Food for Thought


"Now I'd like you to step forward over here. 
They're not that different from you, are they? 
Same haircuts. Full of hormones, just like you. 
Invincible, just like you feel. 
The world is their oyster. 
They believe they're destined for great things, 
just like many of you, their eyes are full of hope, 
just like you. 
Did they wait until it was too late to make from 
their lives even one iota of what they were capable? 
Because, you see gentlemen, these boys are now 
fertilizing daffodils. 
But if you listen real close, you can hear them whisper 
their legacy to you. 
Go on, lean in. Listen, you hear it? 
--- Carpe --- hear it? --- Carpe, carpe diem, 
seize the day boys, make your lives extraordinary."

Dead Poets Society

I expect to pass through life but once.
If, therefore, there be any kindness I can show,
or any good thing I can do to any fellow being,
let me do it now,
for I shall not pass this way again.
William Penn

And now here is my secret, a very simple secret:
It is only with the heart that one can see rightly;
what is essential is invisible to the eye.
Antoine de Saint-Exupery

He is richest who is content with the least,
for contentment is the wealth of nature.
Socrates

When you seek happiness for yourself it will always elude you.
When you seek happiness for others you will find it yourself.

The One you have been looking for is the one who is looking.
St Francis

It's a natural law:
You receive as much as you give.

Do not wish to be anything but what you are,
and try to be that perfectly.
St. Francis De Sales

Until we lose ourselves there is no hope of finding ourselves.
Henry Miller

What is hateful to thyself do not do to another.
This is the whole Law, the rest is Commentary.
Hillel

Never postpone happiness or waste the present trying to live in the past.
Mark Sanborn

We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts.
With our thoughts, we make the world.
Buddha

Your vision will become clear only when you look into your heart.
Who looks outside, dreams. Who looks inside, awakens.
Carl Jung

We know what we are, but know not what we may be.
Shakespeare

Life is a mirror and will reflect back to the thinker what he thinks into it.
Ernest Holmes

You must be the change you wish to see in the world.
Gandhi

There is no greater curse than the lack of contentment.
Tao Teh Ching

We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are.
Anais Nin

Of all sad words of tongue or pen, the saddest are these:
"It might have been!"
John Whittier

Who sees all beings in his own Self, and his own Self in all beings,
loses all fear.
Upanishad

When you have spoken the word, it reigns over you.
When it is unspoken, you reign over it.

He who follows the path of virtue becomes as a little child.
Tao Teh Ching

Still round the corner there may wait, a new road or a secret gate.
J R Tolkien

One person with belief is equal to a force of ninety-nine who have only interests.
John Stuart Mill

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

The act of contemplation creates the thing contemplated.
Isaac D'Israeli

The best way out is always through.
Robert Frost

You give but little when you give of your possessions.
It is when you give of yourself that you truly give.
Kahlil Gibran

Dream lofty dreams, and as you dream, so shall you become.
Your vision is the promise of what you shall one day be.
James Allen

It is not because things are difficult that we do not dare,
it is because we do not dare that they are difficult.
Seneca

And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer,
believing, ye shall receive.

If you hate a person, you hate something in him that is part of yourself.
What isn't part of ourselves doesn't disturb us.
Hermann Hesse

To desire is to obtain; to aspire is to achieve.
James Allen

If you can imagine it, you can achieve it.
If you can dream it, you can become it.
William Arthur Ward

A musician must make music, an artist must paint, a poet must write,
if he is to be ultimately at peace with himself. What one can be, one must be.
Abraham Maslow

The only devils in this world are those running around inside our own hearts,
and that is where all our battles should be fought.
Ghandi

Nothing is so strong as gentleness, and nothing is so gentle as true strength.
Ralph Sockman

Love possesses not nor would it be possessed;
for love is sufficient unto love.
Kahlil Gibran

Growth means change and change involves risks,
stepping from the known to the unknown.
George Shinn

People are where they are because that's exactly where they really want to be...
whether they'll admit that or not.
Earl Nightingale

Do not leave this life with your music still inside of you.
Dr. Wayne Dyer

Occupy thyself with few things, says the philospher,
if thou wouldst be tranquil.
Marcus Antoninus

You will become as small as your controlling desire;
as great as your dominant aspiration.
James Allen

I count him braver who overcomes his desires than him who conquers his enemies;
the hardest victory is the victory over self.
Aristotle

Look at every path closely and deliberately, then ask yourself a crucial question:
Does this path have a heart? If it does, the path is good;
if it doesn't, it is of no use.
Don Juan to Carlos Castaneda

The bond that links your true family is not one of blood,
but of respect and joy in each other's life.
Rarely do members of one family grow up under the same roof.
Richard Bach

A man sees in the world what he carries in his heart.
Goethe

The farther you enter into the truth, the deeper it is.
Bankei, Zen Master

The fulfillment of your dreams lies within you and you alone.

