Southern California

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SOME OF MY FAVORITE QUOTES:

 

We attract hearts by the qualities we display; we retain them by the qualities we possess.

Jean Baptiste Antoine Suard (1733-1817)

 

Speak your mind even if your voice shakes.

 

That's what I consider true generosity. You give your all, and yet you always feel as if it costs you nothing.

Simone de Beauvoir

 

You may forget how you behaved when the going got tough, but others won't.

Mark Burnett

Founder of the Eco-Challenge

 

Every person is responsible for all the good within the scope of his abilities, and for no more, and none can tell whose sphere is the largest.

Gail Hamilton (1833-1896)

 

Be kind whenever possible - It is always possible.

 

A bird does not sing because it has an answer. It sings because it has a song.

-- Chinese Proverb

 

Only those who haven't got the wit to speak for themselves would ever want their clothes to do it for them.

~Julie Burchill

 

"Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out,

and loudly proclaiming... 'Wow! What a ride!'"

  

There is nothing in which the birds differ more from man than the way in which they can build and yet leave a landscape as it was before.

-- Horace Mann

 

"If you are irritated by every rub, how will your mirror be polished?" - Rumi

 

Tell me whom you love, and I'll tell you who you are.

-- Creole Proverb

 

"May I become the person that my dog thinks I am."

 

What we think, we become. What we think upon grows.

 

All my life, I always wanted to be somebody. Now I see that I should have been more specific. -- Jane Wagner

 

If I am like others, who will be like me?

-- Yiddish Proverb

 

Sometimes I wonder whether the world is being run by smart people who are putting us on or by imbeciles

who really mean it.

--Mark Twain

 

When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love has always won. There have been tyrants and murderers and for a time they seemed invincible but in the end, they always fall-- think of it...ALWAYS.

~ Mahatma Gandhi

 

Criticism, like rain, should be gentle enough to nourish a man's growth without destroying his roots.

-- Frank A. Clark

  

Don't let yesterday use up too much of today.

-- Native American Proverb

 

The way I see it, if you want the rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain.

-- Dolly Parton

 

We will be known forever by the tracks we leave.

-- Native American Proverb

 

Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the men of old. Seek what they sought.

-- Matsuo Basho

 

Turn your face to the sun and the shadows fall behind you.

-- Maori Proverb

 

To love and be loved is to feel the sun from both sides.

-- David Viscott, MD

 

You can clutch the past so tightly to your chest that it

leaves your arms too full to embrace the present.

-- Jan Glidewell

 

A friend is one to whom one may pour out all the contents of one's heart, chaff and grain together, knowing that the gentlest of hands will take and sift it, keep what is worth keeping and with a breath of kindness blow the rest away.

- Arabian Proverb

 

Use what talents you possess. The woods would be very silent if no birds sang there except those who sang best.

~Henry Van Dyke

 

Wisdom is ofttimes nearer when we stoop, than when we soar.

~William Wordsworth

 

When the power of love overcomes the love of power the world will know peace.

~Jimi Hendrix

 

Do not think lightly of evil that not the least consequence will come of it. A whole waterpot will fill up from dripping drops of water. A fool fills himself with evil, just a little at a time.

~Gautama Buddha

 

He drew a circle that shut me out --

Heretic, rebel, a thing to flout.

But Love and I had the wit to win

We drew a circle that took him in!

-- Edwin Markham

 

Sometimes one creates a dynamic impression by saying something, and sometimes one creates as significant an impression by remaining silent.

~His Holiness The 14th Dalai Lama

 

Worry often gives a small thing a big shadow.

--Swedish Proverb

 

Worry is like a rocking chair. It will give you something to do, but it won't get you anywhere.

-- The United Church Observer

 

Train a child in the way he should go, and walk there yourself once in a while.

-- American Proverb

 

The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much. It is whether we provide enough for those who have too little.

Franklin D. Roosevelt

 

As he thinks in his heart, so he is.

--Jewish Proverb

 

There is nothing as eloquent as a rattlesnake's tail.

--Navajo Proverb

 

A good exercise for the heart is to bend down and help another up.

 

No revenge is more honorable than the one not taken.

--Spanish Proverb

 

Never does the human soul appear so strong and noble as when it forgoes revenge and dares to forgive an injury.

--E. H. Chapin

 

Help thy brother's boat across, and lo! thine own has reached the shore.

-- Hindu Proverb

 

It is one of the beautiful compensations of this life that no one can sincerely try to help another without helping himself.

