QUOTES

This is a collection of quotes that I find helpful and/or interesting.

I use quotes to help me focus on making progress in my evolution.

Happiness is nothing more than good health and a bad memory. Albert Schweitzer

There is so much good in the worst of us, and so much bad in the best of us, that it behooves all of us not to talk about the rest of us. Robert Louis Stevenson

"There are two ways to slide easily through life: to believe everything or to doubt everything; both ways save us from thinking." Theodore Runbin

"The problem is not that there are problems. The problem is expecting otherwise and thinking that having problems is a problem." Theodore Rubin

"Today, if you are not confused, you are just not thinking clearly." U. Peter

"Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could; some blunders and absurdities have 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." Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Live as if your were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever." Mahatma Gandhi

"Everything's got a moral, if only you can find it." Lewis Carroll

"Freedom is not worth having if it does not connote freedom to err." Mahtma Gandhi

"A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable but more useful than a life spent in doing nothing." George Bernard Shaw

"We must learn our limits. We are all something, but none of us are everything." Blaise Pascal

"The secret of getting ahead is getting started. The secret of getting started is breaking your complex overwhelming tasks into small manageable tasks, and then starting on the first one." Mark Twain

"You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream." -- Les Brown

"One of the most essential things you need to do for yourself is to choose a goal that is important to you. Perfection does not exist - you can always do better and you can always grow." -- Les Brown

"Life is a succession of lessons which must be lived to be understood." Helen Keller

"The older I get the more wisdom I find in the ancient rule of taking first things first. A process which often reduces the most complex human problem to a manageable proportion." Dwight D. Eisenhower

"The important thing is not to stop questioning." Albert Einstein

"I like nonsense, it wakes up the brain cells. Fantasy is a necessary ingredient in living." Dr. Seuss

It's never too late to have a happy childhood. Tom Robbins

People are just about as happy as they make up their minds to be. Abraham Lincoln

Now that I’m gone, I tell you; Don’t smoke. Whatever you do, don’t smoke.  

Yul Brynner

Common sense is instinct. Enough of it is genius.  

George Bernard Shaw

Our greatest glory is not in never failing but in rising up every time we fail.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Most people live and die with their music still unplayed.  They never dare to try.

Mary Kay Ash

Our life is frittered away by detail... Simplify, SIMPLIFY.  

Thoreau

You need chaos in your soul to give birth to a dancing star.

Nietzsche

When I hear music, I fear no danger. I am invulnerable. I see no foe.

Henry David Thoreau

Our sweetest songs are those that tell of saddest thought.

Percy Bysshe Shelley

The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing.

Albert Einstein

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

Leo Tolstoy

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.

Mark Twain

Restlessness and discontent are the first necessities of progress.

Thomas A. Edison

If you play it safe in life, you've decided that you don't want to grow anymore.

Shirley Hufstedler

Music is your own experience, your own thoughts, your wisdom. If you don't live it, it won't come out of your horn. They teach you there's a boundary line to music. But, man, there's no boundary line to art.

Charlie Parker

Take into account that great love and great achievements involve great risk.

When you lose don't lose the lesson.

Follow the three Rs: Respect for self, Respect for others and Responsibility for all your actions.

Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a wonderful stroke of luck.

Learn the rules so you know how to break them properly.

Don't let a little dispute injure a great friendship.

When you realize you've made a mistake, take immediate steps to correct it.

Spend some time alone every day.

Open you arms to change, but don't let go of your values.

Remember that silence is sometimes the best answer.

Live a good, honourable life. Then when you get older and think back, you'll be able to enjoy it a second time.

A loving atmosphere in you home is the foundation for your life.

In disagreements with loved ones, deal only with the current situation. Don't bring up the past.

Share your knowledge. It's a way to achieve immortality.

Be gentle with the earth.

Once a year, go someplace you've never been before.

Remember that the best relationship is one in which your love for each other exceeds your need for each other.

Judge your success by what you had to give up in order to get it.

Approach love and cooking with reckless abandon.

Chaos is the law of nature, order is the dream of man.

Wallace Stegner

A problem is a chance for you to do your best.

Duke Ellington

It is better to be hated for what you are than loved for what you are not.

Andre Gide

I think and think for months and years. Ninety-nine times, the conclusion is false. The hundredth time I am right.

Albert Einstein

Life is either a daring adventure or nothing. Security does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than exposure.

Helen Keller

To be one’s self, and unafraid whether right or wrong, is more admirable than the easy cowardice of surrender to conformity.

Irving Wallace

Do not be too timid and squeamish about your actions. All life is an experiment.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Conformity is the jailer of freedom and the enemy of growth.

John F. Kennedy

Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional.

M. Kathleen Casey

Nobody, as long as he moves about among the chaotic currents of life, is without trouble.

