Friday, December 31, 2010

Who knows

Who knows but life be that which men call death,
And death what men call life?

~Euripedes

Thursday, December 30, 2010

Eternity

"Eternity is not endless duration but transcendence into the timeless."

--Deepak Chopra

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Which form

Which form of proverb do you prefer?
Better late than never, or Better never than late?

~Lewis Carroll

Monday, December 27, 2010

There comes a pause

There comes a pause, for human strength will not endure to dance without cessation; and everyone must reach the point at length of absolute prostration.

~Lewis Carroll

Sunday, December 26, 2010

Ten men waiting

Ten men waiting for me at the door?
Send one home... I'm tired.

~Mae West

When women

When women go wrong,
men go right after them.

~Mae West

It's not

It's not the men in my life that count,
it's the life in my men.

~Mae West

She's the kind

She's the kind of girl who climbed the ladder of success wrong by wrong.

~Mae West

When choosing

When choosing between two evils,
I always like to try the one I haven't tried before.

~Mae West

When I'm good

When I'm good, I'm very good.
When I'm bad I'm better.

~Mae West

I believe

I believe in censorship...
I made a fortune out of it.

~Mae West

Soap

“What soap is to the body,
laughter is to the soul”

~Yiddish Proverb

OK boys

OK, boys; let's go make a withdrawal.

~John Dillinger

Now nobody get nervous

Now nobody get nervous, you ain't got nothing to fear. You're being robbed by the John Dillinger Gang, that's the best there is!

~John Dillinger

My buddies

My buddies wanted to be firemen, farmers or policemen, something like that. Not me, I just wanted to steal people's money!

~John Dillinger

I rob banks

I rob banks for a living, what do you do?

~John Dillinger

All my life

All my life I wanted to be a bank robber. Carry a gun and wear a mask. Now that it's happened I guess I'm just about the best bank robber they ever had. And I sure am happy.

~John Dillinger

What

What do you expect me to do about it?

~John Dillinger

They're not

They're not going to get me.

~John Dillinger

These few dollars

These few dollars you lose here today are going to buy you stories to tell your children and great-grandchildren. This could be one of the big moments in your life; don't make it your last!

~John Dillinger

Friday, December 24, 2010

Our birth

Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting;
The soul that rises with us, our life's Star,
Hath had elsewhere its setting,
And cometh from afar;
Not in entire forgetfulness,
And not in utter nakedness,
But trailing clouds of glory do we come...

~William Wordsworth

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

You will come to know

"You will come to know that what appears today to be a sacrifice will prove instead to be the greatest investment that you will ever make."

--Gorden B. Hinkley

Thursday, December 16, 2010

Millions of spiritual creatures

Millions of spiritual creatures walk the earth unseen, both when we wake and when we sleep.

~John Milton

Our doubts

Our doubts are traitors, and make us lose the good we oft might win, by fearing to attempt.

~William Shakespeare

As soon as

"As soon as you trust yourself,
you will know how to live."

- Goethe

Everybody wants

"Everybody wants to be somebody; nobody wants to grow."

~Goethe

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

The consciousness

"The consciousness in you and the consciousness in me, apparently two, really one, seek unity and that is Love."

--Sri Nisargadatta

It is when

"It is when we are trapped in incessant streams of compulsive thinking that the universe really disintegrates for us, and we lose the ability to sense the interconnectedness of all that exists."

~Eckhart Tolle

Knowing others

"Knowing others is intelligence;
knowing yourself is true wisdom.
Mastering others is strength;
mastering yourself is true power.
If you realize that you have enough,
you are truly rich.
If you stay in the centre and embrace death with your whole heart,
you will endure forever."

~Lao-tzu

Monday, December 13, 2010

Without knowing

Without knowing what I am and why I am here, life is impossible.

~Leo Tolstoy

I sit on a man's back

I sit on a man's back, choking him and making him carry me, and yet assure myself and others that I am very sorry for him and wish to ease his lot by all possible means - except by getting off his back.

~Leo Tolstoy

Boredom

Boredom: the desire for desires.

~Leo Tolstoy

Sunday, December 12, 2010

Your task

"Your task is not to seek for love but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it."

~Rumi

We are members

"We are members of a vast cosmic orchestra, in which each living instrument is essential to the complementary and harmonious playing of the whole."

~J. Allen Boone

To serve each other

"To serve each other, to respect each other, to trust each other, to honor each other, to love each other, to cooperate with each other, to care for each other, to forgive one another, to focus on peoples' good, to laugh with one another, to learn from one another; to pray for each other - these are all acts of Love."

~Fools Crow, Lakota

We are all

We are all cells in the same body of humanity.

~Peace Pilgrim

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Miracles

Miracles do not happen in contradiction to nature, but only in contradiction to that which is known to us of nature.

~Saint Augustine

Monday, December 6, 2010

But if the archangel now

But if the archangel now, perilous, from behind the stars took even one step down toward us: our own heart, beating higher and higher, would beat us to death. Who are you?

~Rainer Maria Rilke

Thursday, December 2, 2010

The mind's first step

The mind's first step to self-awareness must be through the body.

~George Sheehan

Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Come, come

“Come, come, whoever you are
Wanderer, worshipper, lover of leaving,
Ours is no caravan of despair,
Even if you have broken your vow a thousand times,
Come, yet again, come ...”

~ adapted from Rumi

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

If you

If you put something off long enough,
the desire, the energy, and the drive to do it will disappear.

~Shirley Gibson

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Monday, November 22, 2010

Choice is an illusion

“Choice is an illusion. Do I do this – do I do that – all of this is confusion. I can only choose when I’m confused. When I know clearly, there is no choice.”

~unknown

At times

"At times I feel like a living experiment, an alchemist's vessel in which a marvelous, although sometimes painful, mystery is unfolding."

~ Richard Moss

A theory

“A theory is more impressive the greater is the simplicity of its premise, the more different are the kinds of things it relates and the more extended its range of applicability…”

-Einstein

Friday, November 12, 2010

The human body

The human body is a machine which winds its own springs.

~Julien Offroy de la Mettrie

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

In the sky

In the sky, there is no distinction between East and West;
people create distinctions in their own minds
and then believe them to be true.

~Buddha

He who experiences

He who experiences the unity of life sees his own Self in all beings, and all beings in his own Self, and looks on everything with an impartial eye.

~Buddha

Monday, November 1, 2010

This body

This body is not a home but an inn, and that only briefly.

~Seneca

Friday, October 22, 2010

The body

The body is deeper than the soul,
and its secrets inscrutable.

~E.M. Forester

Just as

Just as the body cannot exist without blood, so the soul needs the matchless and pure strength of faith.

~Mahatma Gandhi

The soul is

The soul is born old but grows young. That is the comedy of life. And the body is born young and grows old. That is life's tragedy.

~Oscar Wilde

Saturday, October 16, 2010

There are thoughts

There are thoughts which are prayers. There are moments when, whatever the posture of the body, the soul is on its knees.

~Victor Hugo

Fear is

Fear is the greatest obstacle on the spiritual path;
confront your fears.

~Sri AmmaBhagavan

Friday, October 15, 2010

Thursday, October 14, 2010

No diet

No diet will remove all the fat from your body because the brain is entirely fat. Without a brain, you might look good, but all you could do is run for public office.

~George Bernard Shaw

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Body and mind

Body and mind, like man and wife, do not always agree to die together.

~Charles Caleb Colton

Each body

Each body has its art...

~Gwendolyn Brooks

Why

Why should a man's mind have been thrown into such close, sad, sensational, inexplicable relations with such a precarious object as his body?

~Thomas Hardy

Our own physical body

Our own physical body possesses a wisdom which we who inhabit the body lack. We give it orders which make no sense.

~Henry Miller

The mind

The mind commands the body and it obeys. The mind orders itself and meets resistance.

~Saint Augustine

Emotion

Emotion always has its roots in the unconscious and manifests itself in the body.

~Irene Claremont de Castillejo

If the body

If the body be feeble, the mind will not be strong.

~Thomas Jefferson

Take care

Take care of your body.
It's the only place you have to live.

~Jim Rohn

Our bodies

Our bodies are our gardens - our wills are our gardeners.

~William Shakespeare

Our bodies

Our bodies are apt to be our autobiographies.

~Frank Gillette Burgess

There is more

There is more wisdom in your body than in your deepest philosophies.

~Friedrich Nietzche

The body

The body never lies.

~Martha Graham

Man is

Man is an intelligence in servitude to his organs.

~Aldous Huxley

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Work

Work consists of whatever a body is obliged to do. Play consists of whatever a body is not obliged to do.

~Mark Twain

Flesh goes on

Flesh goes on pleasuring us, and humiliating us, right to the end.

~Mignon McLaughlin

How idiotic

How idiotic civilization is! Why be given a body if you have to keep it shut up in a case like a rare, rare fiddle?

~Katherine Mansfield

Every man

Every man is the builder of a temple, called his body, to the god he worships, after a style purely his own, nor can he get off by hammering marble instead. We are all sculptors and painters, and our material is our own flesh and blood and bones.

~Henry David Thoreau

You know

You know the definition of the perfectly designed machine.... The perfectly designed machine is one in which all its working parts wear out simultaneously. I am that machine.

~Frederick Alexander Lindemann

The body is

The body is an instrument, the mind its function, the witness and reward of its operation.

~George Santayana

A trembling

A trembling in the bones may carry a more convincing testimony than the dry documented deductions of the brain.

~Llewelyn Powers

You don't

You don't have a soul.
You are a Soul.
You have a body.

~C.S. Lewis

Our limitations

Our limitations and success will be based, most often, on our own expectations for ourselves. What the mind dwells upon, the body acts upon.

~Denis Waitley

Sunday, October 10, 2010

Blue

“Let the blue sky meet the blue sea and all is blue for a time.”

Moncy Barbour

Any color

“Any color works if you push it to the extreme.”

