This Wonder-ful Life

On Friendship

2012-01-28T12:24:00.001+08:00

What men have called friendship is only a social arrangement, a mutual adjustment of interests, an interchange of services given and received; it is, in sum, simply a business from which those involved propose to derive a steady profit for their own self-love. - Duc de La Rochefoucauld

The glory of friendship is not the outstretched hand, nor the kindly smile nor the joy of companionship; it is the spiritual inspiration that comes to one when he discovers that someone else believes in him and is willing to trust him with his friendship. - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Be courteous to all, but intimate with few, and let those few be well tried before you give them your confidence. True friendship is a plant of slow growth, and must undergo and withstand the shocks of adversity before it is entitled to the appellation. - George Washington

By friendship you mean the greatest love, the greatest usefulness, the most open communication, the noblest sufferings, the severest truth, the heartiest counsel, and the greatest union of minds which brave men and women are capable. - Jeremy Taylor

Confidence / Confidences

2012-01-27T12:01:00.000+08:00

Confidence is consistency of thinking about what is possible and how to make it possible. - John Eliot

Confidence is directness and courage in meeting the facts of life. - John Dewey

Confidence is a resolute state of mind by which you believe nothing is impossible. - John Eliot

Whatever we expect with confidence becomes our own self-fulfilling prophecy. - Brian Tracy

Confidence is contagious. So is lack of confidence. - Vincent Lombardi

Confidence is a plant of slow growth in an aged heart. - William Pitt

Those who are silent, self-effacing and attentive become the recipients of confidences. - Thornton Wilder

Quote Worthy

2012-01-26T12:00:00.000+08:00

We easily forget crimes that are known only to ourselves. - Duc de La Rochefoucauld

Corruption is like a ball of snow, once it’s set a rolling it must increase. - Charles Colton

Thought is the wind, knowledge the sail, and mankind the vessel. - Augustus Hare

I’ve learned that something constructive comes from every defeat. - Tom Landry

A man who wants to lead the orchestra must turn his back on the crowd. - Max Lucado

You must look within for value, but must look beyond for perspective. - Denis Waitley

What broke in a man when he could bring himself to kill another? - Alan Paton

The more active you are, the more energy you will have. - Norman Vincent Peale

Only a man who has felt ultimate despair is capable of feeling ultimate bliss. - Alexandre Dumas

If people never did silly things nothing intelligent would ever get done. - Ludwig Wittgenstein

Science and Mysticism

2012-01-25T11:59:00.000+08:00

Metaphysics… has been developed from the first, by the union and conflict of two very different human impulses, the one urging men toward mysticism, and the other urging men toward science. But the greatest men who have been philosophers have felt the need both of science and of mysticism: the attempt to harmonise the two was what made their life, and what always must, for all its arduous uncertainty, make philosophy, to some minds, a greater thing than either science or religion. Anon

Will eating salty food result in a puffy face in the morning?

2012-01-24T13:01:00.000+08:00

This is possible but unlikely to happen for a healthy person.

Fluid retention occurs when water accumulates in the body which can happen when one eats a lot of salty food or drinks too much water.

After having a salty meal, the higher sodium level causes the body to hold back more water in an effort to bring the sodium and water ration back to proper balance, said Dr Daphne Ang, a consultant in gastroenterology at the Changi General Hospital.

However, for most normal individuals, excessive salt or water should not result in fluid retention in the face because healthy kidneys have the ability to expel the excess salt and water consumed over the short term, said Dr Kelvin Thia, a consultant from the department of gastroenterology and hepatology a the Singapore General Hospital.

People with kidney, heart or liver problems may have more fluid retention issues around the face and, more commonly, around the ankles.

Most of the time, such swelling should go away.

However, if it persists or keeps happening despite avoiding aggravating factors such as high salt consumption, see a doctor, said Dr Ang.

- April Chong

Happy Lunar New Year!

2012-01-23T12:53:00.000+08:00

Wishing all celebrating the Lunar New Year a Happy, Healthy and Prosperous year in the Year of the Dragon!

Life

2012-01-22T13:00:00.000+08:00

On life’s journey faith is nourishment, virtuous deeds are a shelter, wisdom is the light by day and right mindfulness is the protection by night. If a man lives a pure life, nothing can destroy him. - The Buddha

Have a good time, make life cheerful and bright, dance if you want to, sing if you can, play as long as you live and leave the world with a smile - Lemuel K. Washburn

Your life is the sum result of all the choices you make, both consciously and unconsciously. If you can control the process of choosing, you can take control of all aspects of your life. - Robert F. Bennett

He who wants to do a great deal of good at once will never do anything. Life is made up of little things. True greatness consists in being great in little things. - Charles Simmons

Every man’s life ends the same way. It is only the details of how he lived and how he died that distinguish one man from another. - Ernest Hemingway

Happiness

2012-01-21T12:47:00.001+08:00

If you observe a really happy man you will find him building a boat, writing a symphony, growing double delphiniums in his garden, or looking for dinosaur eggs in the Gobi Desert. He will not be searching for happiness as if it were a collar button that has rolled under the radiator. He will not be striving for it as a goal in itself. He will have become aware that he is happy in the course of living life twenty-four crowded hours of the day.

We begin from the recognition that all beings cherish happiness and do not want suffering. It then becomes both morally wrong and pragmatically unwise to pursue only one’s own happiness oblivious to the feelings and aspirations of all others who surround us as members of the same human family. The wiser course is to think of others when pursuing our own happiness. - Dalai Lama

You have it easily in your power to increase the sum total of this world’s happiness now. How? By giving a few words of sincere appreciation to someone who is lonely or discouraged. Perhaps you will forget tomorrow the kind words you say today, but the recipient may cherish them over a lifetime. - Dale Carnegie

Conscience

2012-01-20T11:14:00.000+08:00

A good conscience is to the soul what health is to the body; it preserves constant ease and serenity within us; and more than countervails all the calamities and afflictions which can befall us from without. - Joseph Addison

The disease of an evil conscience is beyond the practice of all the physicians of all the countries in the world. - William Ewart Gladstone

The voice of conscience is so delicate that it is easy to stifle it; but it is also so clear that it is impossible to mistake it. - Anne Louise Germaine de Stael

A man’s conscience, like a warning line on the highway, tells him what he shouldn’t do – but it does not keep him from doing it. - Frank A. Clark

Conscience is the mirror of our souls, which represents the errors of our lives in their full shape. - George Bancroft

There is a higher law than the law of government. That’s the law of conscience. - Stokely Carmichael

While conscience is our friend, all is at peace; however once it is offended, farewell to a tranquil mind. - Mary Wortley Montagu

There is no witness so dreadful, no accuser so terrible as the conscience that dwells in the heart of every man. - Polybius

Conscience is the root of all true courage; if a man would be brave let him obey his conscience. - James Freeman Clarke

Whoever doesn't know it must learn and find by experience that a quiet conscience makes one strong. - Anne Frank

In matters of conscience, the law of the majority has no place. - Mahatma Gandhi

Conscience is that still, small voice that is sometimes too loud for comfort. - Bert Murray

Conscience is the inner voice that warns us somebody may be looking. - H. L. Mencken

Conscience is the perfect interpreter of life. - Karl Barth

Conscience is a man’s compass. - Vincent Van Gogh

All too often a clear conscience is merely the result of a bad memory.

It is not as difficult to apologize as it is to live with a guilty conscience.

You cannot fail if you do what your conscience tells you to do.

Conscience is always right, since it only speaks when it is.

There is no pillow so soft as a clear conscience.

A guilty conscience needs no accuser.

Quote Worthy

2012-01-19T11:12:00.000+08:00

Don't dwell on what went wrong. Instead, focus on what to do next. Spend your energies on moving forward toward finding the answer. - Denis Waitley

There is this benefit in brag, that the speaker is unconsciously expressing his own ideal. Humor him by all means; draw it all out, and hold him to it. - Ralph Waldo Emerson

The Pertinent Question is NOT how to do things right – but how to find the right things to do, and to concentrate resources and efforts on them. - Peter F. Drucker

If you are cold, tea will warm you; if you are too heated, it will cool you; if you are depressed, it will cheer you; if you are excited, it will calm you. - William Ewart Gladstone

If I were to say, "God, why me?" about the bad things, then I should have said, "God, why me?" about the good things that happened in my life. - Arthur Ashe

There is no kind of dishonesty into which otherwise good people more easily and frequently fall than that of defrauding the government. - Benjamin Franklin

The die was now cast; I had passed the Rubicon. Swim or sink, live or die, survive or perish with my country was my unalterable determination. - John Adams

Conceited men often seem a harmless kind of men, who, by an overweening self-respect, relieve others from the duty of respecting them at all. - Henry Ward Beecher

Consciousness

2012-01-18T11:03:00.000+08:00

You are eternal Consciousness, currently in this wonderful physical body for the thrill and exhilaration of specific focus and creation. The physical being that you define as 'you' stands on the Leading Edge of thought, while Consciousness, which is really your Source, pours through you. And in those moments of inexpressible elation, those are the times when you are wide open and truly allowing your Source to express through you. - Anon

A full-spectrum approach to human consciousness and behaviour means that men and women have available to them a spectrum of knowing – a spectrum that includes, at the very least, the eye of flesh, the eye of mind, and the eye of spirit. - Ken Wilber

Although each of us obviously inhabits a separate physical body, the laboratory data from a hundred years of parapsychology research strongly indicate that there is no separation in consciousness. - Russell Targ

Food For Thought

2012-01-17T10:49:00.000+08:00

The most important thing in life is not simply to capitalize on your gains. Any fool can do that. The important thing is to profit from your loses. That requires intelligence, and makes the difference between a man of sense and a fool. - Dale Carnegie

All things will be produced in superior quantity and quality, and with greater ease, when each man works at a single occupation, in accordance with his natural gifts, and at the right moment, without meddling with anything else. - Plato

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. - Wayne Dyer

Jokes

2012-01-16T10:47:00.000+08:00

A father decide to teach his eight-year-old the art of goal kicking. So he got down on his knees. Placed the football carefully, and then told his son what to do. “When I nod my head, kick it.”
The son did as he was told. That was how the father lost his two front teeth.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

“Tell me, Mr. Wright,” said the personnel manage, “why did you leave your last job?”
“It was because of illness, sir,” answered Wright. “The boss got sick of me!”

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

A local merchant ran an ad in the paper for part-time help. One of the job applicants was too young for the job, so he immediately turned him away. That’s why the merchant was surprised to see the same young applicant come into his store the very next week, again trying for the job. “I’ve already told you I needed someone older,” he said.
“I know, that’s why I’m back again,” answered the boy. “I’m older now.”

On books

2012-01-15T12:22:00.000+08:00

Give a man a book he can read, And his home is bright with a calm delight, Though the room be poor indeed. - Alfred Dunhill

At night, when the curtains are drawn and the fire flickers, my books attain a collective dignity. - E.M.Forster

A good book is the precious lifeblood of a master spirit, embalmed and treasured up on purpose to a life beyond life. - John Milton

Unless their use by readers bring them to life, books are indeed dead things. - Lawrence Clark Powell

You don't have to burn books to destroy a culture. Just get people to stop reading them. - Mahatma Gandhi

Books are the best friends you can have; they inform you, and entertain you, and they don't talk back. - John Steinbeck

It does not matter how many books you have, but how good the books are which you have. - Seneca

A book is a garden, an orchard, a storehouse, a party, a company by the way, a counselor, a multitude of counselors. - Henry Ward Beecher

Books are not made for furniture, but there is nothing else that so beautifully furnishes a house. - Henry Ward Beecher

A home without books is a body without soul. To add a library to a house is to give that house a soul. - Cicero

Reading a book is only the first step in the relationship. After you have finished it, the book enters on its real career. It stands there as a badge, a monument. The contents of someone’s bookcase are part of his history, like an ancestral portrait.

Books worth reading once are worth reading twice; and what is most important of all, the masterpieces of literature are worth reading a thousand times.

Friends

2012-01-14T12:19:00.000+08:00

No matter how good a friend is, they are going to hurt you every once in a while, and you must forgive them for that. Do not let hurt turn to grudge. This is one sure way to destroy a friendship. Forgive your friend and move on.

If you have friends, do not be afraid to express your friendship, do not be afraid to tell them that you admire or love them. If you love anybody why not say so? It costs you nothing but it may mean everything to your friend and to your friendship.

