruit behind it.
Adapt
the pace of nature, her secret is patience.
I
didn't find my friends, the good God gave them to me.
"Jesus
Christ belonged to the true race of prophets. He saw with open eyes the
mystery of the soul ... He saw that God incarnates himself in man and evermore
goes forth anew to take possession of this world ... He declared he was God;
thus He is, and as I think, the only soul in history who has appreciated the
worth of man."
Our
greatest glory is not in never failing, but in rising up every time we fail.
You
cannot do a kindness too soon because you never know how soon it will be too
late.
All
Spiritual being is in man. A wise old proverb says, "God comes to see us
without bell," that is, as there is no screen or ceiling between our heads
and the infinite heavens, so is there no bar or wall in the soul where man, the
effect, ceases, and God, the cause, begins. "The Over-Soul"
"Most
of the shadows of this life are caused by standing in one's own
sunshine."
Emerson
Center for