Massimo Vignelli

Color is all

“Color is all. When color is right, form is right. Color is everything, color is vibration like music; everything is vibration.”

Marc Chagall

If we were to imagine

“If we were to imagine an orange on the blue side or green on the red side or violet on the yellow side, it would give us the same impression as a north wind coming from the southwest.”

Ludwig Josef Johann Wittgenstein

Some of us

“Some of us come on earth seeing – some of us come on earth seeing color.”

Louise Nevelson

I fell in love

“I fell in love with black; it contained all color. It wasn't a negation of color... Black is the most aristocratic color of all... You can be quiet, and it contains the whole thing.”

Louise Nevelson

I'm intrigued

“I'm intrigued that one can recognize different parts of the world solely by the particular color of the water.”

Leonard Mizerek

I have broken

“I have broken the blue boundary of color limits, come out into the white; beside me comrade-pilots swim in this infinity.”

Kasimir Malevich

I have established

“I have established the semaphore of Suprematism. I have beaten the lining of the colored sky, torn it away and in the sack that formed itself, I have put color and knotted it. Swim! The free white sea, infinity, lies before you.”

Kasimir Malevich

Artists can

“Artists can colour the sky red because they know it's blue. Those of us who aren't artists must colour things the way they really are or people might think we're stupid.”

Jules Feiffer

I saw

“I saw a sunset in Queretaro that seemed to reflect the colour of a rose in Bengal.”

Jorge Luis Borges

Everything

“Everything that you can see in the world around you presents itself to your eyes only as an arrangement of patches of different colors.”

John Ruskin

I mix them

“I mix them with my brains, sir.”

John Opie
English Painter, 1761-1807
When asked what he mixed his colors with.

As the sun

“As the sun colors flowers, so does art color life.”

John Lubbock

Colours are

“Colours are light's suffering and joy.”

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

I try

“I try to apply colors like words that shape poems, like notes that shape music.”

Joan Miro

This may sound

“This may sound a bit simple, but the rainbow was my teaching source about mixing color.”

Jim Pescott

Two colours

“Two colours are enough, just blue and white – more might be a nightmare."

Jennifer Kostuik

Who told you

“Who told you that one paints with colors? One makes use of colors, but one paints with emotions.”

Jean-Baptiste-Simeon Chardin

Better gray

“Better gray than garishness.”

Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres

Trying to brighten

“Trying to brighten a dull color is nearly impossible... I start with a color that is too intense so I can calm it as needed.”

Jane Jones

Yellow

“My favorite color to glaze with is yellow. It always glows just like stained glass lit up by the sun.”

Jane Jones

There is

“There is an undeniable virtue to a true black; allowing the brain to be mesmerized and pulling the pupils deep into that unfound but sensed abyss.”

Jamie Lavin

The range in brightness

“The range in brightness from the purple glow [of the sunset] to the dark sky above is too great for most films, and naturally it is beyond the range of printed pictures.”

James Elkins

The world is

“The world is your kaleidoscope, and the varying combinations of colors which at every succeeding moment it presents to you are the exquisitely adjusted pictures of your ever-moving thoughts.”

James Edward Allen

Truly color is vice

“Truly color is vice! Of course, it can be, and has the right to be one of the finest virtues. Controlled by the strong hand and careful guidance of her Master drawing, color is a splendid Mistress, with a mate worthy of herself, her lover, but her Master likewise, the most magnificent Mistress possible, and the result is evident in all the glorious things that spring from their union.”

James Abbot McNeill Whistler

Mauve

“Mauve? Mauve is just pink trying to be purple.”

James Abbot McNeill Whistler

Of all the hues

“Of all the hues, reds have the most potency. If there is one electric blue, a dozen reds are so charged. Use them to punctuate white, burn into bronzes, or dynamite black.”

Jack Lenor Larsen

Any color

“Any color, so long as it's black.”

Henry Ford

Purer colors

“Purer colors... have in themselves, independently of the objects they serve to express, a significant action on the feelings of those who look at them.”

Henri Matisse

I am as curious

“I am as curious about color as one would be visiting a new country, because I have never concentrated so closely on color expression. Up to now I have waited at the gates of the temple.”

Henri Matisse

Cutting directly

“Cutting directly into color reminds me of a sculptor's carving into stone.”

Henri Matisse

The whole world

“The whole world, as we experience it visually, comes to us through the mystic realm of color. Our entire being is nourished by it. This mystic quality of color should likewise find expression in a work of art.”

Hans Hofmann

If time

“If time were a color, I bet it would be a tasteful off-white."

Greg Parrish

Whether the flower

“Whether the flower or the color is the focus I do not know. I do know the flower is painted large to convey my experience with the flower – and what is my experience if it is not the color?"

Georgia O'Keeffe

One has to

One has to arrive at a specific temperature, at which the objects become malleable.”

Georges Braque

You can spend

“You can spend a lifetime studying the interaction of colours, and painting how red can dance, so when the viewer 'gets it' and says 'Aha!' their way of seeing is transformed.”

Gayle Konantz

Using color

“If you use colour carefully, that is, placing a softer 'off' colour next to pure colour, it helps add the magic touch to your work – and that special look.”

Gail Boyle

White

“The white canvas-- it's like a layer of dust that covers up the real painting. It's just a matter of cleaning it. I have a little brush to clear away the blue, another for the red, and another brush for the green. And when I've finished cleaning, the picture is all there.”

Georges Braque

Black

“Don't order any black things. Rejoice in his memory; and be radiant: leave grief to the children. Wear violet and purple. Be patient with the poor people who will snivel: they don't know; and they think they will live for ever, which makes death a division instead of a bond.”

George Bernard Shaw

Yellow

“Yellow wakes me up in the morning. Yellow gets me on the bike every day. Yellow has taught me the true meaning of sacrifice. Yellow makes me suffer. Yellow is the reason I am here.”

Lance Armstrong

The key of D

“The key of D is daffodil yellow, B major is maroon, and B flat is blue.”

Marian McPartland

Imagine

“Imagine someone pointing to a place in the iris of a Rembrandt eye and saying, 'The walls of my room should be painted this color."

Ludwig Josef Johann Wittgenstein

To any white body

“To any white body receiving the light from the sun, or the air, the shadows will be of a bluish cast.”

Leonardo da Vinci

Nowhere

“Nowhere in nature can you find purer color than sunlight passing through the petal of a flower.”

Larry K. Stephenson

Color is

“Color is the language of the poets. It is astonishingly lovely. To speak it is a privilege.”

Keith Crown

Working in white

“Working in white makes people look into it. White is ethereal. There's a purity to it, it makes things look elevated in a way. There's a whole palette of white…”

Jonathan Milne

White

“White covers a multitude of sins.”

Jonathan Milne

Don't think

“Don't think of sea as color. Make it a solid that can support a boat. Think of 'wetness' as color-texture.”

John Sloan

Blue

“Blue color is everlastingly appointed by the deity to be a source of delight.”

John Ruskin

Thursday, October 7, 2010

No one

"No one, not even Hafiz, can describe with words the Great Mystery. No one knows in which shell the priceless pearl does hide."

~ Hafiz

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Upon the skein of time

Upon the skein of time and space are the records made. For thoughts and deeds are indeed things, and their currents run with time and space and make their impressions there; just as in the mental forces it is gradually being comprehended that as the man, as the being thinketh in the heart, so is he.

~Edgar Cayce

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

We cannot

We cannot change anything until we accept it.

~Carl Jung

There is no

There is no coming to consciousness without pain.

~Carl Jung

The word "happiness"

The word “happiness” would lose its meaning if it were not balanced by sadness.

~Carl Jung

The pendulum

The pendulum of the mind alternates between sense and nonsense,
not between right and wrong.

~Carl Jung

The least of things

The least of things with a meaning is worth more in life than the greatest of things without it.

~Carl Jung

The debt

The debt we owe to the play of imagination is incalculable.

~Carl Jung

Often the hands

Often the hands will solve a mystery that the intellect has struggled with in vain.

~Carl Jung

Knowledge

Knowledge rests not upon truth alone, but upon error also.

~Carl Jung

Knowing

Knowing your own darkness is the best method for dealing with the darknesses of other people.

~Carl Jung

It all depends

It all depends on how we look at things,
and not how they are in themselves.

~Carl Jung

Great talents

Great talents are the most lovely and often the most dangerous fruits on the tree of humanity. They hang upon the most slender twigs that are easily snapped off.

~Carl Jung

A man who has not

A man who has not passed through the inferno of his passions has never overcome them.

~Carl Jung

There can be no

There can be no transforming of darkness into light and of apathy into movement without emotions.

~Carl Jung

As far as

As far as we can discern, the sole purpose of human existence is to kindle a light in the darkness of mere being.

~Carl Jung

Who has fully realized

Who has fully realized that history is not contained in thick books but lives in our very blood?

~Carl Jung

The shoe

The shoe that fits one person pinches another;
there is no recipe for living that suits all cases.

~Carl Jung

The meeting

The meeting of two personalities is like the contact of two chemical substances: if there is any reaction, both are transformed.

~Carl Jung

The healthy man

The healthy man does not torture others – generally it is the tortured who turn into torturers.

~Carl Jung

Nobody

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

~Carl Jung

In all chaos

In all chaos there is a cosmos,
in all disorder a secret order.

~Carl Jung

Everything that irritates us

Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to a better understanding of ourselves.

~Carl Jung

Every form

Every form of addiction is bad, no matter whether the narcotic be alcohol, morphine or idealism.

~Carl Jung

Who looks

Who looks outside, dreams;
who looks inside, awakes.

~Carl Jung

Monday, October 4, 2010

Shrinking away

Shrinking away from death is something unhealthy and abnormal which robs the second half of life of its purpose.

~Carl Jung

Show me

Show me a sane man and I will cure him for you.

