quoteflections

#180 Be Thyself

noreply@blogger.com (Paul C) — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 05:01:00 +0000

"Know Thyself" was written over the portal of the antique world. Over the portal of the new world, "Be Thyself" shall be written. ~ Oscar Wilde

- How well do you know yourself?
- How can you cultivate your strengths to best capture your inner essence?

#179 Love Yourself

noreply@blogger.com (Paul C) — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 05:01:00 +0000

You can't punish yourself into change. You can't whip yourself into shape. But you can love yourself into well-being. ~ Susan Skye

- How much do you punish yourself?
- How much do you love yourself enough to nurture desired outcomes?

(What shapes our lives are the questions we ask, refuse to ask, or never think to ask.

Sam Keen)

Great Author Series: Master of the Haiku

noreply@blogger.com (Paul C) — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 00:42:00 +0000

Matsuo Basho (1644-1694) was a Japanese poet best known for his poems in haiku style. He renounced the social, urban life of the literary circles to wander the countryside seeking nurture. His poems encapsulate the essence of a scene in a few lines of simple elements.

Here is a select list of his enduring poetry which captures the intensity of life in stirring simplicity. (The required 5/7/5 syllabic lines are often not apparent with the translation.)

With dewdrops dripping,
I wish somehow I could wash
this perishing world

moonless night...
a powerful wind embraces
the ancient cedars

Temple bells die out.
The fragrant blossoms remain.
A perfect evening!

Culture's beginnings:
rice-planting songs from the heart
of the country

A mountain pheasant cry
fills me with fond longing for
father and mother

Selected by quoteflections.

Sick on my journey,
only my dreams will wander
these desolate moors

Spring air --
Woven moon
And plum scent.

The voices of plovers
Invite me to stare into the darkness
Of the Starlit Promontory

Labels: best top quotes, quotations, reflections, instructional, inspirational, life lessons, insights, self help, great author series

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#178 Attention is Vitality

noreply@blogger.com (Paul C) — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 05:01:00 +0000

Do stuff, be clenched, curious. Not waiting for inspiration's shove or society's kiss on your forehead. Pay attention. It's all about paying attention. Attention is vitality. It connects you with others. It makes you eager; stay eager. ~ Susan Sontag

- What engaging stuff can you do?
- Where can you show more attention and eagerness?
- What connections await?

#180 Gratitude showers Peace

noreply@blogger.com (Paul C) — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 05:01:00 +0000

Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. ~ Melody Beattie

One More Select Quote

Be thankful for what you have; you'll end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don't have, you will never, ever have enough. ~ Oprah Winfrey

#179 Be in Charge of your Attitude

noreply@blogger.com (Paul C) — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 05:01:00 +0000

The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life.

Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company... a church... a home.

The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past... we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude... I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it.

And so it is with you... we are in charge of our attitudes. ~ Charles Swindoll

#178 The Seeds of Today

noreply@blogger.com (Paul C) — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 05:01:00 +0000

Now is the accepted time, not tomorrow, not some more convenient season. It is today that our best work can be done and not some future day or future year. It is today that we fit ourselves for the greater usefulness of tomorrow. Today is the seed time, now are the hours of work, and tomorrow comes the harvest and the playtime. ~ W. E. B. DuBois

- What seeds of potential can you plant today?
- What best work can you do?
- What future harvest will you reap from the seeds of today?

Theme Series: 16 Poignant Quotes about Love

noreply@blogger.com (Paul C) — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 13:43:00 +0000

I had some fun choosing these enduring perspectives about love. As we approach Valentine's Day 2012, may this select list provide some enlightenment:

- If you want to be loved, be lovable. ~ Ovid

- Love is the poetry of the senses. ~ Honore De Balzac

- Gravitation is not responsible for people falling in love. ~ Albert Einstein

- Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self seeking. It is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. ~ I Corinthians 13:4-8

- The first duty of love is to listen. ~ Paul Tillich

-A friend is someone who knows all about you and still loves you. ~ Elbert Hubbard

Selected by quoteflections.

- Keep love in your heart. A life without it is like a sunless garden when the flowers are dead. The consciousness of loving and being loved brings a warmth and richness to life that nothing else can bring. ~ Oscar Wilde

- Love doesn't grow on the trees like apples in Eden- it's something you have to make and you must use your imagination to make it too, just like anything else. It's all work, work. ~ Joyce Carey

- Love consists in this, that two solitudes protect and touch and greet each other. ~ Rainer Maria Rilke

- If you press me to say why I loved him, I can say no more than because he was he, and I was I. ~ Michel de Montaigne

- People who are sensible about love are incapable of it. ~ Douglas Yates

- When love and skill work together expect a masterpiece. ~ John Ruskin

- Candle light, moon light, star light,
The brightest glow is from love light. ~Grey Livingston

Selected by quoteflections.

