Everybody Can Be Great

Everybody can be great... because anybody can serve.
You don't have to have a college degree to serve.
You don't have to make your subject and verb agree to serve.
you only need a heart full of grace.
a soul generated by love.

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

Never Too Late

It is never too late
to be who you might have been.

- George Eliot

Speak Your Truth

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

You Need One

Call it a clan, call it a network,

call it a tribe, call it a family.

Whatever you call it,

whoever you are,

you need one.

~Jane Howard

Aim

Our plans miscarry

because they have no aim.
When a man does not know

what harbor he is making for,
no wind is the right wind.

- Seneca

Heart

Wherever you go, go with all your heart.

- Confucius

Faith

Faith is a knowledge within the heart,
beyond the reach of proof.

- Kahlil Gibran

Love and Friendship

So long as we love, we serve.

So long as we are loved by others

I would almost say we are indispensable;

and no man is useless

while he has a friend.

-Robert Louis Stevenson

Selfless Giving

You have not lived until you have done something
for someone who can never repay you.

- Anonymous

Raising Funds

Let us more and more insist on raising funds
of love,
of kindness,
of understanding,
of peace.

- Mother Teresa

Living the Choices

Life does not require us to be consistent, cruel, patient, helpful, angry, rational, thoughtless, loving, rash, open-minded, neurotic, careful, rigid, tolerant, wasteful, rich, downtrodden, gentle, sick, considerate, funny, stupid, healthy, greedy, beautiful, lazy, responsive, foolish, sharing, pressured, intimate, hedonistic, industrious, manipulative, insightful, capricious, wise, selfish, kind or sacrificed.

Life does, however, require us to live with the consequences of our choices.

― Richard Bach, Running From Safety

Perhaps Love

Perhaps love is like a resting place
A shelter from the storm
It exists to give you comfort
It is there to keep you warm
And in those times of trouble
When you are most alone
The memory of love will bring you home.

- John Denver, Perhaps Love

Gifts in Disguise

If we could see that everything,

even tragedy,

is a gift in disguise,

we would then find the best way

to nourish the soul.

- Elizabeth Kubler Ross

Photo: Toycamps.com

Shape Your Life

We are each given a block of marble
when we begin a lifetime,
and the tools to shape it into sculpture ...
We can drag it behind us untouched,
we can pound it into gravel,
we can shape it into glory.

― Richard Bach, One

In the Sunshine

Far away there in the sunshine

are my highest aspirations.

I may not reach them,

but I can look up and see their beauty,

believe in them,

and follow where they lead.

—Louisa May Alcott

Blessed are those ...

Blessed are those who can give without remembering
and take without forgetting.

- Elizabeth Bibesco

Wisdom

Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom.

- Aristotle

Kindness

Kindness in words creates confidence.
Kindness in thinking creates profoundness.
Kindness in giving creates love.

- Lao Tzu

Pursuit of Dreams

If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams,
and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined,
he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.

~ Henry David Thoreau

When Things Go Wrong

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.

- Samuel Johnson

Life Affirmations

Make of your life an affirmation,

defined by your ideals,

not the negation of others.

Dare to the level of your capability
then go beyond to a higher level.

- Alexander Haig

How You Make People Feel

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

Out on a limb

Don't be afraid to go out on a limb.

It's where all the fruit is.

- Shirley MacLaine

Love

Love doesn't make the world go 'round;
love is what makes the ride worthwhile.

- Franklin P. Jones