In order to see birds it is necessary to become a part of the silence.
Robert Lynd

To create a little flower is the labour of the ages.
William Blake

The greatest achievement was at first and for a time a dream.
The oak sleeps in the acorn; the bird awaits in the egg;
and in the highest vision of the soul a waking angel stirs.
James Allen

The springs of life are all from within. Invariably it is true -
as is the inner so always and inevitably will be the outer.
Ralph Waldo Trine

Every adversity, every failure and every heartache carries with it
the Seed of an equivalent or a greater Benefit.
Napoleon Hill

Cheer up! Remember today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday.

The power of your mind and the magic of your objective will invariably attract
the solution to you in ways you don't even suspect exist.
Mark Fisher

The only limits we have are the limits we believe.
Wayne Dyer

It is easy in the world to live after the world's opinion,
it is easy in solitude to live after your own;
but the great man is he who, in the midst of the world,
keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

Tomorrow's life is too late. Live today!
Martial

The best thing about giving of ourselves
is that what we get is always better than what we give.
The reaction is greater than the action.
Orison Marden

Your world is a living expression of how you are using and have used your mind.
Earl Nightingale

Walk on a rainbow trail, walk on a trail of song, and all about you will be beauty.
There is a way out of every dark mist - over a rainbow trail.
Navajo Song

We teach best what we most need to learn.

Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage.
Anais Nin

Thousands of candles can be lighted from a single candle,
and the life of the candle will not be shortened.
Happiness never decreases by being shared.
Buddha

The springs of life are all from within. Invariably it is true -
as is the inner so always and inevitably will be the outer.
Ralph Waldo Trine

We are continually attracting to us, from both the seen and the unseen side of life,
forces and conditions most akin to those of our thoughts.
Ralph Waldo Trine

You become what you think about all day long and those days
eventually become your lifetime.
Wayne Dyer

Failure to hit the bulls-eye is never the fault of the target.
Gilbert Arland

We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts.
With our thoughts, we make the world.
Buddha

Nothing happens unless first a dream.
Carl Sandburg

There is no cure for birth or death, save to enjoy the interval.
Santayana

There are only two ways to live your life.
One is as though nothing is a miracle.
The other is as though everything is a miracle.
Albert Einstein

The thankful receiver bears a plentiful harvest.
William Blake

A hunch is creativity trying to tell you something.
Frank Capra

You can't step twice in the same river.
Heraclitus

Here is a test to find whether your mission on earth is finished:
If you're alive, it isn't.
Richard Bach

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

Believe those who are seeking the truth; doubt those who find it.
Andre Gide

Choice, not chance, determines destiny.

Act as if you have already achieved your goal and it is yours.
Robert Anthony

We are exactly where we have chosen to be.
Vernon Howard

Do not wish to be anything but what you are, and try to be that perfectly.
St. Francis De Sales

All this talk and turmoil and noise and movement and desire is outside the veil;
inside the veil is silence and calm and peace.
Abu Yazid Al-Bistami

What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters
compared to what lies within us.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

If you are distressed by anything external, the pain is not due to the thing itself,
but to your estimate of it; and this you have the power to revoke at any moment.
Marcus Antoninus

Those who cannot forgive others break the bridge over which
they themselves must pass.
Confucius

People who expect the worst are seldom disappointed.
Robert Anthony

It is not because things are difficult that we do not dare,
it is because we do not dare that they are difficult.
Seneca

Adopt the pace of nature, her secret is patience.
Emerson

Imagination is the beginning of creation. We imagine what we desire;
we will what we imagine; and at last we create what we will.
George Bernard Shaw

I count him braver who overcomes his desires than him who conquers his enemies;
the hardest victory is the victory over self.
Aristotle

Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all.
Helen Keller

Those who cannot forgive others break the bridge over which they themselves must pass.
Confucius

All of life is a series of choices, and what you choose to give to life today
will determine what life will give you tomorrow.
Zig Ziglar

Nothing is so strong as gentleness,
and nothing is so gentle as true strength. --Ralph Sockman

No snowflake falls in an inappropriate place. --Zen Saying

Life is largely a matter of expectation. --Horace

Do it now! Today will be yesterday tomorrow.
I believe that you can get everything in life you want
if you will just help enough other people get what they want. --Zig Ziglar

Faith is an effort of the will.
A man cannot be powerful without his own approval. --Mark Twain

Nothing should be prized more highly than the value of each day. -- Goethe

Do not care what others think of you;
but care very much about what you think you do. --St. Francis De Sales

