To laugh is to risk appearing the fool. To weep is to risk appearing sentimental. To reach out for another is to risk involvement. To expose feelings is to risk exposing your true self. To place your ideas, your dreams, before a crowd is to risk their loss. To love is to risk not being loved in return. To live is to risk dying. To hope is to risk failure. But risks must be taken. Because the greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing. If you risk nothing and do nothing, you dull your spirit. You may avoid suffering and sorrow, But you cannot learn, feel, change, grow, love, and live. Chained by your attitude, you are a slave. You have forfeited your freedom. Only if you risk are you free. ~Cited in More of...The Best of BITS & PIECES

We really need only five things on this earth. Some food, some sun, some work, some fun, and someone. ~Cited in The Best of BITS & PIECES

With ordinary talent and extraordinary perseverance, all things are attainable. ~Thomas E. Buxton

If at first you DO succeed, try something harder. ~Ann Landers Syndicated columnist

Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful. ~Dr. Albert Schweitzer (1875-1965) Medical missionary and Nobel Peace Prize Winner

A loyal friend laughs at your jokes when they're not so good and sympathizes with your problems when they're not so bad.

Class is an aura of confidence that is being sure without being cocky. Class has nothing to do with money. Class never runs scared. It is self-discipline and self- knowledge. It's the surefootedness that comes with having proved you can meet life. ~Ann Landers Syndicated columnist

Nothing is impossible; some things just require more steps. -- Written by a Reader: Karen Farrell from Alvin, Texas

Don't stare at the steps of success - step up the stairs. -- American Proverb

Hold yourself responsible for a higher standard than anybody else expects of you. ~Henry Ward Beecher (1813-1887) Clergyman and writer

Losers quit when they are tired. Winners quit when they have won. ~Cited in BITS & PIECES

Winners are like teabags. You never see their true strength until they're in hot water. ~Cited in More of...The Best of BITS & PIECES

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"Working hard becomes a habit, a serious kind of fun. You get self-satisfaction from pushing yourself to the limit, knowing that all the effort is going to pay off. ~Mary Lou Retton

"Look at a day when you were supremely satisfied at its end. It's not a day whe you lounge around doing nothing. It's when you've had everything to do and you've done it. ~Margaret Thatcher

"The only difference between stumbling blocks and stepping stones is the way you use them. ~American Proverb

"We have met the enemy. . . and they is us. ~So says Pogo, as written by Walt Kelly

"Surrounding yourself with dwarfs does not make you a giant." ~Yiddish Proverb

"The world is made of stairs, and there are those who go up and those who go down." ~unknown author

"The first person who has to believe in you is you." ~unknown author

"If I believe I cannot do something, it makes me incapable of doing it. but when I believe I can, then I acquire the ability to do it, even if I did not have the ability in te beginning." ~Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948)

"Humor is the shock absorber of life; it helps us take action." ~Peggy Noonan

"The heart is a wondrous thing: there is room for so much love and caring and yet it never runs out of room to love more." ~K. Lytestone

"When I think of how quickly time flies, I am always sorry that I did not do better yesterday or last year, because that particular opportunity will never come again. But I comfort myself with thinking that the opportunity to do better next time lies before me." ~Edward Chipman Guild (1831-1899)

"Give and forget. Receive and remember." ~unknown author

"When you give of yourself, you receive more than you give." ~Antoine De Saint-Exupery (1900-1944)