Understand that friends come and go, but with a precious few you should hold on. Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography and lifestyle, because the older you get, the more you need the people who knew you when you were young.

Fortify yourself with a flock of friends! You can select them at random, write to one, dine with one, visit one, or take your problems to one. There is always at least one who will understand, inspire, and give you the lift you may need at the time.

Control

2012-01-13T11:30:00.000+08:00

It isn’t until you come to a spiritual understanding of who you are – not necessarily a religious feeling, but deep down, the spirit within – that you can begin to take control. - Oprah Winfrey

You cannot control what happens to you, but you can control your attitude toward what happens to you, and in that, you will be mastering change rather than allowing it to master you. - Brian Tracy

Not to have control over the senses is like sailing in a rudderless ship, bound to break to pieces on coming in contact with the very first rock. - Mahatma Gandhi

You can not always control circumstances, but you can control your own thoughts. - Charles Popplestown

No man is free who cannot control himself. - Pythagoras

Quote Worthy

2012-01-12T11:30:00.001+08:00

In social institutions, the whole is always less than the sum of its parts. There will never be a state as good as its people, or a church worthy of its congregation, or a university equal to its faculty and students. - Edward Abbey

Being forced to work, and forced to do your best, will breed in you temperance and self-control, diligence and strength of will, cheerfulness and content, and a hundred virtues which the idle will never know. - Charles Kingsley

I keep the telephone of my mind open to peace, harmony, health, love and abundance. Then, whenever doubt, anxiety or fear try to call me, they keep getting a busy signal – and they’ll soon forget my number. - Edith Armstrong

It is only in the repetition of the craft that he or she masters the art. Only when the craft becomes second nature can one begin to create from his or her inner being the forms, images, and conceptions to create within the art. - Samuel Avital

Nothing is impossible: there are ways which lead to everything; and if we had sufficient will, we should always have sufficient means. It is often merely for an excuse that we say things are impossible. - Duc de La Rochefoucauld

Universal Law

2012-01-11T12:52:00.000+08:00

The universal order and the personal order are nothing but different expressions and manifestations of a common underlying principle. - Marcus Aurelius

Universal law always follows a pattern. Everything that moves or grows has a cycle and trend. It is nature’s law that every natural or man-made growing organism grows to maturity, levels off, and dies – unless there is rebirth through new life, new blood, new ideas, or new activity.

The mysterious powers of the human mind – and man’s amazing psychic powers – operate under universal laws. These laws operate regardless of anyone’s lack of understanding, disbelief, or ignorance.

Food For Thought

2012-01-10T12:49:00.000+08:00

There will be times when you will be in the field without a camera. And, you will see the most glorious sunset or the most beautiful scene that you have ever witnessed. Don’t be bitter because you can’t record it. Sit down, drink it in, and enjoy it for what it is! - Degriff

Read not books alone, but men, and amongst them chiefly thyself. If thou find anything questionable there, use the commentary of a severe friend, rather than the gloss of a sweet-lipped flatterer; there is more profit in a distasteful truth than in deceitful sweetness. - Francis Quarles

He who can wait for what he desires takes the course not to be exceedingly grieved if he fails of it; he, on the contrary, who labors after a thing too impatiently thinks the success when it comes is not a recompense equal to all the pains he has been at about it. - Jean de La Bruyere

Let There Be Light

2012-01-09T12:47:00.000+08:00

How Plastic Bottles Can Lighten Up The Darkness

Click on the link to watch the video.

http://www.wimp.com/lightenup/

Life

2012-01-08T11:32:00.000+08:00

We must accept life for what it actually is – a challenge to our quality without which we should never know of what stuff we are made, or grow to our full stature.

Never make a mental list of the things you lack. Count your blessings instead. Make a note of everything you own or enjoy down to the last detail, and you will see that, all in all, life has been very good to you.

Make it a rule of life never to regret and never look back. We all live in suspense, from day to day, from hour to hour; in other words, we are the hero of our own story.

All of us tend to put off living. We are all dreaming of some magical rose garden over the horizon instead of enjoying the roses that are blooming outside our windows today.

If you do not take control of your life, you may wake up one day to find it has taken on a life of its own, and driven you where you do not want to be.

Do not run through life so fast that you forget not only where you have been, but also where you are going. Life is not a race, but a journey to be savoured each step of the way.

Happiness

2012-01-07T11:31:00.000+08:00

I have learned from experience that the greater part of our happiness or misery depends on our dispositions and not on our circumstances. We carry the seeds of the one or the other about with us in our minds wherever we go. - Martha Washington

Impatience poisons all our joys and prevents us from recognising happiness. We are made impatient by the impression that happiness is always a little further on. We want to rush through everything to achieve it. But happiness, as a philosopher once wrote, is like a ball chased by a child – when you catch up with it, you give it a kick.

Happiness is not a matter of good fortune or worldly possessions. It’s a mental attitude. It comes from appreciating what we have, instead of being miserable about what we don’t have. It’s so simple – yet so hard for the human mind to comprehend.

Courage

2012-01-06T11:58:00.001+08:00

Courage, it would seem, is nothing less than the power to overcome danger, misfortune, fear, injustice, while continuing to affirm inwardly that life with all its sorrows is good and meaningful even if in a sense beyond our understanding, and that there is always tomorrow. - Dorothy Thompson

Courage and conviction are powerful weapons against an enemy who depends only on fists or guns. Animals know when you are afraid; a coward knows when you are not. - David Seabury

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

Courage is a special kind of knowledge; the knowledge of how to fear what ought to be feared and how not to fear what ought not to be feared. - David Ben-Gurion

Courage is as often the outcome of despair as of hope; in the one case we have nothing to lose, in the other everything to gain. - Dianne de Poitiers

Courage calls to courage everywhere, and its voice cannot be denied. When a brave man takes a stand, the spines of others are stiffened. - Billy Graham

To map out a course of action and follow it to an end requires some of the same courage that a soldier needs. - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Courage is doing what you’re afraid to do. There can be no courage unless you’re scared. - Eddie Rickenbacker

Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgment that something else is more important than fear. - Ambrose Redmoon

Courage is not the towering oak that sees storms come and go; it is the fragile blossom that opens in the snow. - Alice Mackenzie Swaim

Courage is rarely reckless or foolish. Courage usually involves a highly realistic estimate of the odds that must be faced. - Margaret Truman

Courage is saying, "Maybe what I'm doing isn't working; maybe I should try something else." - Anna Lappe

It takes a great deal of courage to stand up to your enemies, but even more to stand up to your friends. - J. K. Rowling

It takes as much courage to have tried and failed as it does to have tried and succeeded. - Anne Lindbergh

The scars you acquire by exercising courage will never make you feel inferior. - D.A. Battista

The test of tolerance comes when we are in a majority; the test of courage comes when we are in a minority. - Ralph W. Sockman

There’s plenty of intelligence in the world, but the courage to do things differently is in short supply. - Marilyn vos Savant

True courage is not the brutal force of vulgar heroes, but the firm resolve of virtue and reason. - Alfred Whitehead

Courage is the capacity to confront what can be imagined. - Leo Rosten

He who can implant courage in the human soul is the best physician. - Karl Ludwig von Knebel

If we survive danger it steels our courage more than anything else. - Reinhold Niebuhr

If you could get up the courage to begin, you have the courage to succeed. - David Viscott

It is in great dangers that we see great courage. - Jean Francois Regnard

True courage is like a kite; a contrary wind raises it higher. - John Petit-Senn

Courage conquers all things; it even gives strength to the body. - Ovid

Courage consists not in blindly overlooking danger, but in seeing it, and conquering it. - Jean Paul Richter

Courage is being scared to death, and saddling up anyway. - John Wayne

Courage is like love – it must have hope to nourish it. - Napoleon Bonaparte

Most men have more courage than even they themselves think they have. - Lord Brook Fulke Greville

Often the test of courage is not to die but to live. - Conte Vittorio Alfieri

Until the day of his death, no man can be sure of his courage. - Jean Anouilh

We can never be certain of our courage until we have faced danger. - Duc de La Rochefoucauld

We must have courage to bet on our ideas, to take the calculated risk, and to act. - Maxwell Maltz

What would life be if we had no courage to attempt anything? - Vincent Van Gogh

Courage in danger is half the battle. - Titus Maccius Plautus

Courage is fear holding on a minute longer. - George Patton

Courage without conscience is a wild beast. - Robert Ingersoll

Courage is not limited to the battlefield or bravely catching a thief in your house. The real tests of courage are much deeper and much quieter. They are the inner tests, like remaining faithful when nobody’s looking, like enduring pain when the room is empty, like standing alone when you are misunderstood.

Courage and energy increase when you desire to work for the well-being of others; they diminish when the benefits are solely meant for yourself.

Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen.

Real courage is when you know you’re licked before you begin, but you begin anyway and see it through no matter what.

You become courageous by doing courageous acts.

What seem impossible is often possible, with courage.

When you have no choice, mobilize the spirit of courage.

Quote Worthy

2012-01-05T11:57:00.000+08:00

No matter how dark things seem to be or actually are, raise your sights and see possibilities - always see them, for they're always there. - Norman Vincent Peale

Rather than viewing a brief relapse back to inactivity as a failure, treat it as a challenge and try to get back on track as soon as possible. - Jimmy Connors

We should not judge people by their peak of excellence; but by the distance they have travelled from the point where they started. - Henry Ward Beecher

The easiest thing to be in the world is you. The most difficult thing to be is what other people want you to be. Don't let them put you in that position. - Leo Buscaglia

Dreams do come true, if we only wish hard enough, You can have anything in life if you will sacrifice everything else for it. - Sir James Matthew Barrie

Nothing splendid has ever been achieved except by those who dared believe that something inside them was superior to circumstances. - Bruce Barton

Agnosticism simply means that a man shall not say he knows or believes that for which he has no grounds for professing to believe. - Thomas H. Huxley

If I could wish for my life to be perfect, it would be tempting but I would have to decline, for life would no longer teach me anything. - Allyson Jones

Quotes - Mysticism

2012-01-04T11:25:00.000+08:00

To no longer resist the present is to see that there is nothing but the present - no beginning, no end, nothing behind it, nothing in front of it. When the past of memory and the future of anticipation are both seen to be present facts, then the slats to this present collapse. The boundaries around this moment fall into this moment, and then there is nothing but this moment, with nowhere else to go. - Ken Wilber

Everything is vibratory in nature. Vibrations impinge on our outer senses, leading to perception and formation of realities. Perceptions and realities help us to understand the physical world about us. - Rosicrucian Digest

The ground we walk on, the plants and creatures, the clouds above constantly dissolving into new formations – each gift of nature possessing its own radiant energy, bound together by cosmic harmony. - Ruth Bernhard

He who wants to have right without wrong, Order without disorder, Does not understand the principles of heaven and earth. He does not know how things hang together. - Chuang Tzu

There are no cosmic secrets except as man is ignorant of cosmic phenomena or unable to perceive them. - Validivar

Be an atheist if you want, but do not believe in anything unquestioningly. - Swami Vivekananda

Rely entirely on your clarity of thought, purity of motive and integrity of action! - Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

Just Stay

2012-01-03T12:38:00.000+08:00

A touching and poignant story

A nurse took the tired, anxious serviceman to the bedside.
"Your son is here," she said to the old man. She had to repeat the words several times before the patient's eyes opened.
Heavily sedated because of the pain of his heart attack, he dimly saw the young uniformed Marine standing outside the oxygen tent. He reached out his hand. The Marine wrapped his toughened fingers around the old man's limp ones, squeezing a message of love and encouragement.
The nurse brought a chair so that the Marine could sit beside the bed. All through the night the young Marine sat there in the poorly lighted ward, holding the old man's hand and offering him words of love and strength. Occasionally, the nurse suggested that the Marine move away and rest awhile.
He refused. Whenever the nurse came into the ward, the Marine was oblivious of her and of the night noises of the hospital - the clanking of the oxygen tank, the laughter of the night staff members exchanging greetings, the cries and moans of the other patients.
Now and then she heard him say a few gentle words. The dying man said nothing, only held tightly to his son all through the night.
Along towards dawn, the old man died. The Marine released the now lifeless hand he had been holding and went to tell the nurse. While she did what she had to do, he waited.
Finally, she returned. She started to offer words of sympathy, but the Marine interrupted her.
"Who was that man?" he asked.
The nurse was startled, "He was your father," she answered.
"No, he wasn't," the Marine replied. "I never saw him before in my life."
"Then why didn't you say something when I took you to him?"
"I knew right away there had been a mistake, but I also knew he needed his son, and his son just wasn't here. When I realized that he was too sick to tell whether or not I was his son, knowing how much he needed me, I stayed. I came here tonight to find a Mr. William Grey. His Son was killed in Iraq today, and I was sent to inform him. What was this Gentleman's Name? The Nurse with Tears in Her Eyes Answered, Mr. William Grey.............
The next time someone needs you ... just be there. Stay!