~Carl Jung

The easiest thing

The easiest thing in the world is to be what you are, what you feel. The hardest thing to be is what other people want you to be.

-Leo Buscaglia

There is something

There is something about the outside of a horse
that is good for the inside of a man.

–Sir Winston Churchill

Sunday, October 3, 2010

The sharing of joy

The sharing of joy, whether physical, emotional, psychic, or intellectual, forms a bridge between the sharers which can be the basis for understanding much of what is not shared between them, and lessens the threat of their difference.

~Audre Lorde

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

He who can take advice

"He who can take advice is sometimes superior to him who can give it."

-Karl von Knebel, German poet

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Live

“Live in the sunshine,
swim the sea,
drink the wild air…”

~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Some people

Some people see things that are and ask, Why? Some people dream of things that never were and ask, Why not? Some people have to go to work and don't have time for all that.

~George Carlin

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

If

If you ever need anything please don't hesitate to ask someone else first.

~Kurt Cobain

Monday, September 13, 2010

Expose yourself

Expose yourself to your deepest fear; after that, fear has no power, and the fear of freedom shrinks and vanishes. You are free.

~Jim Morrison

You can have

You can have peace.
Or you can have freedom.
Don't ever count on having both at once.

~Robert A. Heinlein

The secret

The secret to happiness is freedom...
And the secret to freedom is courage.

~Thucydides

We are driven by

We are driven by five genetic needs: survival, love and belonging, power, freedom, and fun.

~William Glasser

We are willing enough

We are willing enough to praise freedom when she is safely tucked away in the past and cannot be a nuisance. In the present, amidst dangers whose outcome we cannot foresee, we get nervous about her, and admit censorship.

~E. M. Forster

There's no money

There’s no money in poetry,
but then there’s no poetry in money, either.

— Robert Graves

Friday, September 10, 2010

When

When one tugs at a single thing in nature,
he finds it attached to the rest of the world.

~John Muir

Sunday, September 5, 2010

Love is life

Love is life. All, everything that I understand, I understand only because I love. Everything is, everything exists, only because I love. Everything is united by it alone. Love is God, and to die means that I, a particle of love, shall return to the general and eternal source.

~Leo Tolstoy

Friday, September 3, 2010

Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Everything Comes

Everything comes to us that belongs to us if we create the capacity to receive it.

~Rabindranath Tagore

Sunday, August 29, 2010

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Faith is a light

Faith is a light of such supreme brilliance that it dazzles the mind and darkens all its visions of other realities, but in the end when we become used to the new light, we gain a new view of all reality transfigured and elevated in the light itself.

~Thomas Merton

Monday, August 23, 2010

Force

Force never moves in a straight line, but always in a curve vast as the universe, and therefore eventually returns whence it issued forth, but upon a higher arc, for the universe has progressed since it started.

~Kabbalah

Saturday, August 21, 2010

God comes

God comes to visit me every once in a while. Actually, he comes more often than I'd like but it's God. What can I say? That I'm busy, that I'm in the shower? He knows.

~Robert 'Bob' Rebadow, OZ

So don't you see?

So don't you see? Everything that we do, the plans we make, the hopes we have, they're futile. Being good at a job, which I was, building a home, which I did, raising a family...which I had, none of it means anything because no matter how we try, how much we strive and struggle, it'll all come to naught. Life is a waste of time. So, that's why I'm counting on you to kill me. You will, won't you?

~Lemuel Idzik

They say that

They say that Every Snowflake is diffrent. But how can They really be sure? I mean, Think of all the Snowflakes that have fallen all over the World throughout Earth's History. The Law of Averages dictate that at least two of Them had to be Similar. Like Human Beings, like the Men in Oz, Even if They start out Unique, They all end up the same.

~Augustus Hill, OZ

Yeah, who cares

Yeah, who cares who lives or dies in prison? We read the names in the morning paper and they mean nothing to us. They're faceless. Truth is, we don't wanna put a face on 'em. We don't want to know who they really are. Because then it might hit too close to home, and home is what it's all about, right? Ma...king a home no matter where you are, no matter who you are. At the end of the day, everybody wants somewhere to rest, somewhere to lay their bones, even if it's in a land called Oz. Yeah, like Dorothy says when she wakes up in her own bed back at Aunt Em's, "There's no place like home." There's no fucking place like home.

~Augustus Hill, OZ

Clemency

Clememcy. Thats a fancy word for mercy. The Governor can commute a death sentence. He has the power to pick up the phone and just say No. But to me, the only time the Governor shows clemency is when he don't make that call. Life in prison without parole is a shitload worse than death. Death is parole. Death is mercy.

~Augustus Hill

I never lie

I never lie. Not 'cause I'm so honest, but because I have a bad memory. And you can't be a good liar if you got a bad memory.

~Augustus Hill, OZ

Truth is

Truth is a powerful thing. If you right a wrong, or make a bad thing worse, in Oz the truth is, if the facts don't fit the truth, fuck the facts.

~Augustus Hill, OZ

A man stands

A Man stands in a Cemetery, reading a Letter He wrote forgiving His long Dead Father. The Mother of a Girl killed by a Drunk Driver is racked by Fantasies of Retaliation. Your Boyfriend begs You for one more Chance. You say the Mirror You're done hating Yourself. But You know You're not. Maybe instead of Forgive and Forget, it should be Forgive and Remember. Remember that You might have to wake up Tomorrow and Forgive all over Again. And again,and again, The way Your Heart keeps beating like a Drum. Forgive. I Can't. You can. Forgive. Forgive. I can't. You can. Forgive.

~Augustus Hill, OZ

There are some

There are some confessions you can't even make to yourself. Yearnings, desires. That if you admitted to having, you'd have to stop being who you are. And the facade you've built so carefully would crumble, exposing to those around you what really makes you tweak.

~Augustus Hill, OZ

The name

The name on the street for the Oswald Maximum Security Penitentiary. Only, big news: They've changed the name. It's now called the Oswald State Correctional Facility, level four. I don't know what the difference is. Leo Glynn is still warden, Sister Peter Marie is still in psych, Tim McManus is still unit manager of Emerald City, and I know for damn sure none of us have changed. Beecher is still in the hospital after Schillinger and Keller broke his bones. Alvarez is still in solitary after blinding a CO. Adebisi, still in the loony ward, after changing hats. Maybe it's truth in advertising. Maybe by getting rid of the word "penitentiary" the state is finally admitting that nobody's penitent. Nobody's sorry. Nobody.

~Augustus Hill, OZ

In the beginning

In the beginning God was nothing, So he started making stuff, he made the dirt, he made the sky, he made the water, he made things that swim, things that slither, things with legs, I mean God turned himself into a Big Shot, then a couple days, or a couple million years, God breathes life into Man, and hes been sucking the life out of us every since.

~Augustus Hill, OZ

So, what have we learned?

So, what have we learned? What's the lesson for today? For all the never-ending days and restless nights in Oz? That morality is transient? That virtue cannot exist without violence? That to be honest is to be flawed? That the giving and taking of love both debases and elevates us? That God or Allah or Yahweh has... answers to questions we dare not even ask? The story is simple: a man lives in prison and dies. How he dies? That's easy. The who and the why is the complex part. The human part. The only part worth knowing... Peace.”

~Augustus Hill, OZ

Love

Love conquers all?
Never has, never will.

~Augustus Hill, OZ

And love?

And love? Well, if sex is sweet and death is bitter, love is both. Love will always and forever break your heart.

~Augustus Hill, OZ

Telling a man

Telling a man that he can't hold his wife in his arms anymore....If that isn't cruel and unusual punishment, I don't know what is.

~Augustus Hill, OZ

Forget about

Forget about having too much garbage, too many bottles, cans, watermelon rinds, disposable baby diapers and such. What's really terrifying in terms of the long term health of the planet is toxic waste. Toxic waste, you can't put two worse words together except maybe (pause) nuclear war.

~Augustus Hill, OZ

The worst stab wound

The worst stab wound is the one to the heart. Sure, most people survive it, but the heart is never quite the same. There's always a scar, which is meant, I guess, to remind you that even for a little while, someone made your heart beat faster. And that's a scar you can live with, proudly, all the days of your life.

~Augustus Hill, OZ

You made your bed

"You made your bed, now lie in it." Anybody wanna tell me what the fuck that means? You're gonna go to the trouble of making up your bed, smoothing out the sheets, fluffing up the pillows, just to ruin it all by lying down. The phrase should be, "You laid in you bed, now make it." Point being, you got to be responsible for your actions. Responsible.

~Augustus Hill, OZ

You swat at a fly

You swat at a fly, step on an ant, squash a cockroach, you don't think much of it. In fact, killing a bug gives you a sense of accomplishment. Fucking ant was ruining your picnic, cockroach was crawling through your kitchen cabinets. You put an end to their disgusting, miserable little lives and make a better world for everyone. Only, for every one you kill, more appear. Bigger, uglier, meaner than before.

~Augustus Hill, OZ

At least

'At least you got your health.' Don't you hate that? You lose your job, you lose your wife, YOU'RE IN PRISON, and some punk ass do gooder says 'At least you got your health' like that's supposed to make you FEEL better! So what if I'm broke? So what if some dealer wants to cap my ass; at least I ain't got a tumor. I swear, the next person to say ALYGYH to me, I'ma make sure they don't have THEIR health much longer.

~Augustus Hill, OZ

Back in the old Greek times

Back in the old Greek times there lived a man named Orpheus. Loved his wife, took it easy on the Ouzo, played a mean guitar. Upstanding guy. So what the almighty gods do? They fucked with him. Made his life Hades. Why? 'Cause that's what those in power do to those of us with none.