Carl Jung

Tomorrow is the most important thing in life. Comes into us at midnight very clean. It’s perfect when it arrives and it puts itself in our hands. It hopes we’ve learned something from yesterday.

John Wayne

Things won are done;  joy’s soul lies in the doing.

Shakespeare

YOUR HAPPINESS IS UP TO YOU

Happiness depends on your attitude toward what happens to you, not on what happens to you. It may sound revolutionary, but problems don't have to make you unhappy. This runs counter to our cultural programming - which tells us we must react in certain negative ways to certain "negative" events. Nonetheless, happiness is always our choice. That is a reality of life. from the book, How to Survive the Loss of a Love

If you live to be a hundred, I want to live to be a hundred minus one day, so I never have to live without you." 

Winnie the Pooh

"True friendship is like sound health; the value of it is seldom known until it be lost." 

Charles Caleb Colton

"Everyone hears what you say.  Friends listen to what you say.  Best friends listen to what you don't say."

Don't Sweat the Small Stuff...

One of my favorite books is "Don't Sweat the Small Stuff... And It's All Small Stuff", by Richard Carlson.
Quoting from this book is pretty useless, it is all great.

But here are some of my favorite chapter titles:

Make Peace With Imperfection
Be Aware of the Snowball Effect of Your Thinking
Learn to Live in The Present Moment
Imagine That Everyone Is Enlightened Except You
Create Patience Practice Periods
Ask Yourself the Question, "Will This Matter A Year From Now?"
Lower Your Tolerance to Stress
Repeat to Yourself, "Life Isn't an Emergency"
Experiment With Your Back Burner
Become Aware of Your Moods and Don't Allow Yourself to Be Fooled by the Low Ones
Choose Being Kind over Being Right
Avoid Weatherproofing
Resist the Urge to Criticize
See the Glass as Already Broken
Understand the Statement, "Wherever You Go, There You Are"
Become a Less Aggressive Driver
Be Grateful When You're Feeling Good and Graceful when You're Feeling Bad
Do One Thing At A Time
Be Flexible with Changes in Your Plans
Practice Ignoring Your Negative Thoughts
Be Happy Where You Are
Think Of Your Problems as Potential Teachers
Get Comfortable Not Knowing
Cut Yourself Some Slack
Redefine a "Meaningful Accomplishment"
Give Up On the Idea that More is Better
Keep Asking Yourself, "What's Really Important"
Mind Your Own Business
Live This Day as if it were Your Last, It Might Be!

  The Paradox of our Times

 The paradox of our time in history is that we have taller buildings, but shorter tempers; wider freeways, but narrower viewpoints; we spend more, but have less; we buy more, but enjoy it less.

We have bigger houses and smaller families; more conveniences, but less time; we have more degrees, but less sense; more knowledge, but less  judgment; more experts, but more problems; more medicine, but less wellness.

We have multiplied our possessions, but reduced our values. We talk too much, love too seldom, and hate too often. We've learned how to make a living, but not a life; We've added years to life, not life to years. We've been all the way to the moon and back, but have trouble crossing the street to meet the new neighbor. We've conquered outer space, but not inner peace;

We've cleaned up the air, but polluted the soul; We've split the atom, but not our prejudice; We have higher incomes, but lower morals; We've become long on quantity, but short on quality.

These are the times of tall men, and short character; steep profits, and shallow relationships. These are the times of world peace, but domestic warfare; more leisure, but less fun; more kinds of food, but less nutrition.

These are days of two incomes, but more divorce; of fancier houses, but broken homes.

It is a time when there is much in the show window and nothing in the stockroom; a time when technology can bring this letter to you, and a time when you can choose either to make a difference, or to just hit delete... Author unknown

No one can make you feel inferior without your consent. Eleanor Roosevelt

The greatest discovery of my generation is that human beings can alter their lives by altering attitudes of mind. William James

I was gratified to be able to answer promptly, and I did. I said I didn't know. Mark Twain

If you find a path with no obstacles, it probably doesn't lead anywhere.
   -Unknown

Subject: religion
There are five billion human beings and in a certain way I think we need five billion different religions, because there is such a large variety of dispositions. I believe that each individual should embark upon a spiritual path that is best suited to his or her mental disposition, natural inclination, temperament, belief, family and cultural background.

The Dalai Lama

Quotes from "Alternative Pathways to Healing" by Kip Coggins

"... shutting out the pain, you also close the door to beauty, positivity, and the awesomeness of creation."

Instead of crisis to crisis living, try process living.

"Awareness is like a never-ending journey into a new land. Every time you reach the top of the mountain, you discover whole new valleys and rivers and hills that are waiting to be explored."

"Take time to nurture your own spirit, to balance all areas of your life."

Change is a process. Find yourself, find your path, seek the truth of your existence and inner peace will come to you.

"How can you get this sense of inner peace? Remember, harmony, like happiness, cannot be pursued directly. It is a by-product of healthy, balanced, integrated living."

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