Do beans give you gas?

2012-01-02T13:23:00.001+08:00

Yes, beans give you gas.

Legumes, from kidney beans to lentils, contain indigestible carbohydrates which the intestines are unable to absorb.

These indigestible carbohydrates are fermented by bacteria in the colon, producing gases such as carbon dioxide and hydrogen, said Dr Eric Wee, an associate consultant in gastroenterology at the Khoo Tech Puat Hospital.

On the average, a normal person may pass gas 10 to 20 times a day, he said.

Hence, flatulence, while embarrassing, is not something to worry about.

But, if it occurs with other problems such as abdominal pain, diarrhoea, weight loss or a change in bowel habit, seek medical help.

- April Chong

Jokes

2012-01-01T13:18:00.000+08:00

Tipping

After the college boy delivered the telegram, the man at the door asked, “What is the usual tip for a delivery?”
“Well,” replied the youth, “this is my first trip here, but the other fellows say that if I get a dime out of you, I’m doing great.”
“Is that so?” snorted the man. “Just to show them how wrong they are, here’s a dollar.”
“Thanks,” replied the messenger. “I’ll put this into my special school fund.”
“What are you studying?” asked the man.
The lad smiled, “Applied psychology.”

Dead Cat

A kindergarten pupil told his teacher he’d found a cat, but it was dead.
“How do you know that the cat was dead?” she asked her pupil.
“Because I pissed in its ear and it didn’t move,” answered the child innocently.
“You did WHAT?” the teacher exclaimed in surprise.
“You know,” explained the boy, “I leaned over and went ‘Pssst!’ and it didn’t move.”

Must Be The Liquor

Feeling unwell, a guy went to see his doctor. The doctor examined him.... temperature, blood pressure, looked down the throat, tested knee jerk reflexes, tested pulse... everything in the book... After half an hour he scratched his head and looked mystified... “Blowed if I can tell what’s wrong with you.... it must be the liquor.’’
“Well, never mind, doctor; I’ll come back when you’re sober,” the guy replied.

Happy New Year!

2011-12-31T11:59:00.001+08:00

Out with the old and In with the New. Wishing one and all a Happy, Healthy and Prosperous Year in 2012!

Creativity

2011-12-30T11:56:00.000+08:00

Looking for a quote on a particular subject? I have categorized the quotes to make the search easier. This 'label' - ZQuotesC - has all the quotes on subjects beginning with the Alphabet C. There are more to come.
You might want to search the labels on the right hand side of the page too.

Creativity

Making the simple complicated is commonplace; making the complicated simple, awesomely simple, that is creativity. - Charles Mingus

Creativity comes from looking for the unexpected and stepping outside your own experience. - Masaru Ibuka

Creativity is the ability to see relationships where none exist. - Thomas Disch

Every creative act requires elimination and simplification. Simplification results from a realization of what is essential.

If you are seeking creative ideas, go out walking. Angels whisper to a man when he goes for a walk.

Quote Worthy

2011-12-29T11:54:00.000+08:00

You can’t lead a cavalry if you think that you look funny riding a horse. - John Peers

When much dispute has past, we find our tenets just the same at last. - Alexander Pope

We are more easily led part by part to an understanding of the whole. - Seneca

Probable impossibilities are to be preferred to improbable possibilities. - Aristotle

Dissimilarity of habit tends more than anything to destroy affection. - Aristotle

There are some people that if they don’t know, you can’t tell ’em. - Louis Armstrong

In plain words, Chaos was the law of nature, Order was the dream of man. - Henry Adams

There is not a more unhappy being than a superannuated idol. - Joseph Addison

Intolerance of ambiguity is the mark of an authoritarian personality. - Theodore W. Adorno

I know well what I am fleeing from but not what I am in search of. - Michel Montaigne

Quotes - Spiritual

2011-12-28T12:25:00.000+08:00

Spend your brief moment according to nature's law, and serenely greet the journey's end as an olive falls when it is ripe, blessing the branch that bare it, and giving thanks to the tree that gave it life. - Marcus Aurelius

What we have to learn, in both meditation and in life, is to be free of attachment to the good experiences, and free of aversion to the negative ones. - Sogyal Rinpoche

God has placed in each soul a true guide to the light, but man struggles to find life outside himself, unaware that the life he is seeking is within him. - Gibran Khalil

Life is short. Time is fleeting. Realise the Self. Purity of the heart is the gateway to God. Aspire. Renounce. Meditate. Be good; do good. Be kind; be compassionate. Inquire, know Thyself. - William Hazlitt

The universal order and the personal order are nothing but different expressions and manifestations of a common underlying principle. - Marcus Aurelius

In man's life, time is but a moment; being, a flux; sense is dim; the material frame corruptible; soul, an eddy of breath; fortune a thing inscrutable, and fame precarious.

Bless are you if you can live each day in such a way that you can say at its close, “I Have done the best I could today for both God and man.”

Food For Thought

2011-12-27T15:26:00.000+08:00

Too much caution is bad. By avoiding things we fear, we may let ourselves in for unhappy consequences. It is usually wiser to stand up to a scary-seeming experience and walk right into it, risking the bruises or hard knocks. You are likely to find it is not as tough as you had thought. Or you may find it plenty tough, but also discover you have what it takes to handle it.

When a dog recognizes the footsteps of his master, he begins to caper, dance and wag everything behind his ears. He wants to leap out of his skin to let his master know how glad he is to see him. With this kind of enthusiastic ‘Hello’. who can resist him? You simply must be his friend because he lets you know so emphatically that he wants to be yours.

The most important thing in any game is not to win but to take part. Similarly, the most important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle. The essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well.

Failure

2011-12-26T15:25:00.000+08:00

To fail is a natural consequence of trying. To succeed takes time and prolonged effort in the face of unfriendly odds. To think it will be any other way, no matter what you do, is to invite yourself to be hurt and to limit your enthusiasm for trying again. - David Viscott

Don’t be afraid to fail. Don’t waste energy trying to cover up failure. Learn from your failures and go on to the next challenge. It’s okay to fail. If you’re not failing, you’re not growing. - H. Stanley Judd

Failure should be our teacher, not our undertaker. Failure is delay, not defeat. It is a temporary detour, not a dead end. Failure is something we can avoid only by saying nothing, doing nothing, and being nothing. - Denis Waitley

Remember the two benefits of failure. First, if you do fail, you learn what doesn’t work; and second, the failure gives you the opportunity to try a new approach. - Roger von Oech

Forget about the consequences of failure. Failure is only a temporary change in direction to set you straight for your next success. - Denis Waitley

Our failings sometimes bind us to one another as closely as could virtue itself. - Marquis De Vauvenargues

Sometimes a noble failure serves the world as faithfully as a distinguished success. - Edward Dowden

Do not brood over your past mistakes and failures as this will only fill your mind with grief, regret and depression. - Sivananda

There is something good in all seeming failures. You are not to see that now. Time will reveal it. Be patient. - Sivananda

If you are doing your best, you will not have time to worry about failure. -Robert Silliman Hillyer

If you’re not failing every now and again, it’s a sign you’re not doing anything very innovative. - Woody Allen

Grandpas Shuffling

2011-12-25T15:18:00.000+08:00

Brilliant! I love it! So heart warming to see seniors so active.

http://www.wimp.com/grandpashuffling/

Happy Holidays

2011-12-24T11:53:00.000+08:00

For those celebrating Christmas, I wish you and your loved ones a Joyous Christmas! And for those who are not – I wish you a Happy Festive Season.

Critics / Criticism

2011-12-23T11:54:00.000+08:00

I have categorized the quotes to make the search easier. This 'label' - ZQuotesC - has all the quotes on subjects beginning with the Alphabet C. There are more to come.
You might want to search the labels on the right hand side of the page too.

Critics / Criticism

A true critic ought to dwell rather upon excellencies than imperfections. - Joseph Addison

A critic is a man who knows the way but can’t drive the car. - Kenneth Tynan

The right to criticize must be earned, even if the advice is constructive in nature. Before you are entitled to tinker with another person’s self-esteem, you are obligated first to demonstrate your respect for him as a person. When a relationship of confidence has been carefully constructed, you will have earned the right to discuss a potentially threatening topic. Your motives will have been thereby clarified.

Criticism is futile because it puts a man on the defensive, and usually makes him strive to justify himself. Criticism is dangerous because it wounds a man’s precious pride, hurts his sense of importance and arouses his resentment.

Criticism of ourselves and others is rarely justified, and should cause us to consider seriously any thought about other people and ourselves before we speak and send forth our criticism.

Criticism: It is folly for an eminent person to think of escaping censure, and a weakness to be affected by it. All the illustrious persons of antiquity, and indeed of every age, have passed through this fiery persecution. - Joseph Addison

Neither praise or blame is the object of true criticism. Justly to discriminate, firmly to establish, wisely to prescribe, and honestly to award. These are the true aims and duties of criticism. - William Gilmore Simms

Criticism should awaken our attention, not inflame our anger. We should listen to, and not flee from, those who contradict us. Truth should be our cause, no matter in what manner it comes to us. - Magdeleine Sable

Unjust criticism is usually disguised compliment. It often means that you have aroused jealously and envy. Remember that no one ever kicks a dead log. - Dale Carnegie

Criticism may not be agreeable, but it is necessary. It fulfils the same function as pain in the human body. It calls attention to an unhealthy state of things. - Winston Churchill

Criticism, like rain, should be gentle enough to nourish a man’s growth without destroying his roots. - Frank A. Clark

All you’ll get from strangers is surface pleasantry or indifference. Only someone who loves you will criticize you. - Judith Crist

A smile in giving honest criticism can make the difference between resentment and reform. - Philip Steinmetz

Criticism should not be querulous and wasting, but guiding, instructive, inspiring. - Ralph Waldo Emerson

People ask you for criticism, but they only want praise. - William Somerset Maugham

Criticism is most effective when it sounds like praise. - Arnold H Glasow

To escape criticism – do nothing, say nothing, be nothing. - Elbert Hubbard

Quote Worthy

2011-12-22T11:48:00.000+08:00

Waste neither time nor money, but make the best use of both. Without industry and frugality, nothing will do, and with them everything. - Benjamin Franklin

Remember not only to say the right thing in the right place, but far more difficult still, to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment. - Benjamin Franklin

This art of resting the mind and the power of dismissing from it all care and worry is probably one of the secrets of energy in our great men. - Captain J. A. Hadfield

Non-acceptance is always suffering, no matter what you are not accepting.
Acceptance is always freedom, no matter what you are accepting. - Cheri Huber

Every thing secret degenerates, even the administration of justice; nothing is safe that does not show how it can bear discussion and publicity. - Lord Acton

Nothing has such power to broaden the mind as the ability to investigate systematically and truly all that comes under thy observation in life. - Marcus Aurelius

The difficult tasks to be performed are not the ones that mean physical and mental labor, but the ones that you dislike, the ones that you do not love. - George Matthew Adams

The important question is not, what will yield to man a few scattered pleasures, but what will render his life happy on the whole amount. - Joseph Addison

Quotes - Spiritual

2011-12-21T12:35:00.000+08:00

Every phenomenon on earth is symbolic, and each symbol is an open gate through which the soul, if it is ready, can enter into the inner part of the world, where you and I and day and night are all one. - Hermann Hesse

True benevolence, or compassion, extends itself through the whole of existence and sympathizes with the distress of every creature capable of sensation. - Joseph Addison

The possibility of stepping into a higher plane is quite real for everyone. It requires no force or effort or sacrifice. It involves little more than changing our ideas about what is normal. - Deepak Chopra

There is not any present moment that is unconnected with some future one. The life of every man is a continued chain of incidents, each link of which hangs upon the former. - Joseph Addison

Men seek out retreats for themselves in the country, by the seaside, on the mountains . . . But all this is unphilosophical to the last degree . . . when thou canst at a moment's notice retire into thyself. - Marcus Aurelius

Every human on this earth, regardless of age, race, or nationality, is a completely pure being, because each and every one of us receives our energy from the same universal source. - Dr. Robert C. Fulford

Flowers do not force their way with great strife. Flowers open to perfection slowly in the sun... Don't be in a hurry about spiritual matters. Go step by step, and be very sure. - White Eagle

Food For Thought

2011-12-20T12:33:00.000+08:00

During the course of a lifetime, we encounter many situations that can prove to be either beneficial or detrimental to us. The way we react to a situation determines its outcome and the effect it will have upon our character.