-- Charles Dudley Warner

 

It usually rains where it's already wet.

-- German Proverb

 

The way I see it, if you want the rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain.

-- Dolly Parton

 

We will be known forever by the tracks we leave.

-- Native American Proverb

 

The way is not in the sky. It is in the heart. ---Buddha

 

To do no evil; To cultivate good; To purify one's mind: This is the teaching of the Buddhas.

--The Dhammapada

 

Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the men of old; seek what they sought.

-- Matsuo Basho

 

Turn your face to the sun and the shadows fall behind you.

-- Maori Proverb

 

To love and be loved is to feel the sun from both sides.

-- David Viscott, MD

 

I hope you still feel small when you stand beside the ocean

Whenever one door closes, I hope one opens,

Promise me that you'll give faith a fighting chance. And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance,

I hope you dance, dance, dance

 

Be not afraid of going slowly; be afraid only of standing still.

-- Chinese Proverb

 

Forgiveness is letting go of past suffering and betrayal, a release of the burden of pain and hate that we carry. Forgiveness honors the heart's greatest dignity. Whenever we are lost, it brings us back to the ground of love.

  

With forgiveness we become unwilling to attack or wish harm to another. Whenever we forgive, in small ways at home, or in great ways between nations, we free ourselves from the past.

 

In times like these, it is good to remember that there have always been times like these.

-Paul Harvey

 

Behold the turtle. He makes progress only when he sticks his neck out.

-- James Bryant Conant

 

If you are willing to accept the notion that we are all deeply interconnected then compassion naturally arises.

~~Jon Kabat-Zin

 

Fear less, hope more; Whine less, breathe more; Talk less, say more; Hate less, love more; And all good things are yours.

 

If it were not for hope, the heart would break.

-- Thomas Fuller

 

Ambition can creep as well as soar.

-- Edmund Burke

 

It is no longer good enough to cry peace. We must act peace, live peace and live in peace.

-- Native American Proverb

 

The best memory is that which forgets nothing but injuries.

Write kindnesses in marble and write injuries in the dust.

-- Persian Proverb

 

We have war when at least one of the parties to a conflict wants something more than it wants peace.

-- Jeanne J. Kirkpatrick

 

Do not try to become anything. Do not make yourself into anything. Do not be a meditator. Do not become nlightened. When you sit, let it be. What you walk, let it be. Grasp at nothing. Resist nothing.

- Ajhan Chah

 

We make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give.

~Winston Churchill

 

No person was ever honored for what he received. Honor has been the reward for what he gave

~Calvin Coolidge

 

There is a wonderful mythical law of nature that the three things we crave most in life - happiness, freedom, and peace of mind - are always attained by giving them to someone else. An effort made for the happiness of others lifts us above ourselves.

--Lydia M. Child

 

You will discover that you have two hands. One is for helping yourself and the other is for helping others.

--Audrey Hepburn

 

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

 

Generosity is giving more than you can; pride is taking less than you need.

--Kahlil Gibran

 

Those who are not looking for happiness are the most likely to find it, because those who are searching forget that the surest way to be happy is to seek happiness for others.

--Martin Luther King, Jr.

 

Since you get more joy out of giving joy to others, you should put a good deal of thought into the happiness that you are able to give.

--Eleanor Roosevelt

 

For every beauty there is an eye somewhere to see it.

For every truth there is an ear somewhere to hear it.

For every love there is a heart somewhere to receive it.

--Ivan Panin

 

There are two ways of spreading light—to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it.

--Edith Wharton

 

Giving is the highest expression of potency.

--Erich Fromm

 

What we have done for ourselves alone dies with us;

what we have done for others and the world remains and is immortal.

--Albert Pike

 

Remember that there is no happiness in having or in getting, but only in giving. Reach out. Share.

Smile. Hug. Happiness is a perfume you cannot pour on others without getting a few drops on yourself.

--Og Mandino

 

Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest

compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around..

--Leo Buscaglia

 

Make many acts of love, for they set the soul on fire and make it gentle.

--St. Teresa of Avila

 

The most solid comfort one can fall back upon is the thought that the business of one’s life is to help in

some small way to reduce the sum of ignorance, degradation and misery on the face of this beautiful

earth.

--George Eliot

  

Do something for somebody every day for which you do not get paid.

--Albert Schweitzer

 

We should give as we would receive, cheerfully, quickly, and without hesitation; for there is no grace in a benefit that sticks to the fingers.

