Life Advice

Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow.

The important thing is not to stop questioning.

- Albert Einstein

Fear Nothing

Fear nothing, for every renewed effort raises all former failures into lessons,
all sins into experience.


- Unknown

Beginnings

If future generations are to remember us with gratitude rather than contempt,
we must leave them more than the miracles of technology.
We must leave them a glimpse of the world as it was in the beginning,
not just after we got through with it.


- President Lyndon B. Johnson

Good Character

A good character is the best tombstone.
Those who loved you, and were helped by you,
will remember you when forget-me-nots are withered.
Carve your name on hearts, and not on marble.
- Charles Haddon Spurgeon

Dreamers and Doers

The world needs dreamers and the world needs doers.
But above all, the world needs dreamers who do.

- Sarah Ban Breathnach

Visions and Dreams

Cherish your visions and your dreams
as they are the children of your soul,
the blueprints of your ultimate accomplishments.

- Napoleon Hill

You are Unique

Know that although in the eternal scheme of things you are small,
you are also unique and irreplaceable,
as are all your fellow humans everywhere in the world.


- Margaret Laurence

Books

A book lying idle on a shelf is wasted ammunition.
Like money, books must be kept in constant circulation.
Lend and borrow to the maximum -- of both books and money!
But especially books, for books represent infinitely more than money.
A book is not only a friend, it makes friends for you.
When you have possessed a book with mind and spirit, you are enriched.
But when you pass it on you are enriched threefold.

- Henry Miller

Gratitude

Let us rise up and be thankful,
for if we didn't learn a lot today,
at least we learned a little,
and if we didn't learn a little,
at least we didn't get sick,
 and if we got sick,
at least we didn't die;
so, let us all be thankful.

- Buddha

Blessed are those

Blessed are those that can give without remembering
and receive without forgetting.

- Elizabeth Bibesco

Past

What you need to know about the past is

 that no matter what has happened,

 it has all worked together to bring you

to this very moment.

 And this is the moment

you can choose to make everything new.

Right now.

- Unknown

Harvesting Wisdom

Now in my later years I can harvest
the wisdom of my childhood.
I treasure those precious roots knowing
that I have grown wings
and I must move on.
I must let go.

- MacRina Wiederkehr

Persistence

The drops of rain make a hole in the stone,
not by violence,
but by oft falling.


- Lucretius

Fork in the Road

We stand now where two roads diverge.
But unlike the roads in Robert Frost's familiar poem,
they are not equally fair.
The road we have long been traveling is deceptively easy,
a smooth superhighway on which we progress
with great speed,
but at its end lies disaster.
The other fork of the road - the one "less traveled by" -
offers our last, our only chance to reach a destination
that assures the preservation of the earth."


-  Rachel Carson

Infinite Nature

Climb the mountains and get their good tidings.
Nature's peace will flow into you
as sunshine flows into trees.
The winds will blow their own freshness into you
 and the storms their energy,
while cares will drop off like autumn leaves.


- John Muir

Through adversity we learn

It is not good for all our wishes to be filled;
through sickness we recognize the value of health;
through evil, the value of good;
through hunger, the value of food;
through exertion, the value of rest.

- Greek Proverb

Gratitude

Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life.
It turns what we have into enough, and more.
It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity.
It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend.
Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today,
and creates a vision for tomorrow.

- Melody Beattie

Never Again

History,

despite its wrenching pain,

cannot be unlived,

but if faced with courage,

need not be lived again.

- Maya Angelou

No Hiding from Success

Never again clutter your days or nights with so many
menial and unimportant things that you have no time
to accept a real challenge when it comes along.
This applies to play as well as work.
A day merely survived is no cause for celebration.
You are not here to fritter away your precious hours
when you have the ability to accomplish so much
by making a slight change in your routine.
No more busy work.
No more hiding from success.
Leave time, leave space, to grow.
Now. Now! Not tomorrow!

- Og Mandino

Changing

Everyone thinks of changing the world,
but no one thinks of changing himself.

- Leo Tolstoy

Extraordinary Thing Called Love

The moment you have in your heart

this extraordinary thing called love

and feel the depth, the delight, the ecstacy of it,

you will discover that for you

the world is transformed.

- I. Krishnamurti

Living -- the Act of Giving

I had found a kind of serenity, a new maturity... I didn't feel better or stronger than anyone else
but it seemed no longer important whether everyone loved me or not--
more important now was for me to love them.
Feeling that way turns your whole life around;
living becomes the act of giving.

- Beverly Sills

I am a Dreamer

Determination

Failure will never overtake me if my determination to succeed is strong enough.

- Og Mandino

Ideals

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

~Carl Schurz

Light Within

People are like stained glass windows:

they sparkle and shine when the sun is out,

but when the darkness sets in
their true beauty is revealed

only if there is a light within.

- Elizabeth Kubler-Ross

Meaning of Life

The sole meaning of life is to serve humanity.

- Leo Nikolaevich Tolstoy

Suffering

I do not believe that sheer suffering teaches.
If suffering alone taught,
all the world would be wise, since everyone suffers.

To suffering must be added mourning, understanding,
patience, love, openness
and the willingness to remain vulnerable.

- Anne Morrow Lindbergh

Friendship

Friendship makes prosperity more brilliant,
and lightens adversity by dividing and sharing it.

- Cicero

Salt Water

The cure for anything is salt water - sweat, tears, or the sea.

- Isak Dinesen

Marriage

Marriage is not a ritual or an end.
It is a long, intricate, intimate dance together
and nothing matters more
than your own sense of balance
and your choice of partner.