Teaching is something that takes place only when learning does. No matter what the teacher is doing in his classes, if his students are not learning something significant, he is not teaching. When the student fails, the teacher has failed more.

Spontaneity is the quality of being able to do something just because you feel like it at the moment, of trusting your instincts, of taking yourself by surprise and snatching from the clutches of your well-organised routine a bit of unscheduled pleasure.

Jokes

2011-12-19T12:28:00.001+08:00

Who’s talking
An old woman was sipping on a glass of wine, while sitting on the patio with her husband, and she says, “I love you so much, I don’t know how I could ever live without you”
Her husband asks, “Is that you, or the wine talking?”
She replies, “It’s me … talking to the wine.”

It Could Have Been Worse
There was a man whose store had been looted right down to the bare shelves.
“Did you lose a great deal?” asked a detective.
“Everything,” said the storekeeper. “But it could have been worse. I am lucky they didn’t loot he place the night before last.”
“How come?” said the detective.
“Well,” said the storekeeper, “yesterday I marked everything down forty percent.”

They Saw It On Television
Two young boys walked into a pharmacy one day, picked out a box of Tampax and proceeded to the checkout counter. The man at the counter asked the older boy, “Son, how old are you?”
“Eight,” the boy replied.
The man continued, “Do you know how these are used?”
The boy replied, “Not exactly, but they aren’t for me. They are for my brother. He’s four. We saw on TV that if you used these you would be able to swim and ride a bike. He can’t do either.”

On Life

2011-12-18T12:28:00.000+08:00

In everyone’s life, at some time, our inner fire goes out. It is then burst into flame by an encounter with another human being. We should all be thankful for those people who rekindle the inner spirit. - Albert Schweitzer

When you take charge of your life, there is no longer need to ask permission of other people or society at large. When you ask permission, you give someone veto power over your life. - Geoffrey F. Abert

If you wish to succeed in life, make perseverance your bosom friend, experience your wise counselor, caution your elder brother, and hope your guardian genius. - Joseph Addison

There is not one big cosmic meaning for all, there is only the meaning we each give to our life, an individual meaning, an individual plot, like an individual novel, a book for each person. - Anais Nin

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

By having a reverence for life, we enter into a spiritual relation with the world. By practicing reverence for life we become good, deep, and alive. - Albert Schweitzer

On Friendship

2011-12-17T12:26:00.001+08:00

Don’t flatter yourself that friendship authorizes you to say disagreeable things to your intimates. The nearer you come into relation with a person, the more necessary do tact and courtesy become. - Oliver Wendell Holmes

Few things tend more to alienate friendship than a want of punctuality in our engagements. I have known the breach of a promise to dine or sup to break up more than one intimacy. - William Hazlitt

We cannot tell the precise moment when friendship is formed. As in filling a vessel drop by drop, there is at last a drop which makes it run over. So in a series of kindness there is, at last, one which makes the heart run over. - James Boswell

It’s no good trying to keep up old friendships. It’s painful for both sides. The fact is, one grows out of people, and the only thing is to face it. - William Somerset Maugham

Cynic / Cynicism

2011-12-16T11:27:00.001+08:00

Looking for a quote on a particular subject? This 'label' - ZQuotesC - has all the quotes on subjects beginning with the Alphabet C. There are more to come.
You might want to search the labels on the right hand side of the page too.

Cynic / Cynicism

The cynic is one who never sees a good quality in a man, and never fails to see a bad one. He is the human owl, vigilant in darkness and blind to light, mousing for vermin, and never seeing noble game. The cynic puts all human actions into two classes - openly bad and secretly bad. - Henry Ward Beecher

A cynic can chill and dishearten with a single word. - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Watch what people are cynical about, and one can often discover what they lack. - George Patton

It takes a clever man to turn cynic and a wise man to be clever enough not to. - Fannie Hurst

Beneath every cynic there lies a romantic, and probably an injured one. - Glenn Beck

Quote Worthy

2011-12-15T11:23:00.002+08:00

Strange - is it not? - that of the myriads who Before us passed the door of Darkness through, Not one returns to tell us of the road Which to discover we must travel too. - Horatius

Property is unstable, and youth perishes in a moment. Life itself is held in the grinning fangs of Death, Yet men delay to obtain release from the world. Alas, the conduct of mankind is surprising. - Titus Maccius Plautus

Between normality and abnormality there is not a gulf, but a fine and somewhat arbitrary line. Where we draw the line depends on how atypical, disturbing, maladaptive, and unjustifiable a person’s behaviour is - David G. Myers

In civil jurisprudence it too often happens that there is so much law, that there is no room for justice, and that the claimant expires of wrong in the midst of right, as mariners die of thirst in the midst of water. - Charles Colton

Olympism is a philosophy which, by blending sport with culture, seeks to create a way of life based on the joy found in effort, the educational value of good example and respect for universal ethical principles. - Juan Antonio Samaranch

Quotes - Spiritual

2011-12-14T11:41:00.000+08:00

Only by much searching and mining are gold and diamonds obtained, and man can find every truth connected with his being if he will dig deep into the mine of his soul. - James Allen

To accomplish our destiny it is not enough to merely guard prudently against road accidents. We must also cover before nightfall the distance assigned to each of us. - Dr. Alexis Carrel

When we consider we are bound to be serviceable to mankind, and bear with their faults, we shall perceive there is a common tie of nature and relation between us. - Marcus Aurelius

When I investigate and when I discover that the forces of the heavens and the planets are within ourselves, then truly I seem to be living among the gods. - Leon Battista Alberti

Infinite power and existence and blessedness are ours, and we have not to acquire them; they are our own, and we have only to manifest them. - Swami Vivekananda

Severing oneself from desire and being like a rock or tree, nothing will ever be achieved. Not departing from desire, but realizing a desireless right-mindedness - this is the Way. - Takuan Soho

Keep your heart clear and transparent and you will never be bound. A single disturbed thought, though, creates ten thousand distractions. - Ryokan

The dance of the flower in the wind, in the sun, in the rain, cannot be understood by the head; the heart has to be open for it. - Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh

Food For Thought

2011-12-13T11:39:00.000+08:00

Too many of us are hung up on what we do not have, cannot have, or will not ever have. We spend too much energy being down, when we could use that same energy – if not less of it – doing, or at least trying to do, some of the things we really want to do.

Every man is where he is by the law of his being; the thoughts which he has built into his character have brought him there, and in the arrangement of his life there is no element of chance, but all the result of a law which cannot err.

There are many people to whom one has nothing to say, and that is what makes social life so tiring, because you do not dare remain speechless with social acquaintances; you must in fact talk a great deal without saying anything.

Orang Utang and Dog

2011-12-12T11:35:00.000+08:00

Heart warming friendship between Orang Utang and dog. A rare sight indeed!

http://www.wimp.com/orangutandog/

Freedom / Liberty

2011-12-11T12:27:00.000+08:00

What is freedom? How do you define freedom?

How false is the conception, how frantic the pursuit, of that treacherous phantom which men call Liberty: most treacherous, indeed, of all phantoms; for the feeblest ray of reason might surely show us, that not only its attainment, but its being, was impossible. There is no such thing in the universe. There can never be. The stars have it not; the earth has it not; the sea has it not; and we men have the mockery and semblance of it only for our heaviest punishment. - John Ruskin

The trouble with fighting for human freedom is that one spends most of one's time defending scoundrels. For it is against scoundrels that oppressive laws are first aimed, and oppression must be stopped at the beginning if it is to be stopped at all. - H. L. Mencken

True individual freedom cannot exist without economic security and independence. People who are hungry and out of a job are the stuff of which dictatorships are made. - Franklin Delano Roosevelt

The price of freedom of religion, or of speech, or of the press, is that we must put up with a good deal of rubbish. - Robert Jackson

The only man who is really free is the one who can turn down an invitation to dinner without giving an excuse. - Jules Renard

Freedom, after all, is simply being able to live with the consequences of your decisions. - James X. Mullen

Freedom can be a frightening thing when you are not used to it. - Zana Muhsen

A day, an hour of virtuous liberty is worth a whole eternity in bondage. - Joseph Addison

Liberty means responsibility. That is why most men dread it. - George Bernard Shaw

The human animal needs a freedom seldom mentioned: freedom from intrusion. He needs a little privacy quite as much as he wants understanding or vitamins or exercise or praise.

Friends

2011-12-10T12:24:00.001+08:00

True friends are those who accept us for what we are, who are frank enough to point out our mistakes and who will be equally candid in disagreeing with us when we differ in opinions.

The best kind of friend is the one you could sit on a porch, swing with, never saying a word, and then walk away feeling like that it was the best conversation you have had.

Being available means altering plans to accommodate. Being available means to listen not only to what our friend is saying but what he is not saying or trying to say and cannot.

Friends are rare jewels indeed. They make you smile and encourage you to succeed. They lend an ear, they share words of praise and they always want to open their hearts to us.

It is good to reflect that a stranger may not always be a stranger. When a person we do not know comes to our aid or rescues us from danger, he or she becomes a lifelong friend.

A man is only complete when he has a true friend to understand him; to share all his passions and sorrows with and to stand by him through out his life.

Beauty

2011-12-09T11:31:00.001+08:00

This 'label' - ZQuotesB - has all the quotes on subjects beginning with the Alphabet B.
You might want to search the labels on the right hand side of the page too.

Beauty

Whatever is in any way beautiful hath its source of beauty in itself, and is complete in itself; praise forms no part of it. So it is none the worse nor the better for being praised. - Marcus Aurelius

Never say there is nothing beautiful in the world any more. There is always something to make you wonder, in the shape of a leaf, the trembling of a tree. - Albert Schweitzer

To the attentive eye each moment of the year has its own beauty and in the same field it beholds every hour a picture which was never seen before and which shall never be seen again. - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Beauty deprived of its proper foils and adjuncts ceases to be enjoyed as beauty, just as light deprived of all shadows ceases to be enjoyed as light. - John Ruskin

Some people are still unaware that reality contains unparalleled beauties. The fantastic and unexpected, the ever-changing and renewing is nowhere so exemplified as in real life itself. - Berenice Abbott

The beauty of the soul shines out when a man bears with composure one heavy mischance after another, not because he does not feel them, but because he is a man of high and heroic temper. - Aristotle

I never saw an ugly thing in my life: for let the form of an object be what it may – light, shade, and perspective will always make it beautiful. - John Constable

Beauty as we feel it is something indescribable; what it is or what it means can never be said. - George Santayana

Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful we must carry it with us or we find it not. - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Beauty of whatever kind, in its supreme development, invariably excites the sensitive soul to tears. - Edgar Allan Poe

Beauties in vain their pretty eyes may roll; charms strike the sight, but merit wins the soul. - Alexander Pope

You can only perceive real beauty in a person as they get older. - Anouk Aimee

Personal beauty is a greater recommendation than any letter of reference. - Aristotle

Beauty without grace is the hook without the bait. - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Anyone who keeps the ability to see beauty never grows old. - Franz Kafka

Everything beautiful has its moment and then passes away. - Luis Cernuda

Beauty in things exist in the mind which contemplates them. - David Hume

Everything has its beauty but not everyone sees it. - Confucius

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

Quote Worthy

2011-12-08T11:30:00.000+08:00

The difference between a smart man and a wise man is that a smart man knows what to say, a wise man knows whether or not to say it. - Frank M. Garafola

There is something beautiful about all scars of whatever nature. A scar means the hurt is over, the wound is closed and healed, done with. - Harry Crews

Flinch not, neither give up nor despair, if the achieving of every act in accordance with right principle is not always continuous with thee. - Marcus Aurelius

Give a man a pipe he can smoke, Give a man a book he can read, And his home is bright with a calm delight, Though the room be poor indeed. - Alfred Dunhill

That which we persist in doing becomes easier - not that the nature of the task has changed, but our ability to do has increased. - Ralph Waldo Emerson

What is sauce for the goose may be sauce for the gander but is not necessarily sauce for the chicken, the duck, the turkey or the guinea hen. - Alice B. Toklas

It is not light that we need, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder. We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake. - Frederick Douglass

Extremes, though contrary, have the like effects. Extreme heat kills, and so extreme cold: extreme love breeds satiety, and so extreme hatred. - George Chapman

Quotes - Spiritual

2011-12-07T11:52:00.000+08:00

You wander from room to room hunting for the diamond necklace that is already around your neck! - Rumi

Rely entirely on your clarity of thought, purity of motive and integrity of action! - Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

We are not human beings trying to be spiritual. We are spiritual beings trying to be human. - Jacqueline Small

Peace comes within the soul of people when they realize their relationship, their oneness, with the universe and all its power. - Black Elk

We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when adults are afraid of the light. - Plato

Taking the first footstep with a good thought, the second with a good word, and the third with a good deed, I entered paradise. - Zoroaster

One is called ‘Ocean’. The other called ‘Ganges’. And though these are different names, their waters are still the same. - Jnaneshwar

Except for our bodies there are no other temples in the world - Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh

"Who am I?" is not really a question because it has no answer to it; it is unanswerable. It is a device, not a question. - Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh

Attachment to spiritual things is just as much an attachment as inordinate love of anything else. - Thomas Merton

Food For Thought

2011-12-06T11:51:00.000+08:00

There comes a point in your life when you realize who matters, who never did, who won't anymore... and who always will. So, don't worry about people from your past, there's a reason why they didn't make it to your future.

