Every morning in Africa a gazelle awakens knowing it must today run faster than the fastest lion or it will be eaten. Every morning a lion awakens knowing it must outrun the slowest gazelle or it will starve. It matters not whether you are a gazelle or a lion, when the sun rises you had better be running.
-- African Proverb
Take the attitude of a student, never be too big to ask questions, never know too much to learn something new.
-- Og Mandino (1923 - 1996)
Obtain from yourself all that makes complaining useless. No longer implore from others what you yourself can obtain.
-- Andre Gide (1869 - 1951)
God grant you the light in Christmas, which is faith; the warmth of Christmas, which is love; the radiance of Christmas, which is purity; the righteousness of Christmas, which is justice; the belief in Christmas, which is truth; the all of Christmas, which is Christ.
-- Wilda English
One's destination is never a place but rather a new way of looking at things.
-- Henry Miller (1891 - 1980)
Once we believe in ourselves, we can risk curiosity, wonder, spontaneous delight, or any experience that reveals the human spirit.
-- e e cummings
The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill.
The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day.
We cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude.
I am convinced that life is 10 percent what happens to me and 90 percent how I react to it.
-- Charles Swindoll
The culture we live in will often sabotage us. That is because we are in the midst of a "global cooling." Human relations are becoming colder. Communications are becoming more hurried and impersonal. Values such as profit and efficiency are taking on greater importance at the expense of human warmth and genuine presence.
-- Piero Ferrucci, The Power of Kindness
For well you know that it's a fool
Who plays it cool
By making his world a little colder
-- The Beatles, Hey Jude
Try to realize it's all within yourself,
No one else can make you change,
And to see you're really only very small,
And life flows on within you and without you.
-- The Beatles, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
This is the true joy in life, the being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one; the being thoroughly worn out before you are thrown on the scrap heap; the being a force of Nature instead of a feverish selfish little clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy.
-- George Bernard Shaw (1856 - 1950)
When I bring you coloured toys, my child, I understand why there is such a play of colours on clouds, on water, and why flowers are painted in tints--when I give coloured toys to you, my child.
When I sing to make you dance, I truly know why there is music in leaves, and why waves send their chorus of voices to the heart of the listening earth--when I sing to make you dance.
When I bring sweet things to your greedy hands, I know why there is honey in the cup of the flower, and why fruits are secretly filled with sweet juice--when I bring sweet things to your greedy hands.
When I kiss your face to make you smile, my darling, I surely understand what pleasure streams from the sky in morning light, and what delight the summer breeze brings to my body--when I kiss you to make you smile.
-- Rabindranath Tagore