Be the Change

Yesterday I was clever,
so I wanted to change the world.

Today I am wise,
so I am changing ....
myself.

 - Rumi

Never Give Up

Photo courtesy TMBrown

When you get into a tight place 

and everything goes against you, 

till it seems as though you could not 

hang on a minute longer,

never give up then, 

for that is just the place and time 

that the tide will turn.

- Harriet Beecher Stowe

Simple Philosophy

I have a simple philosophy.
Fill what's empty.
Empty what's full.
Scratch where it itches.

 - Alice Roosevelt Longworth

Parenting

There is one thing you and I as parents cannot do,
nor do we want to do if we really think about it,
and that's control our children's will - that spirit that
lets them be themselves
apart from you and me.
They are not ours to possess, control, manipulate,
or even to make mind.

 - Barbara Coloroso

Love

Love is not a product of reasonings and statistics.
It just comes--none knows whence--and cannot explain itself.

- Mark Twain (Eve's Diary)

Seasons

I prefer winter and fall, when you feel the bone structure of the landscape - the loneliness of it, the dead feeling of winter. Something waits beneath it, the whole story doesn't show.

 - Andrew Wyeth

Strength

Many people think that patience is a sign of weakness.
I think this is a mistake.
It is anger that is a sign of weakness,
whereas patience is a sign of strength.

- Dalai Lama

Faith

Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase.

- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Busy Life

He, who every morning plans the
transactions of the day, and follows that
plan carries a thread that will guide him
through a labyrinth of the most busy life.

- Victor Hugo

Eternal Life

Life is an endless cycle of souls, swirling along the path of the universe, being reborn, but never truly dying before being reborn again. As long as this cycle continues, we will never really die.

- Ameila Wolfe

Change and Growth

Change and growth take place
when a person has risked himself and
dares to become involved with
experimenting with his own life.

- Herbert Otto

Perseverance

Keep on going, and the chances are that you will stumble on something, perhaps when you are least expecting it. I never heard of anyone ever stumbling on something sitting down.

- Charles F. Kettering

My Creed

My Creed

To live as gently as I can;
To be, no matter where, a man;
To take what comes of good or ill
And cling to faith and honor still;
To do my best, and let that stand
The record of my brain and hand;
And then, should failure come to me,
Still work and hope for victory.

To have no secret place wherein
I stoop unseen to shame or sin;
To be the same when I’m alone
As when my every deed is known
To live undaunted, unafraid
Of any step that I have made;
To be without pretense or sham
Exactly what men think I am.

To leave some simple mark behind
To keep my having lived in mind,
If enmity to aught I show,
To be an honest, generous foe,
To play my little part, nor whine
That greater honors are not mine.
This, I believe, is all I need
For my philosophy and creed.

By Edgar A. Guest

Give

Give what you have.
To someone, it may be better than you dare to think.

- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Peace

Peace is not something you wish for;
It's something you make,
Something you do,
Something you are,
And something you give away.

- Robert Fulghum

Clarity

In the attitude of silence
the soul finds the path in a clearer light,
and what is elusive and deceptive resolves itself
 into crystal clearness.

 - Mahatma Gandhi

Love

The Eskimos have 52 words for snow
because it is so special to them;
there ought to be as many for love.

-  Margaret Atwood

Opportunities

We are continually faced by great opportunities brilliantly disguised as insoluble problems.

 - Lee Iacocca

Good Deeds

How far that little candle throws his beams! So shines a good deed in a weary world.

- William Shakespeare

Dream

Dream lofty dreams, and as you dream, so shall you become.

- James Allen