The popcorn kernel is small, hard, indigestible, and seemingly worthless. But put it in a pot and hold it over the fire, and it will be transformed before your eyes. Sometimes life’s pressures and problems can do the same for you.

If we are prepared for thinking, there is no need to make an effort to think. This is called mindfulness. Wisdom is not something to learn. It is something which comes out of your mindfulness. So the point is to be ready for observing things, and to be ready for thinking.

Jokes

2011-12-05T11:47:00.003+08:00

Not enough Chairs
A man took four friends to visit a big farm he owned. The visitors entered the tenant farmer’s house and were embarrassed to find the man only had two chairs. They stood around awkwardly until the owner said to the farmer, “I don’t believe you have enough chairs in here.”
“Got enough chairs,” said the farmer. “Just too damn much company!”

Easter Dress
At the beginning of a children’s sermon, one girl came up to the altar wearing a beautiful dress. As the children were sitting down around the pastor, he leaned over and said to the girl, “That is a very pretty dress. Is it your Easter dress?”
The girl replied almost directly into the pastor’s clip-on microphone, “Yes, and my Mom says it’s a bitch to iron.”

A Curious Man
When the town’s richest citizen died, a curious man was pumping the local attorney to find out how much the wealthy man had really been worth. “How much did he leave?” he asked the attorney.
Replied the clever attorney, “All of it.”

Life

2011-12-04T12:10:00.000+08:00

The only real obstacle in your path to a fulfilling life is you, and that can be a considerable obstacle because you carry the baggage of insecurities and past experience. - Les Brown

Lead the life that will make you kindly and friendly to everyone about you, and you will be surprised what a happy life you will lead. - Charles M. Schwab

Cease trying to work everything out with your minds. It will get you nowhere. Live by intuition and inspiration and let your whole life be Revelation. - Eileen Caddy

I have sometimes been wildly, despairingly, acutely miserable … but through it all I still know quite certainly that just to be alive is a grand thing. - Agatha Christie

It is impossible to live a pleasant life without living wisely and well and justly. And it is impossible to live wisely and well and justly without living a pleasant life. - Epicurus

The comfortable and comforting people are those who look upon the bright side of life; gathering its roses and sunshine, and making the most that happens seem the best. - Dorothy Dix

Pleasure And Sorrow

2011-12-03T12:08:00.000+08:00

I walked a mile with Pleasure,
She chatted all the way,
But left me none the wiser
For all she had to say.

I walked a mile with Sorrow,
And ne'er word said she
But, oh, the things I learned from her
When Sorrow walked with me!

- Robert Browning Hamilton

Begin

2011-12-02T12:37:00.001+08:00

Each time you fail, start all over again, and you will grow stronger until you have accomplished a purpose – not the one you began with perhaps, but one you’ll be glad to remember. So many fail because they don’t get started. They don’t begin. - Ben Stein

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

Whatever you can do, or dream you can do, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it. - Goethe

Begin at the beginning and go on till you come to the end; then stop. - Lewis Carroll

Everyone who got where he is had to begin where he was. -Pope Paul VI

We will not know unless we begin. - Howard Zinn

Begin, and you are halfway there. - Alfred Montapert

All glory comes from daring to begin. Begin somewhere; you cannot build a reputation on what you intend to do.

Begin by doing what is necessary then what is possible, and suddenly you are doing the impossible.

The beginning is the most important part of the work.

Quote Worthy

2011-12-01T11:48:00.000+08:00

If you talk the talk, you damn well better walk the walk. - Anthony D'Angelo

After a certain number of years, our faces become our biographies. - Cynthia Ozick

The real problem is not whether machines think, but whether men do. - B.F. Skinner

Chaos is inherent in all compounded things. Strive on with diligence. - Buddha

Three things cannot be long hidden: the sun, the moon, and the truth. - Buddha

It is not fair to ask of others what you are unwilling to do yourself. - Eleanor Roosevelt

It is only possible to live happily ever after on a day-to-day basis. - Margaret Bonnano

To get to the root of stress we must change the way we look at it first. - Darina Stoyanova

He who lives in harmony with himself lives in harmony with the universe. - Marcus Aurelius

It’s all right letting yourself go as long as you can let yourself back.- Mick Jagger

Quotes - Spiritual

2011-11-30T11:41:00.000+08:00

The awakened sages call a person wise when all his undertakings are free from anxiety about results. - Krishna

In our era, the road to holiness necessarily passes through the world of action. - Dag Hammarskjold

Getting in touch with your true self must be your first priority. - Tom Hopkins

Every mortal birth is a heaven-given reminder to prepare for the second birth. - Bruce R. McConkie

Most people don't know or don't accept the fact that if they had no thoughts they would be happy. - Anthony Damiani

Everything is in motion. Everything flows. Everything is vibrating. - Wayne Dyer

A flower falls, even though we love it; and a weed grows, even though we do not love it. - Dogen

Do not think you will necessarily be aware of your own enlightenment. - Dogen

The highest purpose is to have no purpose at all. This puts one in accord with nature, in her manner of operation. - John Cage

Food For Thought

2011-11-29T11:12:00.000+08:00

Finish every day and be done with it. You have done what you could; some blunders and absurdities crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; you shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense.

To dream about 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 human will. To trust yourself to test your limits, that is the courage to succeed.

In our course through life we shall meet the people who are coming to meet us, from many strange places and by many strange roads and what it is set to us to do to them, and what it is set to them to do to us, will be done.

Growing A Bridge

2011-11-28T11:09:00.001+08:00

Very interesting and creative bridge indeed. Take a look.

Click on the link to watch the video.

http://www.snotr.com/video/7331/The_Living_Bridge

Time

2011-11-27T12:04:00.000+08:00

The ability to concentrate and to use your time well is everything. - Lee Iacocca

In times like these, it is helpful to remember that there have always been times like these. - Paul Harvey

I recommend you to take care of the minutes, for the hours will take care of themselves. - Lord Chesterfield

Those who make the worst use of their time are the first to complain of its shortness. - Jean De La Bruyere

Time, you old gypsy man, will you not stay, put up your caravan just for one day? - Ralph Hodgson

Time is like a river. You cannot touch the same water twice, because the flow that has passed will never pass again. Enjoy every moment of life.

Time invested in improving ourselves cuts down on time wasted in disapproving of others.

Everything that was, is and ever could be, is contained within this present moment. Time is merely a construct of a wholly false perception.

He who forces time is pushed back by time; he who yields to time finds time on his side.

One thing you can not recycle is wasted time. Lost time is never found again.

Happiness

2011-11-26T12:02:00.000+08:00

It’s good to be just plain happy; it’s a little better to know that you’re happy; but to understand that you’re happy and to know why and how and still be happy, be happy in the being and the knowing, well that is beyond happiness, that is bliss. - Henry Miller

The way to happiness: keep your heart free from hate, your mind from worry. Live simply, expect little, give much. Fill your life with love. Scatter sunshine. Forget self, think of others. Do as you would be done by. Try this for a week and you will be surprised. - Norman Vincent Peale

True happiness is of a retired nature, and an enemy to pomp and noise; it arises, in the first place, from the enjoyment of one’s self, and in the next from the friendship and conversation of a few select companions. - Joseph Addison

Beliefs

2011-11-25T11:34:00.002+08:00

Our belief at the beginning of a doubtful undertaking is the one thing that insures the successful outcome of our venture. - William James

It’s the repetition of affirmations that leads to belief. And once that belief becomes a deep conviction, things begin to happen. - Muhammad Ali

There’s nothing that can help you understand your beliefs more than trying to explain them to an inquisitive child. - Frank A. Clark

We may not respect all the beliefs of others, but we should respect their right of having them. - Validivar

If you don’t have solid beliefs, you cannot build a stable life. Beliefs are like the foundation of a building, and they are the foundation to build your life upon. - Alfred Montapert

It's an indulgence to sit in a room and discuss your beliefs as if they were a juicy piece of gossip. - Robert Heinlein

I would never die for my beliefs because I might be wrong. - Bertrand Russell

Belief is the ignition switch that gets you off the launching pad. - Denis Waitley

Man is made by his belief. As he believes, so he becomes. - Bhagavad Gita

You can have anything you want if you will give up the belief that you can’t have it. - Dr. Robert Anthony

Every man prefers belief to the exercise of judgment. - Seneca

Belief gets in the way of learning. - Robert Heinlein

It is okay to stand firm in your beliefs; just do not impose them on others who may be equally resolute in theirs.

Quote Worthy

2011-11-24T11:33:00.000+08:00

Reasoning at every step he treads, Man yet mistakes his way, Whilst meaner things, whom instinct leads, Are rarely known to stray. - William Cowper

A fair day’s wage for a fair day’s work: it is as just a demand as governed men ever made of governing. It is the everlasting right of man. - Thomas Carlyle

There is an infinite difference between a little wrong and just right, between fairly good and the best, between mediocrity and superiority. - Orison Swett Marden

If we could see things as other people see them, we could come closer to knowing why they do what they do and why they say what they say. - Richard L. Evans

We may not be saintly enough to love our enemies, but for the sake of our health and happiness, let us at least forgive them and forget them. - Dale Carnegie

The fact that a believer is happier than a sceptic is no more to the point than the fact than a drunken man is happier than a sober one. - George Bernard Shaw

There are two things to aim at in life: first, to get what you want; and, after that, to enjoy it. Only the wisest of mankind achieve the second. - Logan Smith

The power of illustrative anecdotes often lies not in how well they present reality, but in how well they reflect the core beliefs of their audience. - Barbara Mikkelson

Running Advice Can Be Risky, Cause Injury

2011-11-23T12:03:00.000+08:00

Finally, an article on Running by researchers who have no financial ties to running programmes or shoe manufacturers. At the end of the day, it’s all just common sense. Listen to what your body is telling you, not the shoe manufacturers, who want you to buy their products.

New York: Exercise researchers believe advice about running has become unnecessarily complicated as ‘experts’ battle over shoes and running form and training programmes.

Researchers who have no financial ties to running programmes or shoe manufacturers say that most of those complications are unnecessary and some advice is even risk because it can make running harder and increase the chance of injury.

Take, for example, the notion that there is a perfect running form, like striking the ground with the midfoot or or forefoot. There is no convincing evidence for this convoluted advice, disinterested researchers say.

In fact, studies have found that individuals automatically run in a way that is most efficient for their own bodies. Those who change the way they run naturally are less efficient and more prone to injury.

“There is good evidence that your body is exquisitely lazy and will find he easiest way for you to run,” said Carl Foster, professor of exercise and sports medicine at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse.

Dr Steef Bredeweg of the University Medical Center Groningen,in the Netherlands, and his colleague Dr Ida Buist are principal investigators in a series of rigorous studies of runners, asking how best train novices and how to prevent injuries.

When it comes to running form, Dr Bredeweg sais: “We don’t know what is the right thing to do.”

For example, he noted, forefoot strikers place less stress on their knees but more on their calves and Achilles tendons.

“We tell people we don’t know a thing about the best technique,” h said, telling runners to use the fore they naturally adopt.