~Augustus Hill, OZ

God knows

God knows he's perfect and we're not and we can never be but he expects us to be. And he punishes us if we're not, you know what I'm saying? God is the ultimate gangster. The supremo boss, you know what I mean? Forgiveness, live by his code. Deadness, if we don't. Yo, he never has to talk to us face to face and ...he never has to explain exactly why he does what he does. Know what I'm saying? Nigger sits up there in Heaven somewhere, drinking a cappuccino, chilling... (Singing.) "Got the whole world in his hands." He got the whole world by the balls. In excelsius deo and all that shit.

~Augustus Hill, OZ

God made sunsets

God made sunsets full of color and God made race horses that run in a flash. God made the orange, the apple and strawberries, but God's greatest creation is pussy. I don't mean to be crude or nothing but... you can have all the sunsets, horses and fruit there is, just give me all the pussy in the world. Fuck, I don't need all the pussy, just one a day. Every day.

~Augustus Hill, OZ

Remember

Remember when your high school history teacher said that the course of human events changes 'cause of the deeds of great men. Well, the bitch was lying. Fuck Caesar, fuck Lincoln, fuck Mahatma Gandhi. The world keeps moving cause of you and me, the anonymous. Revolutions get going cause there ain't enoug...h bread. Wars happen over a game of checkers.

~Augustus Hill, OZ

Four Letter Words

"Fuck" is a four-letter word. "Rape" is a four-letter word. "Wife" is a four-letter word. So is "love." "Fuck" is a curse. So is "love."

~Augustus Hill, OZ

Monday, August 16, 2010

Your scorn for mediocrity

"Your scorn for mediocrity blinds you to its vast primitive power. You stand in the glare of your own brilliance, unable to see into the dim corners of the room, to dilate your eyes and see the potential dangers of the mass, the wad of humanity. Even as I tell you this, dear student, you cannot quite believe that lesser men, in whatever numbers, can really defeat you. But we are in the age of the mediocre man. He is dull, colorless, boring -- but inevitably victorious. The amoeba outlives the tiger because it divides and continues in its immortal monotony. The masses are the final tyrants. See how, in the arts, Kabuki wanes and withers while popular novels of violence and mindless action swamp the mind of the mass reader. And even in that timid genre, no author dares to produce a genuinely superior man as his hero, for in his rage of shame the mass man will send his yojimbo, the critic, to defend him. The roar of the plodders is inarticulate, but deafening. They have no brain, but they have a thousand arms to grasp and clutch at you, drag you down."

~Trevanian

Friday, August 13, 2010

You must live

You must live in the present,
launch yourself on every wave,
find your eternity in each moment.

~Henry David Thoreau

Hope

“Hope is the dream of a soul awake.”

~French Proverb

An idea

An idea that is developed and put into action is more important than an idea that exists only as an idea.

~Buddha

Thursday, August 5, 2010

But I don't want to

'But I don't want to go among mad people,' said Alice.
'Oh, you can't help that,' said the cat. 'We're all mad here.'

~Lewis Carroll

Who

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

~Lewis Carroll

Always

Always speak the truth, think before you speak, and write it down afterwards.

~Lewis Carroll

It's a poor sort

It's a poor sort of memory that only works backwards.

~Lewis Carroll

That's the reason

That's the reason they're called lessons,
because they lesson from day to day.

~Lewis Carroll

I can't

I can't go back to yesterday - because I was a different person then.

~Lewis Carroll

His answer

His answer trickled through my head like water through a sieve.

~Lewis Carroll

Contrariwise

Contrariwise, if it was so, it might be; and if it were so, it would be; but as it isn't, it ain't. That's logic.

~Lewis Carroll

I have proved

I have proved by actual trial that a letter, that takes an hour to write, takes only about 3 minutes to read!

~Lewis Carroll

When I use a word

'When I use a word,' Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, 'it means just what I choose it to mean - neither more nor less.'

~Lewis Carroll

The rule is

The rule is, jam tomorrow and jam yesterday -
but never jam today.

~Lewis Carroll

Everything's

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

~Lewis Carroll

Begin

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

~Lewis Carroll

Why, sometimes

Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.

~Lewis Carroll

If you don't

If you don't know where you are going,
any road will get you there.

~Lewis Carroll

While the laughter

While the laughter of joy is in full harmony with our deeper life, the laughter of amusement should be kept apart from it. The danger is too great of thus learning to look at solemn things in a spirit of mockery, and to seek in them opportunities for exercising wit.

~Lewis Carroll

One of the secrets

One of the secrets of life is that all that is really worth the doing is what we do for others.

~Lewis Carroll

No good fish

No good fish goes anywhere without a porpoise.

~Lewis Carroll

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

If the whole universe

If the whole universe has no meaning, we should never have found out that it has no meaning: just as, if there were no light in the universe and therefore no creatures with eyes, we should never know it was dark. Dark would be without meaning.

~C.S. Lewis

Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Poetry is

Poetry is just the evidence of life.
If your life is burning well, poetry is just the ash.”

~Leonard Cohen

We are shaped

We are shaped by our thoughts; we become what we think. When the mind is pure, joy follows like a shadow that never leaves.

~Buddha

Listen

Listen to the Exhortation of the Dawn! Look to this Day! For it is Life, the very Life of Life. In its brief course lie all the Verities and Realities of your Existence. The Bliss of Growth, The Glory of Action, The Splendor of Beauty; For Yesterday is but a Dream, And To-morrow is only a Vision; But To-day well lived makes Every Yesterday a Dream of Happiness, And every Tomorrow a Vision of Hope. Look well therefore to this Day! Such is the Salutation of the Dawn!

~Kalidasa

The soul

The soul should always stand ajar,
ready to welcome the ecstatic experience.

~Emily Dickinson

More Inspiring Quotes and cool quotes with pictures can be found at my new website, Way Cool Quotes.

Blackbird singing

Blackbird singing in the dead of night
Take these broken wings and learn to fly.
All your life
You were only waiting for this moment to arise
You were only waiting for this moment to arise
You were only waiting for this moment to arise.

~Paul McCartney/John Lennon

If

If the Sun and Moon should ever doubt,
they'd immediately go out.

~William Blake

We've got

We've got this gift of love, but love is like a precious plant. You can't just accept it and leave it in the cupboard or just think it's going to get on by itself. You've got to keep watering it. You've got to really look after it and nurture it.

~ John Lennon

We find ourselves

We find ourselves
right where we left
off, back at the beginning
...of another ending.

Somehow,
that just delights us.

~Paul Goldman

Thursday, July 29, 2010

At the center



At the center of your being you have the answer;
you know who you are and you know what you want.
~Lao Tzu

We all borrow will

‎"We all borrow will; from our parents as we grow up, from coaches or mentors, even from stars and famous personages with whom we connect in less immediate ways. It is our will that is the substance of our life. When we lose it, we are on a path to a kind of death, since will is the soil from which hope arises."

- Paul Hawken

Monday, July 19, 2010

Fear is

‎"Fear is the cheapest room in the house.
I would like to see you living
In better conditions."

~Hafiz

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Please accept my resignation

Please accept my resignation.
I don't care to belong to any club that will have me as a member.

~Groucho Marx

What

What would you attempt to do if you knew you could not fail?

~Dr Robert Schuller

The Force

The Force both obeys and commands.

~Yoda, Star Wars

I never

I never came upon any of my discoveries through the process of rational thinking.

~Albert Einstein

The majority of men

The majority of men meet with failure because of their lack of persistence in creating new plans to take the place of those which fail.

~Napoleon Hill

My dad

My dad always used to say, "If you're falling off a cliff, you may as well try to fly. You have nothing to lose."

~Captain John Sheridan, Babylon 5

In the pursuit of learning

In the pursuit of learning, every day something is acquired. In the pursuit of Tao, every day something is dropped.

~Lao Tsu

Fear

Fear is not of the present,
but only of past and future -
which does not exist.

~A Course in Miracles

The only place

The only place where success comes before work is a dictionary.

~Vidal Sassoon

In the End

In the End,
we will remember not the words of our enemies,
but the silence of our friends.

~Martin Luther King

Happiness is

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

~Mahatma Gandhi

Knowing others

Knowing others is intelligence;
knowing yourself is true wisdom.
Mastering others is strength;
mastering yourself is true power.

~Lao Tzu

Courage

Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear, not absence of fear.

~Mark Twain

Because we cling

Because we cling to the past
we become unavailable to the present.

~Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh

Fear

Fear is the foundation of all human limitations.

~Benny the Jet

Reality

Reality is merely an illusion,
albeit a very persistent one.

~Albert Einstein

The best way

The best way to predict the future
is to invent it.

~Alan Kay

The weak

The weak can never forgive.
Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.

~Mahatma Gandhi

Communication

Communication is to a relationship
what breathing is to living.

~Virginia Satir

There are risks

There are risks and costs to a programme of action, but they are far less than the long-range risks and costs of comfortable inaction.

~John F. Kennedy

Monday, July 12, 2010

We listened

We listened for a voice crying in the wilderness.
And we heard the jubilation of wolves!

— Durwood L. Allen

Thursday, July 8, 2010

The power of unconditional love

The power of unconditional love. I mean, there is no power on earth like unconditional love. And I think that if you offered that to your child, I mean you’re 90 percent of the way home. There may be days when you don’t feel like it, it’s not uncritical love, that’s a different animal, but to know you can always come back, that is huge in life. That takes you a long, long way. And I would say that every parent out there that can extend that to their child at an early age, it’s going to make for a better human being.

~Warren Buffett

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Just to be

"Just to be is a blessing,
Just to live is holy."

- Rabbi Abraham Heschel

Joy

"Make a commitment to look for joy everywhere.
Offer joyful commentary wherever possible."

- Dr. Wayne Dyer

Monday, July 5, 2010

Death

“Death- the last sleep?
No, it is the final awakening.”

~Sir Walter Scott

Friday, July 2, 2010

The words

The words printed here are concepts.
You must go through the experiences.