- Love is the only sane and satisfactory answer to the problem of human existence. ~ Eric Fromm

- We are not the same persons this year as last; nor are those we love. It is a happy chance if we, changing, continue to love a changed person. ~W. Somerset Maugham

-To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything and your heart will be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact you must give it to no one, not even an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements. Lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket, safe, dark, motionless, airless, it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. To love is to be vulnerable. ~ C. S. Lewis

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#177 A Web of Connectness

noreply@blogger.com (Paul C) — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 05:01:00 +0000

The important element is the way in which all things are connected. Every thought and action sends shivers of energy into the world around us, which affects all creation. Perceiving the world as a web of connectedness helps us to overcome the feelings of separation that hold us back and cloud our vision. This connection with all life increases our sense of responsibility for every move, every attitude, allowing us to see clearly that each soul does indeed make a difference to the whole. ~ Emma Restall Orr

Questions asked at 365 Quote Quest:

- How separate do you see yourself from nature, from the world?
- How can a feeling of separation from the world cloud one's vision?
- How can you nurture more of a sense of connection with this world?
- What contributions can you make to the whole?

#176 Relish Small Pleasures

noreply@blogger.com (Paul C) — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 05:01:00 +0000

Life is made up of small pleasures. Happiness is made up of those tiny successes. The big ones come too infrequently. And if you don't collect all these tiny successes, the big ones don't really mean anything. ~Norman Lear

Think big thoughts but relish small pleasures. ~H. Jackson Brown Jr.

Great Author Series: Ben Franklin

noreply@blogger.com (Paul C) — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 14:48:00 +0000

Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) was an American publisher, author, inventor, scientist and diplomat. He was one of the founding fathers of the U.S., and a major figure in the American Enlightenment. Franklin formed the first public lending library and fire department.

Much of his wisdom is remembered from perceptive maxims which have survived the centuries. Here is a select list of notable quotations:

-The noblest question in the world is, “What good may I do in it?

-All humanity is divided into three classes: those who are immovable, those who are movable, and those who move.

-Well done is better than well said.

-He that lives upon hope will die fasting.

-Early to bed and early to rise make a man healthy, wealthy and wise.

Selected by quoteflections.

-Reading makes a full Man, Meditation a profound Man, Discourse a clear Man.

-Never ruin an apology with an excuse.

-An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.

-A man wrapped up in himself makes a very small bundle.

-Never confuse Motion with Action.

-If you would be wealthy, think of saving as well as getting.

-Beware of little expenses; a small leak will sink a great ship.

-When you are finished changing, you're finished.

-When the well is dry, we know the worth of water.

-To be humble to superiors is a duty, to equals courtesy, to inferiors nobleness.

-The best thing to give to your enemy is forgiveness; to an opponent, tolerance; to a friend, your heart; to your child, a good example; to a father, deference; to your mother, conduct that will make her proud of you; to yourself, respect; to all others, charity.

-If everyone is thinking alike, then no one is thinking.

Selected by quoteflections.

-The doorstep to the temple of wisdom is a knowledge of our own ignorance.

-Life's biggest tragedy is that we get old too soon and wise too late.

-Be civil to all; sociable to many; familiar with few; friend to one; enemy to none.

Labels: best top quotes, quotations, reflections, instructional, inspirational, life lessons, insights, self help, great author series

#175 On Relationships

noreply@blogger.com (Paul C) — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 05:01:00 +0000

Acceptance is the universal currency of real friendship... It does not warp or shape or wrench a person to be anything other than what they are. ~ Joan Chillister

Relationships are the oxygen of the psyche. ~ Jane Fonda

#174 Strength in Diversity

noreply@blogger.com (Paul C) — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 05:01:00 +0000

It is time for parents to teach young people early on that in diversity there is beauty and there is strength. ~ Maya Angelou

Our cultural strength has always been derived from our diversity of understanding and experience. ~ Yo-Yo Ma

#173 Friday Exploits

noreply@blogger.com (Paul C) — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 05:01:00 +0000

Youth is like a long weekend on Friday night. Middle age is like a long weekend on Monday afternoon. ~ Richard Nelson Bolles

One More Select Quote

People are surprised at how down-to-earth I am. I like to stay home on Friday nights and listen to 'The Art of Happiness' by the Dalai Lama. ~ Carmen Electra

#172 Be Daring, Be Different

noreply@blogger.com (Paul C) — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 05:01:00 +0000

My kids are starting to notice I'm a little different from the other dads. "Why don't you have a straight job like everyone else?" they asked me the other day.