- Amy Bloom

Truly Living

When we are motivated by goals
that have deep meaning,
by dreams that need completion,
by pure love that needs expressing --
then we truly live life.

- Greg Anderson

Don't Be Silent

Our lives begin to end the day we become silent
about things that matter.

- Martin Luther King

Truest Life

Our truest life is when we are in our dreams awake.

- Henry David Thoreau

Dreams

Dreams are renewable.
No matter what our age or condition,
there are still untapped possibilities within us
and new beauty waiting to be born.

- Dr. Dale Turner

Kindness

Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear
and the blind can see.

~ Mark Twain

A Kiss

It is the passion that is in a kiss

that gives to it its sweetness;
it is the affection in a kiss
that sanctifies it.

- Christian Nevell Bovee

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

Communicating

The newest computer can merely compound,
at speed,
the oldest problem
in the relations between human beings,
and in the end
the communicator will be confronted
with the old problem,
of what to say
and how to say it.

- Edward R. Murrow

Sacred Tears

There is a sacredness in tears.
They are not the mark of weakness, but of power.
They speak more eloquently than ten thousand tongues.
They are messengers of overwhelming grief ...
and unspeakable love.

- Washington Irving

Reason for Everyone

There are no extra pieces in the universe.
Everyone is here because he or she has a place to fill,
and every piece must fit itself into the big jigsaw puzzle.

- Deepak Chopra

Live Your Dream

Don’t dream your life,
live your dreams.

Human Journey

We are not human beings on a spiritual journey.
We are spiritual beings on a human journey.

- Stephen R. Covey

Be Content

For I have learned,
in whatsoever state I am,
therewith to be content.

- St. Paul [Philippians 4:11]

Every Day - A New Day

Today a new sun rises for me;

everything lives, everything is animated,

everything seems to speak to me of my passion,

everything invites me to cherish it.

- Anne De Lencos

Sacred Idleness

Work is not always required.
There is such a thing as sacred idleness
the cultivation of which is now fearfully neglected.

- George MacDonald

Approach to Life

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

- Thomas Paine

Exquisite Moments

Summer weather - like being in love,

is a philosopher’s stone

which turns our ordinary days to gold.

But not the whole day…

For it is never the whole day,

never all our life

which is transformed in any happiness,

but only the exquisite moments.

--Nan Fairbrother

Kindness

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

Dreams and Aspirations

Do not part with your dreams or aspirations

for when they are gone

you will still exist,

but you have ceased to live.

- Henry David Thoreau

Time Out

I will be taking a little break from posting to this blog for a while. Life has gotten very busy and the quality of photos and posts is starting to suffer. So please understand if I take a time out. If you miss me you can always drop by my other blog, Lyn's Lifepixels for a little visit. Have a great summer.

What is without periods of rest will not endure.

- Ovid

Persistence

Effort only fully releases its reward after a person refuses to quit.

- Napolean Hill

Peace Within

When a man finds no peace within himself,
it is useless to seek it elsewhere.

- L. A. Rouchefolicauld

Friends

Tell me your friends, and I'll tell you who you are.

- Assyrian Proverb

Meaning Lies In Us

Love is what we are born with.
Fear is what we learn.
The spiritual journey is the unlearning
of fear and prejudices and
the acceptance of love
back in our hearts.
Love is the essential reality and our purpose on earth.
To be consciously aware of it,
to experience love in ourselves and others,
is the meaning of life.
Meaning does not lie in things.
Meaning lies in us.

- Marianne Williamson

People Who Make Us Happy

Let us be grateful to people who make us happy;
they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.

~ Marcel Proust

Fear

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 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

Nature

God is the great mysterious motivator of what we call nature,

and it has often been said by philosophers,

that nature is the will of God.

And I prefer to say that nature is the only body of God

that we shall ever see.

- Frank Lloyd Wright

Imagination

Your imagination is your preview of life's coming attractions.

- Albert Einstein

Character

You cannot dream yourself into a character;
you must hammer and forge yourself one.

- Henry David Thoreau

Three Rules of Work

Three rules of work:
Out of clutter find simplicity;
From discord find harmony;
In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.

- Albert Einstein

Finding Your Way Back

I know it is hard to accept, but an upset in your life is beneficial,
in that it tells you that you are off course in some way
and you need to find your way back
to your particular path of clarity once again.

~ Susan Jeffers

Loneliness

What should young people do with their lives today?
Many things, obviously.
But the most daring thing is to create stable communities
in which the terrible disease of loneliness can be cured.

- Kurt Vonnegut

Solitude

It is only when we silent the blaring sounds of our daily existence

that we can finally hear the whispers of truth

that life reveals to us,

as it stands knocking on the doorsteps of our hearts.

~K.T. Jong

Beauty of Nature

The best remedy for those who are afraid, lonely or unhappy

is to go outside, somewhere where they can be quiet,

alone with the heavens, nature and God.

Because only then does one feel

that all is as it should be

and that God wishes to see people happy,

amidst the simple beauty of nature.

- Anne Frank

Courage

Courage doesn't always roar.
Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying,
"I will try again tomorrow.”

- Mary Anne Radmacher

Happiness

When you look at your life, the greatest happinesses are family happinesses.

~Joyce Brothers

Life's Challenges

Life's challenges are not supposed to paralyze you,
They're supposed to help you discover who you are.

- Bernice Johnson Reagon

Life as a Blank Canvas

I decided I'd treat this juncture in my life
as a blank canvas,
sketch an intention to achieve some good
and let life paint it in.

- Marc Barasch