-Carl Frederick

Wednesday, June 30, 2010

In the end

"In the end, all that really matters is that we approach wherever we live with full attention and an open heart...a bouquet of flowers, a song, the smell of freshly baked bread, an affectionate embrace, such things can transform any place into a happy, heartwarming abode."

- Thomas Bender

A tree

"A tree is like a pipeline from the sky to the earth. It is a living pipeline that carries energy. The same life force energy surges through all living things. when you embrace someone you feel good energy surging between the two of you. This is the same life force that is in trees."

- Eleanor and Phillip Harris

Help us

"Help us to be the always hopeful gardeners of the spirit who know that without darkness nothing comes to birth as without light nothing flowers."

- May Sarton

You are

"You are what your deep driving desire is.
As your desire is, so is your will.
As your will is, so is your deed.
As your deed, so is your destiny."

- The Upanishads

Now o friends

"Now o friends
Listen to the words of a dream
Each spring brings us new life
The golden corn refreshes us
And the pink corn makes us a necklace
...At least this we know:
The hearts of our friends are true."

- Aztec

I found God

"i found god in myself
and i loved her
i loved her fiercely"

- Ntozake Shange

HAIL to our Mother

"HAIL to our Mother who makes the yellow flowers to bloom--
who scatters the seeds of the maguey as she comes from the Land Divine!
Hail to our Mother who casts forth white flowers in abundance!
Hail to our Mother who shines in the thorn bush as a bright butter-fly!"

- Traditional Mexican

Nothing can resist

"Nothing can resist the will of man when he knows what is true and wills what is good. Learn how to will. How can one learn to will? This is the first Arcanum of magical initiation."

- E. Levi

Death has no power

"Death has no power th'immortal soul to slay,
That, when its present body turns to clay,
Seeks a fresh home; and with unlessened might,
Inspires another frame with life with light and life."

-Ovid

I walk to the North

"I walk to the North of my sacred space;
Herein all negativity be erased.
I waslk to the east where the magic winds dance;
Here I evoke the power of abundance.
I waslk to the south where the fires burn bright;
...There I shall banish, all evil, take flight!
I walk to the west, where clear waters flow;
The circle's completed, blessings bestow!"

- Trish Telesco

When I have been to sea

When I have been to sea close under the cliffs, of a fine summer's night, I have heard the sweetest music, and seen hundreds of little lights moving about amongst what looked like flowers. Ay! and they are flowers too, for you may smell the sweet scent far out at sea.

~Saint Levan, Cornwall

Miracles happen

"Miracles happen, not in opposition to Nature,
but in opposition to what we know of Nature."

- St. Augustine

Round the circle

"Round the circle, 'tis where we go;
Follow where the lily blows,
North and East and South and West,
The Watchtowers, we each behest.

...Round the circle, sunward dance;
Follow where the lilies prance,
Toward God and Goddess, throughout the night;
Let our magic now take flight!"

-Trish Telesco

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Three Rules of Work

Out of Clutter, Find Simplicity.
From Discord, Find Harmony.
In the Middle of Difficulty Lies Opportunity.

~Albert Einstein

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Our Bible

If you take [a copy of] the Christian Bible and put it out in the wind and the rain, soon the paper on which the words are printed will disintegrate and the words will be gone. Our bible IS the wind and the rain."

~Herbalist Carol McGrath as told to her by a Native-American woman

When one defines oneself as Pagan

When one defines oneself as Pagan, it means she or he follows an earth or nature religion, one that sees the divine manifest in all creation. The cycles of nature are our holy days, the earth is our temple, its plants and creatures our partners and teachers. We worship a deity that is both male and female, a mother Goddess and father God, who together created all that is, was, or will be. We respect life, cherish the free will of sentient beings, and accept the sacredness of all creation.

~Edain McCoy

Being A Witch

We should educate people that 'Witch' is not evil but ancient and positive. The first time I called myself a 'Witch' was the most magical moment of my life.

~Margot Adler

Neo-Pagan Witches

Neo-Pagan Witches aren't Satanists. The Christian anti-God, Satan, has no place in Pagan pantheons, either mythologically or theologically. Plainly and simply, to non-Christians, Satanism is the dark side of Christianity.

~Otter and Morning Glory Zell

Witches...

We are not evil. We don't harm or seduce people. We are not dangerous. We are ordinary people like you. We have families, jobs, hopes, and dreams. We are not a cult. This religion is not a joke. We are not what you think we are from looking at T.V. We are real. We laugh, we cry. We are serious. We have a sense of humor. You don't have to be afraid of us. We don't want to convert you. And please don't try to convert us. Just give us the same right we give you--to live in peace. We are much more similar to you than you think.

~Margot Adler

Sunday, June 6, 2010

The mountains

The mountains, I become a part of it... The morning mists, the clouds, the gathering waters, I become a part of it.

~Navajo Chant

The Dalai Lama

The Dalai Lama was once asked for his favorite chant, and he said it was better not to have a favorite anything, which I think is a great thought.

~Jeremy Piven

My brother and I

My brother and I were meditating before we were 6 years old, having to stare at the wall and chant.

~Kristin Hersh

I used

I used a lot of pancake makeup and a prayer, and a Buddhist chant.

~Steven Cojocaru

I get into

I get into certain yoga positions at times, when I'm working out and for exercises. I use a little of it in some of my meditation, but I chant now and that sort of replaced it.

~John Astin

Monday, May 10, 2010

When there is

When there is light in the soul, there is beauty in the person;
When there is beauty in the person, there is harmony in the home;
When there is harmony in the home, there is honour in the nation;
When there is honour in the nation, there is peace in the world.

~Old Chinese Proverb

Most people

"Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone elses opinion, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation."

~Oscar Wilde

Sunday, May 9, 2010

God is

God is in truth the whole universe: what was, what is, and what beyond shall ever be...
He is the inmost soul of all, which like a little flame the size of a thumb is hidden in the hearts of men.

~Svetasvatara Upanishad

Flowers and bees

Flowers and bees may be different, but the honey is the same.
Systems of faith may be different, but God is One.

~Rig Veda

Tell me

Tell me, what is God?
He is the breath inside the breath.

~Kabir

Oh music

Oh music,
In your depths we deposit our hearts and souls.
Thou has taught us to see with our eyes
and hear with our hearts.

~Kahlil Gibran

Before the world

Before the world was, all was in sound.
God was in sound, we are made of sound.

~Harrat Inayat Khan

Listen

Listen, listen, listen to my heart's song
I will never forget you, I will never forsake you.

~Paramahansa Yogananda

Music

Music is well said to be the speech of angels.

~Thomas Carlyle

Sunday, May 2, 2010

A living body

A living body is not a fixed thing but a flowing event, like a flame or a whirlpool: the shape alone is stable, for the substance is a stream of energy going in at one end and out at the other. We are particularly and temporarily identifiable wiggles in a stream that enters us in the form of light, heat, air, water, milk, bread, fruit, beer, beef Stroganoff, caviar, and pate de foie gras. It goes out as gas and excrement - and also as semen, babies, talk, politics, commerce, war, poetry, and music. And philosophy.

~Alan Watts

But at any rate

But at any rate, the point is that God is what nobody admits to being, and everybody really is.

~Alan Watts

But I'll tell you

But I'll tell you what hermits realize. If you go off into a far, far forest and get very quiet, you'll come to understand that you're connected with everything.

~Alan Watts

The only way

The only way to make sense out of change is to plunge into it, move with it, and join the dance.

~Alan Watts

The reason we have poverty

The reason we have poverty is that we have no imagination. There are a great many people accumulating what they think is vast wealth, but it's only money... they don't know how to enjoy it, because they have no imagination.

~Alan Watts

The reason

The reason we want to go on and on is because we live in an impoverished present.

~Alan Watts

We do not

We do not "come into" into this world; we come out of it, as leaves from a tree. As the ocean "waves," the universe "peoples." Every individual is an expression of the whole realm of nature, a unique action of the total universe. This fact is rarely, if ever, experienced by most individuals. Even those who know it to be true in theory do not sense or feel it, but continue to be aware of themselves as isolated "egos" inside bags of skin.

~Alan Watts

The religious idea

The religious idea of God cannot do full duty for the metaphysical infinity.

~Alan Watts

The style of God

The style of God venerated in the church, mosque, or synagogue seems completely different from the style of the natural universe.

~Alan Watts

Things are as they are

Things are as they are. Looking out into it the universe at night, we make no comparisons between right and wrong stars, nor between well and badly arranged constellations.

~Alan Watts

To have faith

To have faith is to trust yourself to the water. When you swim you don't grab hold of the water, because if you do you will sink and drown. Instead you relax, and float.

~Alan Watts

Wars based on principle

Wars based on principle are far more destructive... the attacker will not destroy that which he is after.

~Alan Watts

We cannot

We cannot be more sensitive to pleasure without being more sensitive to pain.

~Alan Watts

When your eyes

When your eyes are functioning well you don't see your eyes. If your eyes are imperfect you see spots in front of them. That means there are some lesions in the retina or wherever, and because your eyes aren't working properly, you feel them. In the same way, you don't hear your ears. If you have a ringing in your ears it means there's something wrong with your ears. Therefore, if you do feel yourself, there must be something wrong with you. Whatever you have, the sensation of I is like spots in front of your eyes - it means something's wrong with your functioning.

~Alan Watts

When you get free

When you get free from certain fixed concepts of the way the world is, you find it is far more subtle, and far more miraculous, than you thought it was.

~Alan Watts

We identify

We identify in our exerience a differentiation between what we do and what happens to us.

~Alan Watts

What the devil

What the devil is the point of surviving, going on living, when it's a drag? But you see, that's what people do.

~Alan Watts

You and I

You and I are all as much continuous with the physical universe as a wave is continuous with the ocean.

~Alan Watts

If you love a person

If you love a person, you say to that person, "Look, I love you, whatever that may be. I've seen quite a bit of it and I know there's lots that I haven't seen, but still it's you and I want you to be what you want to be. And I won't be happy if I've got you in a cage. You'd be a bird without song."