Running form is just one example of the confusion buffeting beginners. Running, said John Raglin, professor of kinesiology at Indiana University, “is so prone to these sort of trends.”

People will latch on to anything, he added, and an anecdote or two about what is supposed to be an ideal running form often passes for evidence.

Exercise researchers also say there is no perfect programme to get people started on running.

A lot depends on what a person’s goals are and how fit he or she is before starting to run. Experts caution, though, that it is important to start slowly, increase distance and effort gradually and not become a slave to a rigorous programme.

Dr Raglin said: “People are indoctrinated with what they can achieve in a short time with a little bit of work. But the reality is very different.”

So, if a training programme does not seem to be working, he said, “don’t stick with it because you think it’s what you have to do.”

- New York Times

Food For Thought

2011-11-22T11:48:00.000+08:00

Challenges in life come in three broad categories: easy, difficult, and impossible. Those who take on the easy have a safe and boring life. Those who take on the difficult have a tough but satisfying life. Those who take on the impossible are remembered for life.

When life seems chaotic, you don’t need people giving you easy answers or cheap promises. There might not be any answers to your problems. What you need is a safe place where you can bounce with people who have taken some bad hops of their own.

A little more patience, a little more charity for all, a little more devotion, a little more love; with less bowing down to the past; brave looking forward to the future with more faith in our fellows, and the race will be ripe for a great burst of light and life.

Law Of Life

2011-11-21T11:47:00.000+08:00

Law of Mechanical Repair - After your hands become coated with grease, your nose will begin to itch and you'll have to pee.

Law of Gravity - Any tool, nut, bolt, screw, when dropped, will roll to the least accessible corner.

Law of Probability - The probability of being watched is directly proportional to the stupidity of your act.

Law of Random Numbers - If you dial a wrong number, you never get a busy signal and someone always answers.

Variation Law - If you change lines (or traffic lanes), the one you were in will always move faster than the one you are in now (works every time, even in the supermarket).

Law of the Bath - When the body is fully immersed in water, the telephone rings.

Law of Close Encounters - The probability of meeting someone you know increases dramatically when you are with someone you don't want to be seen with.

Law of the Result - When you try to prove to someone that a machine won't work, it will.

Law of Biomechanics - The severity of the itch is inversely proportional to the reach.

Law of the Theatre & Hockey Arena - At any event, the people whose seats are furthest from the aisle, always arrive last. They are the ones who will leave their seats several times to go for food, beer, or the toilet and who leave early before the end of the performance or the game is over. The folks in the aisle seats come early, never move once, have long gangly legs or big bellies and stay to the bitter end of the performance. The aisle people also are very surly folk.

The Coffee Law - As soon as you sit down to a cup of hot coffee, your boss will ask you to do something which will last until the coffee is cold.

Murphy's Law of Lockers - If there are only 2 people in a locker room, they will have adjacent lockers.

Law of Physical Surfaces - The chances of an open-faced jelly sandwich landing face down on a floor, are directly correlated to the newness and cost of the carpet or rug.

Law of Logical Argument - Anything is possible if you don't know what you are talking about.

Brown's Law of Physical Appearance - If the clothes fit, they're ugly.

Wilson's Law of Commercial Marketing Strategy - As soon as you find a product that you really like, they will stop making it.

Doctors' Law - If you don't feel well, make an appointment to go to the doctor, by the time you get there you'll feel better.. But don't make an appointment, and you'll stay sick.

Inverse Square Law - All of the above will be rendered invalid or fail at the most ridiculous time.

Life

2011-11-20T13:15:00.000+08:00

The purpose of life is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well. - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Having the opportunity to talk about one’s life, to give an account of it, to interpret it, is integral to leading that life rather than being led through it. - Lugones and Spelman

I should have no objection to go over the same life from its beginning to the end: requesting only the advantage authors have, of correcting in a second edition, the faults of the first. - Benjamin Franklin

Your life will be no better than the plans you make, and the action you take. You are the architect and builder of your own life, fortune, and destiny. - Alfred Montapert

Even as a coin attains its full value when it is spent, so life attains its supreme value when one knows how to forfeit it with grace when the time comes. - Felix Marti-Ibanez

Living is a form of not being sure, not knowing what next or how. We guess. We may be wrong, but we take leap after leap in the dark. - Agnes de Mille

Slow down and enjoy life. It’s not only the scenery you miss by going too fast – you also miss the sense of where you are going and why. - Eddie Cantor

Let us live while we live, and snatch each fleeting moment of truth and love and beauty. - Sarah Alden Bradford Ripley

Love

2011-11-19T13:13:00.001+08:00

Love is something eternal – the aspects may change, but not the essence. There is the same difference in a person before and after he is in love as there is in an unlighted lamp and one that is burning. The lamp was there and it is a good lamp, but now it is shedding light, too, and that is its real function. - Vincent van Gogh

Around us lies the world. Pass out into it with hatred in your heart and, by the operation of a law as immutable as that of gravity, you will encounter strife, bitterness, and shame. Pass out into the same world with love in your hear, love everything you meet, no matter how degraded it may appear, or how far removed from the possibility of love, let your love rest upon all, even as the sun touches everything with the infinite charity of its beams, and all the world will blossom like a rose. What need has the world but love? If love were a living thing in the heart of every man, what use were the laws written in statue books? Heaven's only law is love.

When you love somebody, you should follow your heart. Sometimes when you are with the person you love the most, you feel confused. You don’t know who you are or what you want but that is totally understandable. It is natural to let go of a part of yourself to be with that person but the important part is that you don’t lose your own identity in the process!

Believe

2011-11-18T10:56:00.002+08:00

The moment we want to believe something, we suddenly see all the arguments for it, and become blind to the arguments against it. - George Bernard Shaw

Believe it can be done. When you believe something can be done, really believe, your mind will find the ways to do it. Believing a solution paves the way to solution. - David Joseph Schwartz

Believe nothing against another but on good authority; and never report what may hurt another, unless it be a greater hurt to some other to conceal it. - William Penn

We believe what we want to believe, what we like to believe, what suits our prejudices and fuels our passions. - Sydney J. Harries

Men in general are quick to believe that which they wish to be true. - Julius Caesar

The man who cannot believe in himself cannot believe in anything else. - Roy L. Smith

No man ever quite believes in any other man. One may believe in an idea absolutely, but not in a man. - H. L. Mencken

For those who believe, no proof is necessary. For those who don’t believe, no proof is possible. - Stuart Chase

Everyone believes very easily whatever they fear or desire. - Jean de La Bruyere

What a man believes may be ascertained, not from his creed, but from the assumptions on which he habitually acts. - George Bernard Shaw

Keep your dreams alive. Understand to achieve anything requires faith and belief in yourself, vision, hard work, determination, and dedication. Remember all things are possible for those who believe. - Gail Devers

What we sincerely believe regarding ourselves is true for us. - Orison Swett Marden

What you believe will depend very much on what you are. - Noah Porter

He who believes in nobody knows that he himself is not to be trusted. - Berthold Auerbach

We are slow to believe that which if believed would hurt our feelings. - Ovid

Believing everybody is dangerous, but believing nobody is more dangerous - Abraham Lincoln

Men freely believes that which they desire. - Caesar

Do not believe hastily. - Ovid

Do not ever quit believing in yourself. As long as you believe you can, you will have reason for trying.

It is not what you believe, but why you believe it!

Quote Worthy

2011-11-17T10:55:00.001+08:00

The sublime and the ridiculous are often so nearly related, that it is difficult to class them separately. One step above the sublime makes the ridiculous, and one step above the ridiculous makes the sublime again. - Thomas Paine

Indeed, what is there that does not appear marvellous when it comes to our knowledge for the first time? How many things, too, are looked upon as quite impossible until they have been actually effected? - Pliny The Elder

The two most precious things this side of the grave are our reputation and our life. But it is to be lamented that the most contemptible whisper may deprive us of the one, and the weakest weapon of the other. - Charles Colton

One of the best ways to educate our hearts is to look at our interaction with other people, because our relationships with others are fundamentally a reflection of our relationship with ourselves. - Stephen R. Covey

Be not too presumptuously sure in any business; for things of this world depend on such a train of unseen chances that if it were in man’s hands to set the tables, still he would not be certain to win the game. - George Herbert

Whoever, in middle age, attempts to realize the wishes and hopes of his early youth, invariably deceives himself. Each ten years of a man's life has its own fortunes, its own hopes, its own desires. - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

The world is never quiet, even its silence eternally resounds with the same notes, in vibrations which escape our ears. As for those that we perceive, they carry sounds to us, occasionally a chord, never a melody. - Albert Camus

Let it be your constant method to look into the design of people’s actions, and see what they would be at, as often as it is practicable; and to make this custom the more significant, practice it first upon yourself. - Marcus Aurelius

Sogyal Rinpoche

2011-11-16T12:59:00.001+08:00

Sogyal Rinpoche - a world-renowned Buddhist teacher from Tibet

Two people have been living in you all your life. One is the ego, garrulous, demanding, hysterical, calculating; the other is the hidden spiritual being, whose still voice of wisdom you have only rarely heard or attended to. . . . Because he or she knows you through and through, since he or she is you, your guide can help you, with increasing clarity and humour, negotiate all the difficulties of your thoughts and emotions. . . . The more often you listen to this wise guide, the more easily you will be able to change your negative moods yourself, see through them, and even laugh at them for the absurd dramas and ridiculous illusions that they are. . . . The more you listen, the more guidance you will receive. If you follow the voice of your wise guide . . . and let the ego fall silent, you come to experience that presence of wisdom and joy and bliss that you really are. - Sogyal Rinpoche

When you realize the nature of mind, layers of confusion peel away. You don't actually "become" a Buddha, you simply cease, slowly, to be deluded. And being a Buddha is not being some omnipotent spiritual superman, but becoming at last a true human being. - Sogyal Rinpoche

Food For Thought

2011-11-15T12:57:00.000+08:00

Going far beyond the call of duty, doing more than others expect… this is what excellence is all about. And it comes from striving, maintaining the highest standards, looking after the smallest detail, and going the extra mile. Excellence means doing your very best – in everything, in everyway.

Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around. It is overwhelming to consider the continuous opportunities there are to make our love felt.

Heaven on earth is happening simultaneously with the way our lives are showing up, right now in this moment. The trick is to be able to access this coexisting state, day in, day out, moment-by-moment, not just when in pleasant, ideal circumstances.

Tap on the Shoulder

2011-11-14T12:53:00.002+08:00

A passenger in a taxi heading leaned over to ask the driver a question and gently tapped him on the shoulder to get his attention.
The driver screamed, lost control of the cab, nearly hit a bus, drove up over the curb and stopped just inches from a large plate window.
For a few moments everything was silent in the cab. Then, the shaking driver said, "Are you OK? I'm so sorry, but you scared the daylights out of me."
The badly shaken passenger apologized to the driver and said, "I didn't realize that a mere tap on the shoulder would startle someone so badly."
The driver replied, "No, no, I'm the one who is sorry, it's entirely my fault. Today is my very first day driving a cab. I've been driving a hearse for 25 years."

All About You

2011-11-13T11:56:00.000+08:00

You should remember that though another may have more money, beauty, and brains than you, when it comes to the rarer spiritual values such as charity, self-sacrifice, honour, nobility of heart, you have an equal chance with everyone to be the most beloved and honoured of all people. - Archibald Rutledge

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. - Beverly Sills

Consult not your fears but your hopes and your dreams. Think not about your frustrations, but about your unfulfilled potential. Concern yourself not with what you tried and failed in, but with what it is still possible for you to do. - Pope John Xxiii

You can do anything you think you can. This knowledge is literally the gift of the gods, for through it you can solve every human problem. It should make of you an incurable optimist. It is the open door. - Robert Collier

Accept everything about yourself – I mean everything, You are you and that is the beginning and the end – no apologies, no regrets. - Henry A. Kissinger

Believe in yourself! Have faith in your abilities! Without a humble but reasonable confidence in your own powers you cannot be successful or happy. - Norman Vincent Peale

No matter what age you are, or what your circumstances might be, you are special, and you still have something unique to offer. Your life, because of who you are, has meaning. - Barbara De Angelis

You are as young as your faith, as old as your doubt, as young as your self-confidence, as old as your fear, as young as your hope, as old as your despair. - Paul H. Dunn

Don’t ask yourself what the world needs; ask yourself what makes you come alive. And then go do that. Because what the world needs is people who are alive. - Harold Whitman

The real contest is always between what you’ve done and what you’re capable of doing. You measure yourself against yourself and nobody else. - Geoffrey Gaberino

You cannot afford to make the mistake of thinking you cannot be replaced. And your employer cannot afford to have a man around that he cannot afford to do without. - Frank Irving Fletcher

On Friendship

2011-11-12T11:54:00.000+08:00

A true friendship always tells us that we are acceptable and accepted. This we all need to know. We have a need to be accepted not for any special quality, not for any grand achievement but simply for ourselves.