The way down is the way up; the way in is the way out. --Hugh of St. Victor

What you love is a sign from your higher self of what you are to do. --Sanaya Roman

Be willing to let anything happen.
Sometimes your joy is the source of your smile,
but sometimes your smile can be the source of your joy. -Thich Nhat Hanh

The fact that our task is exactly as large as our life makes it appear infinite. --Franz Kafka

One doesn't discover new lands without consenting
to lose sight of the shore for a very long time. --Andre Gide

The truth is, we do not get what we want
- we get what we expect. --Robert Anthony

Happiness is the absence of the striving for happiness. --Chuang-tzu

Life is mostly froth and bubble, two things stand like stone,
Kindness in another's trouble, Courage in your own. --Adam Lindsay Gordon

We are exactly where we have chosen to be. --Vernon Howard

Wheresoever you go, go with all your heart. --Confucius

Reality simply is! It is only people's perceptions of reality that vary. --Robert Anthony

Do the thing and you will have the power. --Ralph Waldo Emerson

It is critical to focus in life on what we want versus what we don't want. --Anthony Robbins

The ancestor of every action is a thought. --Ralph Waldo Emerson

Character is the result of two things,
mental attitude and the way we spend our time.
It is what we think and what we do that makes us what we are. --Elbert Hubbard

The thing always happens that you really believe in;
and the belief in a thing makes it happen. --Frank Wright

Never postpone happiness or waste the present trying to live in the past. --Mark Sanborn

The universe is change; our life is what our thoughts make it. --Marcus Antoninus

Happiness is not a where or a when, it is a here and now. --Zig Ziglar

You are all buddhas. There is nothing that you need to achieve.
Just open your eyes. --Buddha

The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the past,
not to worry about the future, or not to anticipate troubles,
but to live in the present moment wisely and earnestly. --Buddha

I give thanks for this perfect new day.
Miracle shall follow miracle and wonders will never cease.
We know what we are, but know not what we may be. -Shakespeare

People are disturbed not by things, but by the view they take of them. --Epictetus

Begin at once to live, and count each separate day as a separate life. --Seneca

The greatest good we can do for others is not to share our riches with them,
but to reveal theirs. --Anonymous

May you live all the days of your life. -- Jonathan Swift

Walk on a rainbow trail, walk on a trail of song, and all about you will be beauty.
There is a way out of every dark mist - over a rainbow trail. --Navajo Song

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

Every man is a divinity in disguise, a god playing the fool. -- Ralph Waldo Emerson

The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change;
the realist adjusts the sails. --William Arthur Ward

Reality is where we are from moment to moment. --Robert Linssen

A bit of fragrance clings to the hand that gives flowers. --Chinese Proverb

Aim for service, not success, and success will follow.

I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand. --Chinese Proverb

It's a natural law: You receive as much as you give.

You have no cause for anything but gratitude and joy. --Buddhist Teaching

You won't discover the limits of the soul, however far you go. --Heraclitus

Time spent laughing is time spent with the gods. -Japanese proverb

The Law of Attraction states:
That which is like unto itself is attracted.
In the province of the mind, what one believes to be true either is true or becomes true. --John Lilly

All paths are sacred!
The butterfly counts not months but moments, and has time enough. -- Rabindranath Tagore

Not the cry, but the flight of the wild duck, leads the flock to fly and follow.
No bird soars too high, if he soars with his own wings. --William Blake

Always do more than is required of you. --George Patton

You must first clearly see a thing in your mind before you can do it. --Alex Morrison

Life isn't about finding yourself.
Life is about creating yourself. -- George Bernard Shaw

When we lose one blessing, another is often, most unexpectedly, given in its place. -- C.S. Lewis

Life is pure flame, and we live by an invisible sun within us. --Thomas Browne

Surrender & Enjoy!

You are free to do whatever you like. You need only face the consequences. --Sheldon Kopp

Imagination is the beginning of creation.
We imagine what we desire; we will what we imagine;
and at last we create what we will. --George Bernard Shaw

Follow your Bliss. Promise only what you can deliver.
Then deliver more than you promise -- Charles Schwab

The highest exercise of charity is charity towards the uncharitable. --J. S. Buckminster

This thing we tell of can never be found by seeking,
yet only seekers find it. --Abu Yazid Al-Bistami

Do what you fear most and you control fear. --Tom Hopkins

You won't discover the limits of the soul, however far you go. --Heraclitus

Write injuries in dust, benefits in marble. --Benjamin Franklin

Great men are they who see that spiritual is stronger than any material force;
that thoughts rule the world. --Ralph Waldo Emerson