~Alan Watts

You are

You are that vast thing that you see far,
far off with great telescopes.

~Alan Watts

Zen does not

Zen does not confuse spirituality with thinking about God while one is peeling potatoes. Zen spirituality is just to peel the potatoes.

~Alan Watts

No one's mouth

No one's mouth is big enough to utter the whole thing.

~Alan Watts

Buddhism

Buddhism has in it no idea of there being a moral law laid down by some kind of cosmic lawgiver.

~Alan Watts

Life

Life exists only at this very moment, and in this moment it is infinite and eternal, for the present moment is infinitely small; before we can measure it, it has gone, and yet it exists forever....

~Alan Watts

And the Attitude

And the attitude of faith is the very opposite of clinging to belief, of holding on.

~Alan Watts

And although

And although our bodies are bounded with skin, and we can differentiate between outside and inside, they cannot exist except in a certain kind of natural environment.

~Alan Watts

Only words

Only words and conventions can isolate us from the entirely undefinable something which is everything.

~Alan Watts

I have realized

I have realized that the past and future are real illusions, that they exist in the present, which is what there is and all there is.

~Alan Watts

How is it possible

How is it possible that a being with such sensitive jewels as the eyes, such enchanted musical instruments as the ears, and such fabulous arabesque of nerves as the brain can experience itself anything less than a god.

~Alan Watts

No work or love

No work or love will flourish out of guilt, fear, or hollowness of heart, just as no valid plans for the future can be made by those who have no capacity for living now.

~Alan Watts

The only Zen

The only Zen you'll find on mountain tops
is the Zen you bring up there with you.

~Alan Watts

Advice?

Advice? I don't have advice. Stop aspiring and start writing. If you're writing, you're a writer. Write like you're a goddamn death row inmate and the governor is out of the country and there's no chance for a pardon. Write like you're clinging to the edge of a cliff, white knuckles, on your last breath, and you've got just one last thing to say, like you're a bird flying over us and you can see everything, and please, for God's sake, tell us something that will save us from ourselves. Take a deep breath and tell us your deepest, darkest secret, so we can wipe our brow and know that we're not alone. Write like you have a message from the king. Or don't. Who knows, maybe you're one of the lucky ones who doesn't have to.

~Alan Watts

Trying

Trying to define yourself is like trying to bite your own teeth.

~Alan Watts

It seems that

It seems that I know that I know. What I would like to see is the 'I' that knows me when I know that I know that I know.

~Alan Watts

It is obvious

It is obvious that the only interesting people are interested people, and to be completely interested is to have forgotten about "I".

~Alan Watts

Your soul

Your soul isn't in your body;
your body is in your soul.

~Alan Watts

So, the whole idea

So, the whole idea, you see, is that everything's falling apart, so don't try and stop it. When you're falling off a precipice, it doesn't do you any good to hang onto a rock that's falling with you. See? But everything is doing that. And so, again, this is another case of our completely wasting our energy in trying to prevent the world from falling apart. Don't do it. And then you'll be able to do something interesting with the free energy.

~Alan Watts

Thursday, April 29, 2010

Why should I seek?

Why should I seek?
I am the same as He.
His essence speaks through me.
I have been looking for myself!

~Rumi.

Sunday, April 25, 2010

And as you sit

“And as you sit on the hillside, or lie prone under the trees of the forest, or sprawl wet-legged on the shingly beach of a mountain stream, the great door, that does not look like a door, opens.”

– Stephen Graham

Friday, April 23, 2010

The whole day

The whole day have I followed in the rocks, and you have changed and flowed from shape to shape.

~WB Yeats

Spread Joy

Spread joy.
Chase your wildest dreams.

~Patch Adams

Wherever I go

Wherever I go,
I meet myself.

~Tozan

One's destination

One's destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things.

~Henry Miller

Walk

Walk this world with hearts on fire.

~Celtic saying

Who

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

~Lewis Carroll

When it comes right down to it

When it comes right down to it, all you have is your Self. Your Self is a sun with a thousand rays.

~Pablo Picasso

I thank you God

I thank you God for most this amazing day:
for the leaping greenly spirits of trees and a blue true dream of sky;
and for everything which is natural which is infinite which is yes

~e.e. cummings

Love

Love recognizes no barriers. It jumps hurdles, leaps fences, penetrates walls to arrive at its destination full of hope.

~Maya Angelou

Your soul

Your soul is a seeker, lover, and artist, shapeshifted thru archetypal fields of energy between your darkness and light, your body and spirit, your heaven and hell, until you land in the sweet moment of surrender when you, as dancer, disappear in the dance.

~Gabrielle Roth

The Earth

The Earth is my Mother - and on her bosom I will recline.

~Tecumseh

When

When your heart speaks,
take good notes.

~Judith Campbell

I live in my own place

I live in my own place, have never copied nobody even half, and at any master who lacks the grace to laugh at himself - I laugh.

~Inscribed over the door to Nietzsche's house

Elmo said

Elmo said, “Leeta, when you judge somebody, it’s like throwing a boomerang—goes in a circle and comes back to the one throws it. Love is like that too. Always comes back.”

~Excerpt from "The Sabbatical."

Thursday, April 22, 2010

We're all here

We're all here on earth to help others. What on earth the others are here for, I don't know.

~W H Auden

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Thoughts

"Thoughts become things.
Choose the good ones."

~ Mike Dooley

Thoughts lead on

"Thoughts lead on to purpose, purpose leads on to actions, actions form habits, habits decide character, and character fixes our destiny"

~ Tryon Edwards

Do not think

"Do not think that what your thoughts dwell on does not matter. Your thoughts are making you."

~ Bishop Steere

All that we are

"All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts, we make the world."

~ Buddha

Monday, April 19, 2010

I only went out

I only went out for a walk and finally concluded to stay out till sundown, for going out, I found, was really going in.

~John Muir

Sunday, April 11, 2010

I've missed more than 9,000 shots

I've missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. 26 times I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.

— Michael Jordan

Success:

Success: To laugh often and much, to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children, to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends, to appreciate beauty, to find the best in others, to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded!

~Ralph Waldo Emerson

I dread success

I dread success. To have succeeded is to have finished one's business on earth, like the male spider, who is killed by the female the moment he has succeeded in courtship. I like a state of continual becoming, with a goal in front and not behind.

~George Bernard Shaw

That man is successful

That man is successful who has lived well, laughed often, and loved much, who has gained the respect of the intelligent men and the love of children; who has filled his niche and accomplished his task; who leaves the world better than he found it, whether by an improved poppy, a perfect poem, or a rescued soul; who never lacked appreciation of earth's beauty or failed to express it; who looked for the best in others and gave the best he had.

~Robert Louis Stevenson

Something in human nature

Something in human nature causes us to start slacking off at our moment of greatest accomplishment. As you become successful, you will need a great deal of self-discipline not to lose your sense of balance, humility, and commitment.

~Ross Perot

Ideals are like stars

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

~Carl Schurz

My greatest point

My greatest point is my persistence. I never give up in a match. However down I am, I fight until the last ball. My list of matches shows that I have turned a great many so-called irretrievable defeats into victories.

— Bjorn Borg

Virtually nothing

Virtually nothing comes out right the first time. Failures, repeated failures, are finger posts on the road to achievement. The only time you don't want to fail is the last time you try something.... One fails forward toward success.

— Charles F. Kettering

I realized early

I realized early on that success was tied to not giving up. Most people in this business gave up and went on to other things. If you simply didn't give up, you would outlast the people who came in on the bus with you.

— Harrison Ford

Entrepreneurs average 3.8 failures

Entrepreneurs average 3.8 failures before final success. What sets the successful ones apart is their amazing persistence. There are a lot of people out there with good and marketable ideas, but pure entrepreneurial types almost never accept defeat.

— Lisa M. Amos

Thursday, April 8, 2010

If at first

"If at first you don't succeed,
find out if the loser gets anything."

~Bill Lyon

If at first

"If at first you don't succeed,
do it like your mother told you."

~Author Unknown

If at first

"If at first you don't succeed,
try, try again. Then quit.
There's no point in being a damn fool about it."

~W. C. Fields

If at first

"If at first you don't succeed,
destroy all evidence that you tried."

~unknown

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

If it weren't

If it weren't for the last minute,
I wouldn't get anything done.

~Author Unknown

The time to begin

The time to begin most things is ten years ago.

~Mignon McLaughlin, The Second Neurotic's Notebook

Procrastination is like

Procrastination is like masturbation. At first it feels good, but in the end you're only screwing yourself.

~Author unknown

Don't fool yourself

Don't fool yourself that important things can be put off till tomorrow; they can be put off forever, or not at all.

~Mignon McLaughlin, The Neurotic's Notebook

I do my work

I do my work at the same time each day - the last minute.

~Author Unknown

Procrastination is

Procrastination is something best put off until tomorrow.

~Gerald Vaughan

Someday

Someday is not a day of the week.

~Author Unknown

The best way

The best way to get something done is to begin.

~Author Unknown

There's nothing to match

There's nothing to match curling up with a good book when there's a repair job to be done around the house.

~Joe Ryan

You know

You know you are getting old when it takes too much effort to procrastinate.

~Author Unknown

What may be done

What may be done at any time will be done at no time.

~Scottish Proverb

Tomorrow

Tomorrow is the only day in the year that appeals to a lazy man.

~Jimmy Lyons

If you want

If you want to make an easy job seem mighty hard, just keep putting off doing it.

~Olin Miller

Tomorrow

Tomorrow is the day when idlers work, and fools reform.

~Edward Young

Procrastination

Procrastination is opportunity's assassin.

~Victor Kiam

Putting off

Putting off an easy thing makes it hard.
Putting off a hard thing makes it impossible.

~George Claude Lorimer

A year from now

A year from now you may wish you had started today.