--Seneca

 

I expect to pass through this world but once; any good thing therefore that I can do, or any kindness that I can show to any fellow creature, let me do it now; let me not defer or neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again.

--Etienne de Grellet

 

True wealth is not measured in money or status or power.

It is measured in the legacy we leave behind for those we love and those we inspire.

--Cesar Chavez

 

The true meaning of life is to plant trees, under whose shade you do not expect to sit.

--Nelson Henderson

 

Blessed are those who can give without remembering and take without forgetting.

--Elizabeth Bibesco

 

I do not offer the old smooth prizes, but offer rough new prizes. These are the days that must happen to

you. You shall not heap up what is called riches. You shall scatter with a lavish hand all that you earn or achieve.

--Walt Whitman

 

The less you open your heart to others, the more your heart suffers.

--Deepak Chopra

 

My father didn't tell me how to live; he lived, and let me watch him do it.

 

Words and eggs must be handled with care

For words once spoken and eggs once broken

Are not the easiest things to repair.

 

Prepare the child for the path, not the path for the child.

 

Nobody stands taller than those willing to stand corrected.

--William Safire

 

An insincere and evil friend is more to be feared than a wild beast; a wild beast may wound your body, but an evil friend will wound your mind.

~Buddha

 

Greatness is not standing above our fellows and ordering them around--it is standing with them and helping them to be all they can be.

--G. Arthur Keough (1909-1989)

 

When you rise in the morning, give thanks for the light, for your life, for your strength. Give thanks for your food and for the joy of living. If you see no reason to give thanks, the fault lies in yourself.

--Tecumseh

 

The thought manifests as the word. The word manifests as the deed. The deed develops into habit.

And the habit hardens into character. So watch the thought and its ways with care. And let it spring from love, born out of concern for all beings.

~Buddha

 

Conquer the angry man by love. Conquer the ill-natured man by goodness. Conquer the miser with generosity. Conquer the liar with truth.

~The Dhammapada

  

Even offering three hundred bowls of food three times a day does not match the spiritual merit gained in one moment of love.

Nagarjuna

 

If you live the sacred and despise the ordinary,

you are still bobbing in the ocean of delusion.

Zen Master Lin-Chi

 

Let your love flow outward through the universe, To its height, its depth, its broad extent, A limitless love, without hatred or enmity. Then as you stand talk, Sit or lie down, As long as you are awake, strive for this with a one-pointed mind; Your life will bring heaven to earth.

~Sutta Nipata

 

Mindfulness is the aware, balanced acceptance of the present experience. It isn't more complicated than that. It is opening to or receiving the present moment, pleasant or unpleasant, just as it is, without either clinging to it or rejecting it.

~Sylvia Boorstein

 

Take only what you need and leave the land as you found it.

--Native American Proverb

 

We have forgotten how to be good guests, how to walk lightly on the earth as other creatures do.

--1972 Only One Earth Conference

 

Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them, humanity cannot survive.

~His Holiness The 14th Dalai Lama

 

If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion.

 

Good timber does not grow with ease. The stronger the wind the stronger the trees.

 

It is a man's own mind, not his enemy or foe, that lures him to evil ways.

 

It is better to conquer yourself than to win a thousand battles. Then the victory is yours. It cannot be taken from you, not by angels or by demons, heaven or hell.

 

Lying in bed would be an altogether perfect and supreme experience if only one had a coloured pencil long enough to draw on the ceiling.

C.K. Chesterton

 

If there is no enemy within, the enemy out side can do us no harm

 

That birds of worry and doubt fly over head this you can't prevent, but that they make their nest in your hair this you can prevent."

-Chinese Proverb

 

A positive attitude may not solve all your problems,

but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort.

Herm Albright (1876 - 1944)

 

I happen to feel that the degree of a person's intelligence is directly reflected by the number of conflicting attitudes she can bring to bear on the same topic.

Lisa Alther, Kinflicks, 1975

 

I am still determined to be cheerful and happy, in whatever situation I may be; for I have also learned from experience that the greater part of our happiness or misery

depends upon our dispositions, and not upon our circumstances.

Martha Washington (1732 - 1802)

 

A strong positive mental attitude will create more miracles than any wonder drug.

Patricia Neal

   

Human beings, by changing the inner attitudes of their minds, can change the outer aspects of their lives.

William James (1842 - 1910)

 

The greatest discovery of my generation is that a human being can alter his life by altering his attitudes of mind.

William James

 

If we have no peace it is because we have forgotten

that we belong to each other.