Deep friendship develops through mutual caring and interest in each other’s well being. Friendship based on competition to show who is better can only exist on the golf course.

As we experience acceptance in a friendship, we come to know that someone sees values in us. Being valued by someone who counts is the first step toward valuing oneself.

A friendship that is sincere and true gives joy like nothing else will do; that is why glad hearts look up and send a prayer of thanks for faithful friends.

The delight of honest friendship is that it can be resumed instantly regardless of the length of time it has been in abeyance; there are no preliminaries or formalities to observe, no protocol to be established.

The miracle of friendship can be spoken without words, hearing unspoken needs, recognizing secret dreams, understanding the silent things that only true friends know.

Birds

2011-11-11T12:01:00.001+08:00

A bird does not sing because it has an answer. It sings because it has a song. - Lou Holtz

Each bird must sing with his own throat. - Henrik Ibsen

No bird soars too high if he soars with his own wings. - William Blake

Tie two birds together and although they have four wings, they cannot fly.

Quote Worthy

2011-11-10T11:58:00.000+08:00

Love and kindness are never wasted. They always make a difference. They bless the one who receives them, and they bless you, the giver. - Barbara De Angelis

Overcoming fear and worry can be accomplished by living a day at a time or even a moment at a time. Your worries will be cut down to nothing. - Dr. Robert Anthony

Even if the doctor does not give you a year, even if he hesitates about a month, make one brave push and see what can be accomplished in a week. - Robert Luis Stevenson

You cannot run away from a weakness, you must sometime fight it out or perish; and if that be so, why not now, and where you stand. - Robert Luis Stevenson

Let every man be occupied, and occupied in the highest employment of which his nature is capable, and die with the consciousness that he has done his best. - Sydney Smith

The man with a toothache thinks everyone happy whose teeth are sound. The poverty-stricken man makes the same mistake about the rich man. - George Bernard Shaw

The loftiness of understanding embraces all. It requires as much spirit to suffer the failings of others as it does to appreciate their good qualities. - Magdeleine Sable

To reach the port of heaven, we must sail sometimes with the wind and sometimes against it – but we must sail and not drift, nor lie at anchor. - Oliver Wendell Holmes

People deal too much with the negative, with what is wrong. Why not try and see positive things, to just touch those things and make them bloom? - Thich Nhat Hanh

Trivia

2011-11-09T11:22:00.000+08:00

I can’t guarantee the accuracy of all the points. :-)

Q: Why do men's clothes have buttons on the right while women's clothes have buttons on the left?
A: When buttons were invented, they were very expensive and worn primarily by the rich. Since most people are right-handed, it is easier to push buttons on the right through holes on the left. Because wealthy women were dressed by maids, dressmakers put the buttons on the maid's right! And that's where women's buttons have remained since.

Q: Why do ships and aircraft use 'mayday' as their call for help?
A: This comes from the French word m'aidez -meaning 'help me' -- and is pronounced, approximately,’ mayday.'

Q: Why are zero scores in tennis called 'love'?
A: In France, where tennis became popular, round zero on the scoreboard looked like an egg and was called 'l'oeuf,' which is French for 'egg.' When tennis was introduced in the US, Americans (mis)pronounced it 'love.'

Q: Why is shifting responsibility to someone else called 'passing the buck'?
A: In card games, it was once customary to pass an item, called a buck, from player to player to indicate whose turn it was to deal. If a player did not wish to assume the responsibility of dealing, he would 'pass the buck' to the next player.

Q: Why do people clink their glasses before drinking a toast?
A: It used to be common for someone to try to kill an enemy by offering him a poisoned drink. To prove to a guest that a drink was safe, it became customary for a guest to pour a small amount of his drink into the glass of the host. Both men would drink it simultaneously. When a guest trusted his host, he would only touch or clink the host's glass with his own.

Q: Why are people in the public eye said to be ‘in the limelight’?
A: Invented in 1825, limelight was uses in lighthouses and theatres by burning a cylinder of lime which produced a brilliant light. In the theatrical performer 'in the limelight’ was the centre of attention.

Q: Why is someone who is feeling great ‘on cloud nine’?
A: Types of clouds are numbered according to the altitudes they attain, with nine being the highest cloud. If someone is said to be on cloud nine, that person is floating well above worldly cares.

Q: In golf, where did the term ‘Caddie’ come from?
A: When Mary, Queen of Scots went to France as a young girl, Louis, King of France, learned that she loved the Scots game ‘golf’. So he had the first course outside of Scotland built for her enjoyment. To make sure she was properly chaperoned (and guarded) while she played, Louis hired cadets from a military school to accompany her. In French, the word cadet is pronounced ‘ca-day’ and the Scots changed it to ‘caddie’.

Q: Did you ever wonder why dimes, quarters and half dollars have notches(milling), while pennies and nickels do not?
A: The US Mint began putting notches on the edges of coins containing gold and silver to discourage holders from shaving off small quantities of the precious metals. Dimes, quarters and half dollars are notched because they used to contain silver. Pennies and nickels aren’t notched because the metals they contain are not valuable enough to shave.

So there! Now you know!

Food For Thought

2011-11-08T11:16:00.000+08:00

When you meet someone with good manners, you cannot know immediately if you are meeting a good person. You may not know for years, or ever. But you will know instantly that something is right about the person.

The man who will not execute his resolutions when they are fresh upon him can have no hope from them afterwards; they will be dissipated, lost and perished in the hurry and scurry of the world, or sunk in the slough of indolence.

The need to be focused is not because it guarantees success, but because a person only has so much time and energy to do a project well. Incidentally, it is mainly those who are focused who become most successful in life.

Heart Warming Friendship/Relationship

2011-11-07T13:26:00.000+08:00

Man befriends 38 lions

http://www.wimp.com/manbefriends/

Man reunites with Gorilla he raised as his son.

http://www.wimp.com/reunitesgorilla/

On Life

2011-11-06T13:10:00.000+08:00

No matter how good things are in your life, there is always something bad that needs to be worked on. And no matter how bad things are in your life, there is always something good you can thank God for. - Rick Warren

Most men ebb and flow in wretchedness between the fear of death and the hardship of life; they are unwilling to live, and yet they do not know how to die. - Seneca

Appreciation of life itself, becoming suddenly aware of the miracle of being alive, on this planet, can turn what we call ordinary life into a miracle. - Dan Wakefield

Your living is determined not so much by what life brings to you as by the attitude you bring to life; not so much by what happens to you as by the way your mind looks at what happens. - Kahlil Gibran

We cannot tell what may happen to us in the strange medley of life. But we can decide what happens to us, how we take it, what we do with it, and that is what really counts in the end. - Joseph F. Newton

The secret of living a life of excellence is merely a matter of thinking thoughts of excellence. Really, it’s a matter of programming our minds with the kind of information that will set us free. - Charles R. Swindoll

A life lived with integrity – even if it lacks the trappings of fame and fortune is a shinning star in whose light others may follow in the years to come. - Denis Waitley

Live with intention. Walk to the edge. Continue to learn. Play with abandon. Choose with no regret. Laugh! Do what you love. Love as if this is all there is. - Mary Anne Radmacher-Hershey

It is sad indeed to die in your spirit while you live in your body. It is equally tragic to be asleep in life when you should be wide awake to this great world.

Everything in life is temporary. So if things are going good, enjoy it because it won’t last forever. And if things are gong bad, don’t worry because it won’t last forever either.

Happiness

2011-11-05T13:09:00.000+08:00

Happiness includes chiefly the idea of satisfaction after full honest effort. No one can possibly be satisfied and no one can be happy who feels that in some paramount affairs he failed to take up the challenge of life. - Arnold Bennett

Our happiness depends on the habit of mind we cultivate. So practice happy thinking every day. Cultivate the merry heart, develop the happiness habit, and life will become a continual feast. - Norman Vincent Peale

Such happiness as life is capable of comes from the full participation of all our powers in the endeavour to wrest from each changing situations of experience its own full and unique meaning. - John Dewey

It isn’t what you have, or who you are, or where you are, or what you are doing that makes you happy or unhappy. It is what you think about. - Dale Carnegie

The secret of happiness is this – let your interests be wide as possible, and let your reactions to the things and persons that interest you be as far as possible friendly rather than hostile. - Bertrand Russell

Happiness lives for those who cry, those who hurt, those who have searched, and those who have tried, for only they can appreciate the importance of people who have touched their lives.

Make it a habit to give – whether yourself, your time, your money, a word of encouragement, or a listening ear – and you will find peace and happiness that cannot be beaten.

Of Blessedness / Blessings

2011-11-04T12:20:00.002+08:00

Count your blessings. Once you realize how valuable you are and how much you have going for you, the smiles will return, the sun will break out, the music will play, and you will finally be able to move forward with grace, strength, courage, and confidence. - Og Mandino

Reflect upon your present blessings, of which every man has many – not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some. Be thankful for what you have, not sad about what you do not have. - Charles Dickens

The great blessings of mankind are with us, and within our reach; but we shut our eyes and, like people in the dark, fall foul of the very thing we search for without finding it. - Seneca

Our real blessings often appear to us in the shapes of pains, losses and the disappointments; but let us have patience, and we soon shall see them in their proper figures. - Joseph Addison

Blessed are those who give without remembering. And blessed are those who take without forgetting. - Bernard Meltzer

That man is blest who does his best and leaves the rest. - Charles F. Deems

The hardest arithmetic to master is that which enables us to count our blessings. - Eric Hoffer

A contented mind is the greatest blessing a man can enjoy in this world. - Joseph Addison

Men are slower to recognize blessings than misfortunes. - Titus Livius

Forget the troubles that pass your way; but never forget the blessings that come each day.

Blessed is the person who is too busy to worry in the daytime and too sleepy to worry at night.

Count your blessings, and do not forget the small ones – small blessings add up to large ones.

Sit outside today for five or ten minutes, breathe deeply, and count your blessings. Your day will improve.

Blessings go to the grateful hearts; they shun those who complain that they never get enough.

You never appreciate your blessings as much as when they are gone.

Quote Worthy

2011-11-03T12:19:00.000+08:00

We have to talk about liberating minds as well as liberating society. - Angela Davis

True independence and freedom can only exist in doing what’s right. - Brigham Young

Behind every successful man , there is an untold pain in his heart. - Bill Jacobs

Neither fire nor wind, birth nor death can erase our good deeds. - The Buddha

Take care to get what you like or you will be forced to like what you get. - George Bernard Shaw

They understand but a little who understand only what can be explained. - Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach

The patient is not likely to recover who makes the doctor his heir. - Thomas Fuller

Choose your friends carefully. Your enemies will choose you. - Yassir Arafat

Just remember, once you’re over the hill you begin to pick up speed. - Arthur Schopenhauer

Resolve to be thyself; and know that who finds himself, loses his misery. - Matthew Arnold

We are so fond on one another because our ailments are the same. - Jonathan Swift

We promise according to our hopes, and perform according to our fears. - Duc de La Rochefoucauld

It is easier to be wise for others than for ourselves. - Duc de La Rochefoucauld

Spiritual Thoughts

2011-11-02T11:41:00.000+08:00

Whoever does not detach himself from the ego never attains the Absolute and never deciphers life. - Constantin Brancusi

As I make my slow pilgrimage through the world, a certain sense of beautiful mystery seems to gather and grow. - A. C. Benson

Nothing is more important than reconnecting with your bliss. Nothing is as rich. Nothing is more real. - Deepak Chopra

Myths and creeds are heroic struggles to comprehend the truth in the world. - Ansel Adams

Whatever the universal nature assigns to any man at any time is for the good of that man at that time. - Marcus Aurelius

How easy it is to repel and erase every impression which is troublesome or unwelcome, and immediately to be tranquil. - Marcus Aurelius

Separate we come, and separate we go, And this be it known, is all that we know. - Conrad Aiken

Let thine occupations be few, saith the sage, if thou wouldst lead a tranquil life. - Marcus Aurelius