~Karen Lamb

To think

To think too long about doing a thing often becomes its undoing.

~Eva Young

You may delay

You may delay, but time will not.

~Benjamin Franklin

One of the greatest

One of the greatest labor-saving inventions of today is tomorrow.

~Vincent T. Foss

Two Rules of Procrastination

The two rules of procrastination:

1) Do it today.
2) Tomorrow will be today tomorrow.

~Author Unknown

It is an undoubted truth

It is an undoubted truth, that the less one has to do, the less time one finds to do it in.

~Earl of Chesterfield

There are a million

There are a million ways to lose a work day, but not even a single way to get one back.

~Tom DeMarco and Timothy Lister

Never put off

Never put off until tomorrow what you can do the day after tomorrow.

~Mark Twain

One of these days

One of these days is none of these days.

~Attributed to both Henri Tubach and H.G. Bohn

Procrastination is

Procrastination is the thief of time.

~Edward Young

Anyone can do

Anyone can do any amount of work, provided it isn't the work he is supposed to be doing at that moment.

~Robert Benchley

The sooner

The sooner I fall behind, the more time I have to catch up.

~Author Unknown

Every duty

Every duty which is bidden to wait returns with seven fresh duties at its back.

~Charles Kingsley

Only

Only Robinson Crusoe had everything done by Friday.

~Author Unknown

Procrastination

Procrastination is the art of keeping up with yesterday.

~Don Marquis

God has promised

God has promised forgiveness to your repentance; but He has not promised to-morrow to your procrastination.

~Augustine of Hippo

Monday, March 29, 2010

If men had wings

If men had wings and bore black feathers,
few of them would be clever enough to be crows.

- Rev. Henry Ward Beecher

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

By starving emotions

"By starving emotions we become humorless, rigid and stereotyped; by repressing them we become literal, reformatory and holier-than-thou; encouraged, they perfume life; discouraged, they poison it."

-- Joseph Collins

Emotions

"Emotions are the next frontier to be understood and conquered. To manage our emotions is not to drug them or suppress them, but to understand them so that we can intelligently direct our emotional energies and intentions.... It's time for human beings to grow up emotionally, to mature into emotionally managed and responsible citizens. No magic pill will do it."

-- Doc Childre

Monday, March 22, 2010

We promise

We promise according to our hopes and perform according to our fears.

~François de la Rochefoucauld

Sunday, March 21, 2010

It's more fun

“It's more fun to talk with someone who doesn't use long, difficult words, but rather short, easy words like 'What about lunch?'”

- Winnie-The-Pooh

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Here's to you!

Here's to a long life and a merry one
A quick death and an easy one
A pretty girl and an honest one
A cold beer and another one!

~an old Irish Blessing

As you slide

As you slide down the banister of life,
May the splinters never point in the wrong direction!

~an old Irish Blessing

A Blessing for St Patrick's Day

Go mbeannai Dia duit
(May God Bless You)

~an old Irish Blessing

When Irish eyes

When Irish eyes are smiling,
Tis like a morn in spring.
With a lilt of Irish laughter
You can hear the angels sing
When Irish hearts are happy
All the world is bright and gay
When Irish eyes are smiling
Sure, they steal your heart away.

~an old Irish Blessing

May you be

May you be in
Heaven a half hour before the
Devil knows you're dead!

~an old Irish Blessing

May you always have

May you always have
Walls for the winds,
A roof for the rain,
Tea beside the fire,
Laughter to cheer you,
Those you love near you,
And all your heart might desire!

~an old Irish Blessing

May those who love us

May those who love us, love us
And those who don't love us,
May God turn their hearts
And if he can't turn their hearts,
May he turn their ankles
So we will know them by their limping!

~an old Irish Blessing

May the best

May the best day of your past
Be the worst day of your future.

~an old Irish Blessing

May your neighbors

May your neighbors respect you,
Troubles neglect you,
The angels protect you,
And Heaven accept you.

~an old Irish Blessing

May your pockets

May your pockets be heavy and your heart be light,
May good luck pursue you each morning and night,

~an old Irish Blessing

May you live

May you live as long as you want,
And never want as long as you live.

~an old Irish Blessing

May you have

May you have:
A world of wishes at your command
God and his angels close at hand
Friends and family their love impart,
And Irish blessings in you heart.

~an old Irish Blessing

May God grant

May God grant you many years to live,
For sure he must be knowing
The earth has angels all to few
And Heaven is overflowing.

~an old Irish Blessing

May your home

May your home always be too small to hold all your friends.
God is good, but never dance
in a small boat.

~an old Irish saying

May the lilt

May the lilt of lush laughter lighten ever road,
May the midst of Irish magic shorten every road.
May you taste the sweetest pleasures
that fortune ever bestowed,
And may all your friends remember
all the favors you are owed.

~an old Irish Blessing

These things I warmly wish

These things I warmly wish to you-
Someone to love
Some work to do
A bit o' sun
A bit o' cheer
And a guardian angel always near.

~an old Irish Blessing

If

If you're enough lucky to be Irish...
You're lucky enough!

~an old Irish saying

O Ireland

O Ireland isn't it grand you look
like a bride in her rich adornin?
And with all the pent up love of my heart
I bid you the top o' the mornin!

~an old Irish Blessing

I'm looking over

I'm looking over a four leaf clover
That I overlooked before
One leaf is sunshine, the second is rain,
Third is the roses that grow in the lane.
No need explaining the one remaining
Is somebody I adore.
I'm looking over a four leaf clover
That I overlooked before.

~an old Irish Song

My wild Irish Rose

My wild Irish rose
The sweetest flower that grows
You may search everywhere
But none can compare to my wild Irish rose
My wild Irish rose
The sweetest flower that grows
Someday for my sake she may let me take
A bloom from my wild Irish rose

~an old Irish song

'Tis better

'Tis better to buy a small bouquet
And give to your friend this very day,
Than a bushel of roses white and red
To lay on his coffin after he's dead.

~an old Irish saying

For each petal

For each petal on the shamrock
This brings a wish your way-
Good health, good luck, and happiness
For today and every day.

~an old Irish Blessing

Dance

Dance as if no one were watching,
Sing as if no one were listening,
And live every day as if it were your last.

~an old Irish Blessing

There are a good many reasons

There are many good reasons for drinking,
One has just entered my head.
If a man doesn't drink when he's living,
How in the hell can he drink when he's dead?

~an old Irish Saying

May your blessings

May your blessings outnumber
The shamrocks that grow,
And may trouble avoid you
Wherever you go.

~an old Irish Blessing

May you live

May you live to be a hundred years
With one extra year to repent.

~an old Irish Blessing

Leprechauns

Leprechauns, castles, good luck and laughter
Lullabies, dreams, and love ever after.
Poems and songs with pipes and drums
A thousand welcomes when anyone comes.
That's the Irish for you!

~an old Irish Blessing

May luck

May luck be our companion
May friends stand by our side
May history remind us all
Of Ireland's faith and pride.
May God bless us with happiness
May love and faith abide.

~an old Irish Blessing

There's a dear little plant

There's a dear little plant that grows in our isle,
'Twas St. Patrick himself, sure, that sets it;
And the sun of his labor with pleasure did smile,
And with dew from his eye often wet it.
It grows through the bog, through the brake, through the mireland,
And they call it the dear little Shamrock of Ireland.

~an old Irish saying

Monday, March 8, 2010

Death

Death is not the end.
Death can never be the end.

Death is the road.
Life is the traveller.
The Soul is the Guide

Our mind thinks of death.
Our heart thinks of life.
Our soul thinks of Immortality.

♥ Sri Chinmoy

Sunday, February 28, 2010

I erect myself

I erect myself at the exact point where knowledge meets madness, and I can erect no safety rail.

—BALZAC

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

What is needed

"What is needed, rather than running away or controlling or suppressing or any other resistance, is understanding fear; that means, watch it, learn about it, come directly into contact with it. We are to learn about fear, not how to escape from it."

-- Jiddu Krishnamurti

Fear is a question

"Fear is a question: What are you afraid of, and why? Just as the seed of health is in illness, because illness contains information, our fears are a treasure house of self-knowledge if we explore them."

-- Marilyn Ferguson

Monday, February 22, 2010

The most common

"The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don't have any."

~ Alice Walker

Life's challenges

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

~ Bernice Johnson Reagon

Stop thinking

"Stop thinking in terms of limitations and start thinking in terms of possibilities"

~ Terry Josephson

Difficulty

"Difficulty need not foreshadow despair or defeat. Rather achievement can be all the more satisfying because of obstacles surmounted."

~ William Hastie

Sunday, February 21, 2010

Birds sing

Birds sing after a storm; why shouldn't people feel as free to delight in whatever remains to them?

~Rose Kennedy

Unless your heart

"Unless your heart, your soul, and your whole being are behind every decision you make, the words from your mouth will be empty, and each action will be meaningless. Truth and confidence are the roots of happiness."

~ Unknown

Integrity is not

"Integrity is not a conditional word. It doesn't blow in the wind or change with the weather. It is your inner image of yourself, and if you look in there and see a man who won't cheat, then you know he never will."

~ John McDonald

Find the courage

"Find the courage to hold onto your beliefs, even if the world around you chooses to believe differently. Have the courage to change those beliefs that no longer fit the person you have become. In doing so, you truly become yourself."

~ Daniel Levin

You never find

"You never find yourself until you face the truth."

~ Pearl Bailey

Friday, February 19, 2010

The first rule

"The first rule of holes: when you're in one, stop digging."

~Molly Ivins

Thursday, February 18, 2010

Light is the first

Light is the first of painters. There is no object so foul that intense light will not make it beautiful.