Mother Teresa

 

Here's to good women.

May we know them.

May we be them.

May we raise them.

And may our sons marry them.

 

Forgiveness does not forget, nor does it condone. Forgiveness sees wisely. It willingly acknowledges what is unjust, harmful, and wrong. It bravely recognizes the sufferings of the past, and understands the conditions that brought them about. There is a strength to forgive-

ness. When we forgive we can also say, "Never again will I allow these things to happen."

We may resolve to never again permit such harm to come to ourselves or another.

~Ryan Burda

 

It has always been a mystery to me how men can feel themselves honoured by the humiliation of their fellow beings.

Gandhi

 

Be what you are. This is the first step toward becoming better than you are.

Julius Charles Hare

 

The truly proud man knows neither superiors or inferiors. The first he does not admit of -

the last he does not concern himself about.

William Hazlitt

 

It is not love of self, but hatred of self which is at the root of the troubles that afflict the world

Eric Hoffer

 

May all beings have happiness, and the causes of happiness.

May all be free from sorrow, and the causes of sorrow.

May all never be separated from the sacred happiness which is sorrowless.

And may all live in equanimity, without too much attachment and too much aversion,

And live believing in the equality of all that lives.

 

Children are not things to be molded, but are people to be unfolded.

--Jess Lair

 

"You will not be punished for your anger, you will be punished by your anger."

 

Our children give us the opportunity to become the parents we always wished we'd had.

~~Louise Hart

 

Do not pursue the outer entanglements, nor dwell in the inner void. Rest in peace in the oneness of things, and all barriers will vanish without a trace.

Seng Ts'an

 

People can cry much easier than they can change.

James Baldwin

 

Self-esteem is different than conceit. Conceit is the weirdest disease in the world. It makes everyone sick except the one who has it.

  

Anger makes you grow bigger on the outside and smaller on the inside. Something within must stoop to make room for a towering rage. Funny how that works...

 

"you are all perfect the way you are. and you could all use a little improvement

shunryu suzuki

 

The truth you believe and cling to makes you unavailable to hear anything new.

~~Pema Chodron

 

We work on ourselves in order to help others, but also we help others in order to work on ourselves.

~~Pema Chodron

 

When we start out on a spiritual path we often have ideals we think we're supposed to live up to.

~~Pema Chodron

 

Never be afraid to do something new. Remember, amateurs built the ark; professionals built the titanic.

 

Throughout the centuries there were men who took first steps, down new roads, armed with nothing but their own vision.

~~Ayn Rand

 

To put the world right in order, we must first put the nation in order; to put the nation in order, we must first put the family in order; to put the family in order, we must first cultivate our personal life; we must first set our hearts right.

~~Confucius

 

On this day...mend a quarrel · Search out a forgotten friend · Dismiss a suspicion and replace it with trust · Write a love letter · Share some treasure · Give a soft answer · ncourage youth · Manifest your loyalty in a word or a deed · Keep a promise ·

 

Fall seven times, stand up eight.

-- Japanese Proverb

 

Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men of talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persi

-- Calvin Coolidge

   

KNOW THYSELF

 

The moment will arrive when you are comfortable with who you are, and what you are--bald or old or fat or poor, successful or struggling--when you don't feel the need to apologize for anything or to deny anything. To be comfortable in your own skin is the

 

Charles Handy

Management consultant and writer

  

When a man begins to understand himself, he begins to live. When he begins to live he begins to understand his fellow men.

 

Norvin G. McGranahan

 

If you have integrity, nothing else matters. If you don't have integrity, nothing else matters.

 

Alan Simpson

 

"Feet, what do I need you

for when I

have wings to fly!"

 

I paint my own reality. The only thing I know is that I paint because I need to, and I paint whatever passes through my head without any other consideration.

 

• I paint self-portraits because I am so often alone, because I am the person I know best.

 

• My painting carries with it the message of pain.

 

Kindness is in our power, even when fondness is not.

 

Samuel Johnson

 

You are unique, and if that is not fulfilled, then something has been lost.

 

Martha Graham (1893-1991)

Dancer and choreographer

  

The first and worst of all frauds is to cheat oneself.

 

Gamaliel Bailey (1807-1859)

  

I walked a mile with Pleasure,

She chattered all the way;

But left me none the wiser

For all she had to say.

 

I walked a mile with Sorrow

And ne'er a word said she;

But oh, the things I learned from her

When sorrow walked with me.

 

--Robert Browning Hamilton