I told them this story:
In the forest, there was a crooked tree and a straight tree. Every day, the straight tree would say to the crooked tree, "Look at me...I'm tall, and I'm straight, and I'm handsome. Look at you...you're all crooked and bent over. No one wants to look at you." And they grew up in that forest together. And then one day the loggers came, and they saw the crooked tree and the straight tree, and they said, "Just cut the straight trees and leave the rest." So the loggers turned all the straight trees into lumber and toothpicks and paper. And the crooked tree is still there, growing stronger and stranger every day. ~Tom Waits

One more select quote:

Be daring, be different, be impractical, be anything that will assert integrity of purpose and imaginative vision against the play-it-safers, the creatures of the commonplace, the slaves of the ordinary. ~Sir Cecil Beaton

Gandhi: Empowering Message

noreply@blogger.com (Paul C) — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 01:30:00 +0000

Mohandas Gandhi (1869-1948) was the preeminent political and ideological leader of India during the Indian independence movement. He pioneered the rise of nonviolent resistance to tyranny through mass civil disobedience.

Here is a list of select quotations which offers a glimpse of his enlightened perspectives:

-Be the change that you wish to see in the world.

-An eye for an eye will only make the whole world blind.

-Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.

-Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.

-Seven Deadly Sins

Wealth without work
Pleasure without conscience
Science without humanity
Knowledge without character
Politics without principle
Commerce without morality
Worship without sacrifice.

-God has no religion.

-The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.

Selected by quoteflections.

-Your beliefs become your thoughts,
Your thoughts become your words,
Your words become your actions,
Your actions become your habits,
Your habits become your values,
Your values become your destiny.

-You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is like an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty.

-Whenever you are confronted with an opponent. Conquer him with love.

-Prayer is not asking. It is a longing of the soul. It is daily admission of one's weakness. It is better in prayer to have a heart without words than words without a heart.

-I believe in the fundamental truth of all great religions of the world.

Selected by quoteflections.

-Earth provides enough to satisfy every man's needs, but not every man's greed.

-In a gentle way, you can shake the world.

Labels: best top quotes, quotations, reflections, instructional, inspirational, life lessons, insights, self help, great author series

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#171 Real Discovery Lies Within

noreply@blogger.com (Paul C) — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 05:01:00 +0000

To most of us the real life is the life we do not lead. ~ Oscar Wilde

And one more select quote:

The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new lands but in seeing with new eyes. ~Marcel Proust

#170 Laughter as liberation

noreply@blogger.com (Paul C) — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 05:01:00 +0000

Laugh at yourself and at life. Not in the spirit of derision or whining self-pity, but as a remedy, a miracle drug, that will ease your pain, cure your depression, and help you to put in perspective that seemingly terrible defeat and worry with laughter at your predicaments, thus freeing your mind to think clearly toward the solution that is certain to come. ~Og Mandino

Additional Quote

The best definition of humour I know is: humour may be defined as the kindly contemplation of the incongruities of life, and the artistic expression thereof. I think this is the best I know because I wrote it myself. ~ Stephen Leacock

Theme Series: The Fruit of our Labours

noreply@blogger.com (Paul C) — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 19:57:00 +0000

Work: is it a blessing or curse? For some it can be liberating, for others tedious. How does one fill the void without it? For those in retirement, the absence without a career presents its challenges. For those seeking employment, however, what a dream come true to find a productive vocation.

Here are some select quotes about our labours:

- We can redeem anyone who strives unceasingly. ~ Goethe

- Work banishes those three great evils, boredom, vice, and poverty. ~ Voltaire

- Work is the inevitable condition of human life, the true source of human welfare. ~ Leo Tolstoy

- How do I work? I grope. ~ Albert Einstein

- No fine work can be done without concentration and self-sacrifice and toil and doubt. ~ Max Beerbohm

- By working faithfully eight hours a day you may eventually get to be a boss and work 12 hours a day. ~ Robert Frost

Selected by quoteflections.