—RALPH WALDO EMERSON

For the rest of my life

For the rest of my life I will reflect on what light is.
—~EINSTEIN

I Thy God

I Thy God am the Light and the Mind which were before substance was divided from Spirit and darkness from Light.
—~VOLTAIRE

Before all

Before all the wondrous shows of the widespread space around him, what living, sentient thing loves not the all-joyous light -- with its colors, its rays and undulations, its gentle omnipresence in the form of the wakening Day.

~NOVALIS

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

May your trails

“May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view. May your mountains rise into and above the clouds.”

~Edward Abbey

Thursday, February 11, 2010

You could not

You could not step into the same rivers twice, for other waters are forever flowing onto you.

~Heraclitus

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Victory

“Victory belongs to the most persevering.”

– Napoleon Bonaparte

Even enemies

“Even enemies will help each other if they are together on a boat that is in trouble. ”

– Sun Tzu

If an enemy has alliances

“If an enemy has alliances, the problem is grave and the enemy’s position strong; if he has no alliances, the problem is minor and the enemy’s position weak.”

– Sun Tzu

Thus those skilled

“Thus those skilled in war subdue the enemy’s army without battle … . They conquer by strategy.”

– Sun Tzu

To

“To … not prepare is the greatest of crimes; to be prepared beforehand for any contingency is the greatest of virtues.”

– Sun Tzu

In war

“In war, numbers alone confer no advantage.”

- Sun Tzu

Know the enemy

“Know the enemy and know yourself; in a hundred battles you will never be in peril. When you are ignorant of the enemy, but know yourself, your chances of winning or losing are equal. If ignorant both of your enemy and yourself, you are certain in every battle to be in peril.”

– Sun Tzu

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

It is

It is the business of the future to be dangerous.

~Whitehead

If

If your life bores you, risk it.

~Harvey Lloyd

Fly away

Fly away, fly away bird to your native home,
You have leapt free of the cage
Your wings are flung back in the wind of God.
Leave behind the stagnant and marshy waters,
Hurry, hurry, hurry, O bird, to the source of life

—RUMI

Monday, February 8, 2010

Empty

Empty the haunted air...
Unweave a rainbow.

—JOHN KEATS

all I produced

...all I produced before the age of seventy is not worth taking into account. At seventy-three I learned a little about the real structure of nature...at ninety I shall penetrate the mystery of things...and when I am a hundred and ten everything I do, be it a dot or a line, will be alive. I beg those who live as long as I to see if I keep my word.

—HOKUSAI

I remember my youth

I remember my youth and the feeling that will never come back any more—the feeling that I could last for ever, outlast the sea, the earth, and all men; the deceitful feeling that lures us on to joys, to perils, to love, to vain effort—to death; the triumphant conviction of strength, the heat of life in the handful of dust, the glow in the heart that with every year grows dim, grows cold, grows small, and expires—and expires, too soon, to soon—before life itself.

— JOSEPH CONRAD

The most beautiful experience

The most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious; it is the fundamental emotion which stands at the cradle of true art and true science.

— ALBERT EINSTEIN

One day I was walking

One day I was walking along Tinker Creek thinking of nothing at all and I saw the tree with the lights in it. I saw the backyard cedar where the mourning doves roost charged and transfigured, each cell buzzing with flame. I stood on the grass with the lights in it, grass that was wholly fire, utterly focused and utterly dreaming. It was less like seeing than like being for the first time seen, knocked breathless by a powerful glance...I had been my whole life a bell, and never knew it until at that moment I was lifted and struck

—ANNIE DILLARD

I never saw

"I never saw a discontented tree. They grip the ground as though they liked it, and though fast rooted they travel about as far as we do. They go wandering forth in all directions with every wind, going and coming like ourselves, traveling with us around the sun two million miles a day, and through space heaven knows how fast and far!

— JOHN MUIR

We dream

"...We dream of traveling through the universe - but is not the universe within ourselves? The depths of our spirit are unknown to us - the mysterious way leads inwards. Eternity with its worlds - the past and future - is in ourselves or nowhere. The external world is the world of shadows - it throws its shadow into the realm of light. At present this realm certainly seems to us so dark inside, lonely. shapeless. But how entirely different it will seem to us - when this gloom is past, and the body of shadows has moved away. We will experience greater enjoyment than ever, for our spirit has been deprived."

~Novalis

Chaos

“Chaos in a work of art should shimmer through the veil of order.”

~Novalis

Cherish your visions

Cherish your visions. Cherish your ideals. Cherish the music that stirs in your heart, the beauty that forms in your mind, the loveliness that drapes your purest thoughts, for out of them will grow all delightful conditions, all heavenly environment; of these, if you but remain true to them, your world will at last be built.”

—JAMES ALLEN

The ideals

The ideals which have always shone before me and filled me with the joy of living are goodness, beauty, and truth. To make a goal of comfort or happiness has never appealed to me; a system of ethics built on this basis would be sufficient only for a herd of cattle.

—ALBERT EINSTEIN

Nature

Nature and nature's laws lay hid in the night,
God said, “Let Newton be" and all was light.

— ALEXANDER POPE

Painting is

Painting is a blind man's profession. He paints not what he sees, but what he feels, what he tells himself about what he has seen.

— PABLO PICASSO

We may pretend

We may pretend that beauty is only skin deep, but Aristotle was right when he observed the ‘beauty is a far greater recommendation than any letter of introduction.'...After all, in fairy tales, the first stories most of us hear, the heroes are handsome, the heroines are beautiful, and the wicked sots are ugly. Children learn implicitly that good people are beautiful and bad people are ugly, and society restates that message in many subtle ways as they grow older.

~Diane Ackerman

Sunday, January 31, 2010

Every child

Every child has known God
Not the God of names
Not the God of don’ts
Not the God who ever does anything weird,
But the God who knows only four words.
And keeps repeating them, saying:
“Come Dance with Me, come dance.”

Hafiz

The truth is

"The truth is that our finest moments are most likely to occur when we are feeling deeply uncomfortable, unhappy or unfulfilled. For it is only in such moments, propelled by our discomfort, that we are likely to step out of our ruts and start searching for different ways or truer answers."

~M. Scott Peak

Sunday, January 24, 2010

Live as if

"Live as if you were living already for the second time and as if you had acted the first time as wrongly as you are about to act now!"

~Viktor E. Frankl

We were not hoping

"We were not hoping for happiness –
And yet we were not prepared for unhappiness."

~Viktor E. Frankl

A man who for years

"A man who for years had thought he had reached the absolute limit of all possible suffering now found that suffering had no limits, and that he could suffer still more, and more intensely."

~Viktor E. Frankl

It did not really matter

"It did not really matter what we expected from life, but rather what life expected from us. We needed to stop asking about the meaning of life, and instead to think of ourselves as those who were being questioned by life – daily and hourly. Our answer must consist, not in talk and meditation, but in right action and in right conduct. Life ultimately means taking the responsibility to find the right answer to its problems and to fulfill the tasks which it constantly sets for each individual."

~Viktor E. Frankl

Between stimulus and response

"Between stimulus and response, there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom."

~Viktor E. Frankl

Woe to him

"Woe to him, when the day of his dreams finally came, found it to be so different from all that he had longed for!"

~Viktor E. Frankl

Set me

"Set me like a seal upon thy heart, love is as strong as death."

~Song of Solomon 8:6

Man is capable

"Man is capable of changing the world for the better if possible, and of changing himself for the better if necessary."

~Viktor E. Frankl

We can discover

"We can discover this meaning in life in three different ways:
(1) by creating a work or doing a deed;
(2) by experiencing a something or encountering someone; and
(3) by the attitude we take toward unavoidable suffering."

~Viktor E. Frankl

When we are

"When we are no longer able to change a situation – just think of an incurable disease such as inoperable cancer – we are challenged to change ourselves."

~Viktor E. Frankl

Fundamentally

"Fundamentally, therefore, any man can, even under such circumstances, decide what shall become of him – mentally and spiritually. He may retain his human dignity even in a concentration camp."

~Viktor E. Frankl

We who lived

"We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way."

~Viktor E. Frankl

A man

"A man can get used to anything, but do not ask us how."

~Viktor E. Frankl

Nietzsche's words

"Nietzsche's words, 'He who has a why to live can bear with almost any how.'"

~Viktor E. Frankl

We have come to know

"We have come to know man as he really is. After all, man is that being who invented the gas chambers of Auschwitz; however, he is also that being who entered those gas chambers upright, with the Lord's prayer or the Shema Yisrael on his lips."

~Viktor E. Frankl

An incurable psychotic

"An incurable psychotic individual may lose his usefulness but yet retain the dignity of a human being. This is my psychiatric credo."

~Viktor E. Frankl

Freedom

"Freedom is not the last word, freedom is only part of the story and half of the truth. The positive aspect of freedom is responsibleness." "That is why I recommend that the Statue of Liberty on the East Coast be supplemented by a Statue of Responsibility on the West Coast."

~Viktor E. Frankl

Only in quiet waters

"Only in quiet waters things mirror themselves undistorted. Only in a quiet mind is adequate perception of the world."

-- Hans Margolius

Meditation brings wisdom

"Meditation brings wisdom; lack of meditation leaves ignorance. Know well what leads you forward and what holds you back, and choose the path that leads to wisdom."

-- Buddha

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

While I agree

Bill: While I agree that in time our band will be most triumphant. The truth is Wyld Stallions will never be a super band until we get Eddie Van Halen on guitar.
Ted: Yes, Bill. But, I do not believe we will get Eddie Van Halen until we have a triumphant video.
Bill: Ted, it's pointless to have a triumphant video before we even have descent instruments.
Ted: Well, how can we have descent instruments when we don't really even know how to play?
Bill: That is why we need Eddie Van Halen!
Ted: And, that is why we need a triumphant video!

~Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure

Thanks to great leaders

Thanks to great leaders, such as Genghis Khan, Joan of Arc, and Socratic method . . . the world is full of history.

~Ted, Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure

LinkWithin

Blog Widget by LinkWithin