Look within. Within is the fountain of good, and it will ever bubble up, if thou wilt ever dig. - Marcus Aurelius

It is a shameful thing for the soul to faint while the body still perseveres. - Marcus Aurelius

What springs from earth dissolves to earth again, and heaven-born things fly to their native seat. - Marcus Aurelius

A drop of water has the tastes of the water of the seven seas: there is no need to experience all the ways of worldly life. - Hung Tzu Ch'eng

Food For Thought

2011-11-01T11:40:00.000+08:00

You are always a valuable, worthwhile human being – not because anybody says so, not because you're successful, not because you make a lot of money – but because you decide to believe it and for no other reason. - Wayne Dyer

The heart's affections are divided like the branches of the cedar tree; if the tree loses one strong branch; it will suffer but it does not die; it will pour all its vitality into the next branch so that it will grow and fill the empty place. - Khalil Gibran

It costs so much to be a full human being that there are very few who have the love and courage to pay the price. One has to abandon altogether the search for security and reach out to the risk of living with both arms. One has to embrace life like a lover. - Morris West

Wisdom

2011-10-30T11:51:00.000+08:00

The art of being wise is the art of knowing what to overlook. - William James

Is there anyone so wise as to learn by the experience of others? - Voltaire

Better be wise by the misfortunes of others than by your own. - Aesop

They would need to be already wise, in order to love wisdom. - Johann Friedrich Von Schiller

Wisdom doesn’t automatically come with old age. - Abigail Van Buren

The clearest sign of wisdom is continued cheerfulness. - Michel Montaigne

There is a wisdom of the head, and a wisdom of the heart. - Charles Dickens

Full of wisdom are the ordinations of fate. - Johann Friedrich Von Schiller

Much of the wisdom of one age, is the folly of the next. - Charles Simmons

Wisdom consists of the anticipation of consequences. - Norman Cousins

T’is sometimes the height of wisdom to feign stupidity. - Cato The Elder

Wisdom is to the soul what health is to the body. - La Rouchefoucauld

Wisdom thoroughly learned, will never be forgotten. - Pythagoras

A prudent question is one-half of wisdom. - Francis Bacon

Love

2011-10-29T11:45:00.000+08:00

No one can become fully aware of the very essence of another human being until he loves him. By his love he is enabled to see the essential traits and features in the beloved person; and even more, he sees that which is potential in him, which is not yet actualized. Further more, by his love, the loving person enables the beloved person to actualize these potentialities. By making him aware of what he can be and what he should become, he makes these potentialities come true. - Viktor Frankl

Being with the right person is caring for another physically, mentally and spiritually. It is caring for another’s soul. As the relationship grows deeper over the years each kiss is still as new and exciting as the first, each embrace is a song of ever-deepening love, and each night becomes a celebration of unity and fulfilment. Every day becomes richer and fuller. Being with the right person answers one of the deeper longings of the human soul. - Robert Scheid

Freedom and love go together. Love is not a reaction. If I love you because you love me, that is mere trade, a thing to be bought in the market; it is not love. To love is not to ask anything in return, not even to feel that you are giving something – and it is only such love that can know freedom. - Jiddu Krishnamurti

Blame

2011-10-28T13:50:00.001+08:00

All blame is a waste of time. No matter how much fault you find with another, and regardless of how much you blame him, it will not change you. The only thing blame does is to keep the focus off you when you are looking for external reasons to explain your unhappiness or frustration. You may succeed in making another feel guilty about something by blaming him, but you won’t succeed in changing whatever it is about you that is making you unhappy. - Wayne Dyer

People blame their environment. There is only one person to blame – and only one – themselves. -Robert Collier

The cultured man always blames others; the semi-cultured man blames himself and the fully-cultured man blames neither.

What cannot be altered must be borne, not blamed.

Quote Worthy

2011-10-27T13:49:00.000+08:00

I keep six honest serving men (They taught me all I knew); Their names are What and Why and When And How and Where and Who. - Rudyard Kipling

Few people know so clearly what they want. Most people can’t even think what to hope for when they throw a penny in a fountain. - Barbara Kingsolver

You can send a message around the world in one-fifth of a second, yet it may take years for it to get from the outside of a man’s head to the inside. - Charles Kettering

The good fighters of old first put themselves beyond the possibility of defeat, and then waited for an opportunity of defeating the enemy. - Sun Tzu

When you discover your mission, you will feel its demand. It will fill you with enthusiasm and a burning desire to get to work on it. - W. Clement Stone

Temperance and labour are the two best physicians of man; labour sharpens the appetite and temperance prevents from indulging to excess. - Jacques Rousseau

You have to allow a certain amount of time in which you are doing nothing in order to have things occur to you, to let your mind think. - Mortimer Adler

You are one of a kind; therefore, no one can really predict to what heights you might soar. Even you will not know until you spread your wings. - Gil Atkinson

A little and a little, collected together, becomes a great deal; the heap in the barn consists of single grains, and drop and drop make the inundation. - Saadi

Spiritual Thoughts

2011-10-26T12:01:00.000+08:00

A sage knows by intuitive wisdom, not limited by what he sees and hears only. In the whole universe, there is nothing that is not me. - Zhang Dai

Manifest the divinity within you and everything will be harmoniously arranged around it. - Swami Vivekananda

Spiritual practice is essential for realization of the Divine. - Sathya Sai Baba

I let go of what I am, I become what I might be. - Lao Tzu

In the morning, hear the Way; in the evening, die content! - Confucius

Who in the world am I? Ah, that's the great puzzle. - Lewis Carroll

Your daily life is your temple and your religion. - Gibran Khalil

Just as a candle cannot burn without fire, men cannot live without a spiritual life.

To see and understand the big picture, you’ve got to meet the Master Painter.

Consciousness dances upon the ocean of context and form, upon a backdrop of space and time.

Our spiritual energy has to go somewhere after we passed from this world. In that sense we can never really die.

The microcosm of the self is essentially the same as the macrocosm of the universe.

There are two ways of spreading light: to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it.

Patience is an essential element of spiritual path.

In the stillness of being I remain forever here and now.

Food For Thought

2011-10-25T11:59:00.000+08:00

Many persons wonder why they don’t amount to more than they do, have good stuff in them, energetic persevering, and have ample opportunities. It is all a case of trimming the useless branches and throwing the whole force of power into the development of something that counts. - W. J. Johnston

People think that because a novel's invented, it isn't true. Exactly the reverse is the case. Biography and memoirs can never be wholly true, since they cannot include every conceivable circumstance of what happened. The novel can do that. - Anthony Dymoke Powell

However much we guard ourselves against it, we tend to shape ourselves in the image others have of us. It is not so much the example of others we imitate, as the reflection of ourselves in their eyes and the echo of ourselves in their words. - Eric Hoffer

Young Talented Artist

2011-10-24T11:57:00.000+08:00

It was a joy for me, watching this young talented artist at work. He finished a painting in under 7 minutes. Simply brilliant.

http://www.wimp.com/talentedartist/

Life

2011-10-23T11:52:00.000+08:00

Our business in life is not to get ahead of others, but to get ahead of ourselves – to break our own records, to outstrip our yesterday by our today. - Stewart B. Johnson

Live not as though there were a thousand years ahead of you. Fate is at your elbow; make yourself good while life and power are still yours. - Marcus Aurelius

When life is too easy for us, we must beware or we may not be ready to meet the blows which sooner or later come to everyone, rich or poor. - Eleanor Roosevelt

The life of a man is like a game with dice; if you don’t get the throw you want, you must show your skill in making the best of the throw you do get. - Terence

The Summer of life should be a little sunny and a little sad, like the season, and infinite in wealth and depth of tone, but never hustled. - Henry Adams

The more sand has escaped from the hourglass of our life, the clearer we should see through it. - Niccolo Machiavelli

The ultimate value of life depends upon awareness, and the power of contemplation rather than upon mere survival. - Aristotle

Each man must look to himself to teach him the meaning of life. It is not something discovered: it is something molded. - Antoine De Saint-Exupery

Most of life is routine – dull and grubby, but routine is the momentum that keeps a man going. - Ben Nicholas

The afternoon of life must also have a significance of its own and cannot be merely a pitiful appendage to life’s morning. - Carl Jung

Friends

2011-10-22T11:51:00.000+08:00

Old friends pass away, new friends appear. It is just like the days. An old day passes, a new day arrives. The important thing is to make it meaningful: a meaningful friend – or a meaningful day. - Dalai Lama

If two friends ask you to judge a dispute, don’t accept, because you will lose one friend; on the other hand, if two strangers come with the same request, accept because you will gain one friend. - Saint Augustine

It is important to our friends to believe that we are unreservedly frank with them, and important to the friendship that we are not. - Mignon McLaughlin

A true friend unbosoms freely, advises justly, assists readily, adventures boldly, takes all patiently, defends courageously, and continues a friend unchangeably. - William Penn

The only service a friend can really render is to keep up your courage by holding up to you a mirror in which you can see a noble image of yourself. - George Bernard Shaw

Of all happiness the most charming is that of a firm and gentle friendship. It sweetens all our cares, dispels our sorrows, and counsels us in all extremities. - Seneca

Sometimes being a friend means mastering the art of timing. There is a time for silence. A time to let go... And a time to prepare to pick up the pieces when it’s all over. - Gloria Naylor

Choose your friends wisely. They will provide the foundation of spiritual strength that will enable you to make difficult, extremely important decisions correctly when they come in your life. - Malcolm S. Jeppsen

Consult your friend on all things, especially on those which respect yourself. His counsel may then be useful where your own self-love might impair your judgment. - Seneca

Bores / Boredom

2011-10-21T12:34:00.001+08:00

We have to take responsibility for our own boredom and delve into the limitless opportunities that our imaginations afford us. Whether in fashioning a masterpiece of art, or seeing a problem from a new perspective, the creative instinct is uniquely human and waiting within you to be tapped. So when your life seems emptier than it should, when it needs a healthy transfusion of vitality, use your imagination. - Leo Buscaglia

Boredom is a sign of satisfied ignorance, blunted apprehension, crass sympathies, dull understanding, feeble powers of attention, and irreclaimable weakness of character. - James Bridie

It is only a step from boredom to disillusionment, which leads naturally to self-pity, which in turn ends in chaos. - Manly Hall

The concept of boredom entails an inability to use up present moments in a personally fulfilling way. - Wayne Dyer

You’ll find boredom where there is an absence of a good idea. - Earl Nightingale

Boredom is the feeling that everything is a waste of time. - Thomas Szasz

A bore is a man who deprives you of solitude without providing you with company. - Gian Vincenzo Gravina

The biggest bore is the person who is bored by everyone and everything. - Frank Tyger

Bores bore each other too; but it never seems to teach them anything. - Don Marquis

Nobody is bored when he is trying to make something that is beautiful or to discover something that is true. - William R. Inge

Life is never boring, but some people choose to be bored. - Wayne Dyer

When people are bored it is primarily with themselves. - Eric Hoffer

Quote Worthy

2011-10-20T12:33:00.000+08:00

As the tempest and the thunder affect not the sun or the stars, but spend their fury on stones and trees below; so injuries ascend not to the Soul of the great, but waste themselves on such as are those who offer them. - Akhnaton

For the want of a nail, the shoe was lose; for the want of a shoe the horse was lose; and for the want of a horse the rider was lost, being overtaken and slain by the enemy, all for the want of care about a horseshoe nail. - Benjamin Franklin

Two qualities are indispensable: first, an intellect that, even in the darkest hour, retains some glimmerings of the inner light which leads to truth; and second, the courage to follow this faint light wherever it may lead. - Von Clausewitz

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 will reach your destiny. - Carl Schurz

Most people are bothered by those passages in Scripture which they cannot understand; but as for me, I always noticed that the passages in Scripture which trouble me most are those that I do understand. - Mark Twain

The greatest hazard of all, losing one’s self, can occur very quietly in the world, as if it were nothing at all. No other loss can occur so quietly; any other loss – an arm, a leg, five dollars, a wife, etc – is sure to be noticed. - Kierkegaard

Difficult times have helped me to understand better than before, how infinitely rich and beautiful life is in every way, and that so many things that one goes worrying about are of no importance whatsoever. - Isak Dinesen

Photography records the gamut of feelings written on the human face, the beauty of the earth and skies that man has inherited, and the wealth and confusion man has created. It is a major force in explaining man to man. - Edward Steichen