Life is a succession of lessons which must be lived to be understood. --Ralph Waldo Emerson

Learn to wish that everything should come to pass exactly as it does. --Epictetus

Who sees all beings in his own Self,
and his own Self in all beings, loses all fear. --Upanishad

If you keep doing what you've always done,
you'll keep getting what you've always got. --Peter Francisco

Cheer up! Remember today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday.
Do or do not. There is no try. -- Yoda

The hours of folly are measured by the clock;
but of wisdom, no clock can measure. --William Blake

If you are not happy here and now, you never will be. --Taisen Deshimaru

If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant.
If we did not sometimes taste of adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome. --Anne Bradstreet

When the student is ready, the teacher will appear.
There are things that are known, there are things that are unknown.
In between, doors.--William Blake

Don't take life too serious. You'll never escape it alive anyway. --Elbert Hubbard

The purpose of life is Joy. --Dalai Lama

I want to be thoroughly used up when I die, for the harder I work the more I live.
I rejoice in life for its own sake. --George Bernard Shaw

What you see is evidence of what you believe.
Believe and you'll see it. --Dr. Wayne Dyer

Knowing is not enough, we must apply. --Goethe

You are creating it all. Nobody else is doing it to you. --Wayne Dyer

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

The foolish man seeks happiness in the distance, the wise grows it under his feet. -James Oppenheimer

The man with imagination is never alone. --Unknown

Wise men, when in doubt whether to speak or to keep quiet,
give themselves the benefit of the doubt, and remain silent. --Napoleon Hill

My purpose is to love, give and serve.

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

Nothing is more conducive to peace of mind than not having any opinion at all. --G.C. Lichtenberg

When you have spoken the word, it reigns over you.
When it is unspoken, you reign over it.

Life is pure flame, and we live by an invisible sun within us. --Thomas Browne

Things do not change; we do. --Henry David Thoreau

Destiny is not a matter of chance, it is a matter of choice;
it is not a thing to be waited for, it is a thing to be achieved. --William Jennings Bryan

I give thanks for this perfect new day.
Miracle shall follow miracle and wonders will never cease.
There is nothing in a caterpillar that tells you it's going to be a butterfly. --Buckminster Fuller

You are where you are today because you've chosen to be there. --Harry Browne

Your only obligation in this or any other lifetime is to be true to yourself. --Richard Bach

If you love what you do, you will never work another day in you life. --Confucius

The greatest achievement was at first and for a time a dream.
The oak sleeps in the acorn; the bird awaits in the egg;
and in the highest vision of the soul a waking angel stirs. --James Allen

Life gives us exactly what we ask from it.
The first thing to do, therefore, is to ask for exactly what you want. --Mark Fisher

We are alone with everything we love. --Novalis

He who controls others may be powerful, but he who has mastered himself is mightier still. --Tao Teh Ching

Thousands of candles can be lighted from a single candle,
and the life of the candle will not be shortened.
Happiness never decreases by being shared. --Buddha

A man sees in the world what he carries in his heart. --Goethe

All the great things are simple. --Winston Churchill

This, above all, to thine own self be true. --Shakespeare

We teach best what we most need to learn.

If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams,
and endeavors to live a life which he has imagined
he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours. --Thoreau

Four things come not back: the spoken word, the spent arrow,
the past, the neglected opportunity. Omar Idn Al-Halif

Everything in Nature contains all the powers of Nature.
Everything is made of one hidden stuff. --Ralph Waldo Emerson

Be true to the best you know. This is your high ideal.
If you do your best. You cannot do more. --W. Dresser

Regret for the things we did can be tempered by time;
it is regret for the things we did not do that is inconsolable. --Sydney J. Harris

The place to be happy is here, the time to be happy is now. --Robert Ingersoll

Your passion and persistence determine your destiny. --Andrew Maltin

Willing is not enough. We must do. --Goethe

The fulfillment of your dreams lies within you and you alone.

The butterfly counts not months but moments, and has time enough. -- Rabindranath Tagore

Walk Your Talk!

Be a lamp to yourself. Be your own confidence.
Hold to the truth within yourself, as to the only truth. --Buddha

With Realization comes Manifestation.

All things flow. -- Heraclitus

Joy in the universe, and keen curiosity about it all -- that has been my religion. --John Burroughs

People who expect the worst are seldom disappointed. -- Robert Anthony

I count him braver who overcomes his desires
than him who conquers his enemies;
the hardest victory is the victory over self. --Aristotle

Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all. -- Helen Keller

Those who cannot forgive others break the bridge over which they themselves must pass. -- Confucius

All of life is a series of choices, and what you choose to give to life today
will determine what life will give you tomorrow. -- Zig Ziglar