- All work is seed sown. It grows and spreads, and sows itself anew. ~ Thomas Carlyle

- We work to become, not to acquire. ~ Elbert Hubbard

- It's true hard work never killed anybody, but I figure why take the chance? ~ Ronald Reagan

- When I can no longer create anything, I'll be done for. ~ Coco Chanel

- To find out what one is fitted to do, and to secure an opportunity to do it, is the key to happiness. ~ John Dewey

(Tags: select top quotes, quotations, theme series, self help, life, inspiring, enriching, uplifting, motivational, educational, philosophical, ethics.)

#169 Rising above circumstances

noreply@blogger.com (Paul C) — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 05:01:00 +0000

People are always blaming their circumstances for what they are. I don't believe in circumstances. The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and, if they can't find them, make them." -- George Bernard Shaw, "Mrs. Warren's Profession," 1893

Maxim of the Day

They are able who think they are able. ~ Virgil

#168 The Final Wisdom

noreply@blogger.com (Paul C) — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 05:01:00 +0000

The final wisdom of life requires not the annulment of incongruity but the achievement of serenity within and above it. ~Reinhold Niebuhr

Definition of incongruous: out of place, inappropriate, unbecoming, not harmonious in character, inconsistent

Maxim of the Day

Grace is the absence of everything that indicates pain or difficulty, hesitation or incongruity. ~ William Hazlitt

#167 The Big Picture

noreply@blogger.com (Paul C) — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 05:01:00 +0000

I do not believe in a simplistic and inflammatory view of good and evil. I believe this is a big world full of men, women, and children who struggle to eat, to love, to work, to protect their families, their beliefs, and their dreams. ~ Sean Penn

Additional Quote

Everyone has a right to peaceful coexistence, the basic personal freedoms, the alleviation of suffering, and the opportunity to lead a productive life. ~ Jimmy Carter

Maya Angelou: Present in All Things

noreply@blogger.com (Paul C) — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 13:34:00 +0000

Maya Angelou (1928-) is an American author and poet who has been called "America's most visible black female autobiographer." She is best known for her series of six autobiographical volumes, which focus on her childhood and early adult experiences. This critically acclaimed author has been awarded over 30 honorary degrees.

Here is a select list of quotations which offer an introduction to her perspectives:

-Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.

-I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.

-There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.

-If you don't like something, change it. If you can't change it, change your attitude. Don't complain.

-The first time someone shows you who they are, believe them.

-I've learned that you can tell a lot about a person by the way (s)he handles these three things: a rainy day, lost luggage, and tangled Christmas tree lights.

-Success is liking yourself, liking what you do, and liking how you do it.

-Music was my refuge. I could crawl into the space between the notes and curl my back to loneliness.

-My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive; and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humor, and some style.

Selected by quoteflections.

-You can only become truly accomplished at something you love. Don’t make money your goal. Instead pursue the things you love doing and then do them so well that people can’t take their eyes off of you.

-Courage: the most important of all the virtues because without courage, you can't practice any other virtue consistently.

-Be a rainbow in someone else's cloud.

-We delight in the beauty of the butterfly, but rarely admit the changes it has gone through to achieve that beauty.

-When you learn, teach; when you get, give.

-We need much less than we think we need.

-The desire to reach for the stars is ambitious. The desire to reach hearts is wise.

-Be present in all things and thankful for all things.

Selected by quoteflections.

-I've learned that making a 'living' is not the same thing as 'making a life'.

One of her most famous poems is entitled "On the Pulse of Morning" which was read at President Bill Clinton's inauguration.

...The horizon leans forward,
Offering you space to place new steps of change.
Here, on the pulse of this fine day
You may have the courage
To look up and out and upon me, the
Rock, the River, the Tree, your country....

Labels: best top quotes, quotations, reflections, instructional, inspirational, life lessons, insights, self help, great author series

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#166 Nature heals

noreply@blogger.com (Paul C) — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 05:01:00 +0000

Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul alike. ~ John Muir

Maxim of the Day

Modern technology
Owes ecology
An apology.
~Alan M. Eddison

#165 Global Human Rights

noreply@blogger.com (Paul C) — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 05:01:00 +0000

We, the peoples of the United Nations, determined to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war, which twice in our lifetime has brought untold sorrow to mankind, and to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, in the equal right of men and women and of nations large and small....And for these ends to practice tolerance and live together in peace with one another as good neighbors...have resolved to combine our efforts to accomplish these aims. ~Preamble, Charter of the United Nations, 1945

Additional Quote

From this vision of the role of the United Nations in the next century flow three key priorities for the future: eradicating poverty, preventing conflict and promoting democracy. ~ Kofi Annan